how to isolate light? (background light, hair, etc)

[irenesarah]

hey guys!

i did my very first shoot yesterday and i got really frustrated trying to get a hairlight up and going, i have 3 AB800s and a speedlite 580ex II... what do you guys recommend doing? i have way too much light spill.

at one point i was trying to gel the background with my speedlite and that was sucking too! i used a dark pink/purple gel and i got some weird mix of white and baby pink light (almost like stripes?).

here's one successful shot from yesterday.. i think i just used one of my bees and a large octabox to the right.. i kept switching on and off all my lights and moving them all over the place so im not positive... lighting is soo frustrating! but i suppose it wasnt a complete fail for my first time.. meh!

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=315659&stc=1&d=1225133817

[Hermes]

Not bad for a first try, well done.

Try to get your lights as close to your subject as possible (the hairlight in particular) and take the time to set up flags (cardboard flats painted black and cinefoil work well) to stop the lights spilling onto the background or flaring the lens.

The best way to control spill in the long-run is to buy modifiers that accept grids and/or barndoors (reflectors, snoots, beauty dishes, softboxes, everything). That will allow you to control their spread properly.

[Maddog12]

the different colored gel could be the fact that you were shooting gel on a white background.

Gels work the best on a gray backdrop.

[pepperoni]

If she was further away from the backdrop and your lights in close to her, you can make even a white backdrop go black. Then add whatever color you want to it. It looks like your issue is spill from your main light reaching the backdrop.

[sleibrand]

There are several things going on here. I'd advise you to start simply and master one aspect before moving on to the next.

The first thing to master is the inverse square law. Controlling the light to subject and light to background distances will make a dramatic difference in what you're able to do.

Another thing to understand is how gels work. Do some testing with a plain background and a gelled strobe (no model). You'll quickly see that while it seems counter intuituve the most saturated colors will come at the lowest strobe settings. Very likely you used too much power which gave the pink tint and spill from your other strobes gave the white.

It looks like you're off to a good start. Start simple, practice and build on one light at a time. You'll get it sorted pretty quickly.

[ironchef31]

Have a look at these videos.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=6lsRu90jE88&feature=related

This is the first one of 8. It might be helpful.