Low Light Isolation (?)

[Hknivers]

Hello. I am trying to find out how to get this kind of lighting effect, hopefully with as little equipment as possible. I only have a 430 EX II (but have a mate who has a 580 EX II I can borrow if needed:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=631439

(Sorry, couldn't find a good example photo of a person)

I was thinking a portrait where only a part of the face is lit (front, one side +++) and the rest in increasing amount of shadow.

I'm not sure if I was able to make myself understood here, my english isn't perfect...yet. ;)

Pleased to hear your comments.

[JeffreyG]

Borrow the 580 to use as a non-firing master on camera.

Place the subject as far from the background as possible.

Use ISO100, a small aperture like f/8 - f/11 and set the shutter speed to the synch speed of the camera.

Put the 430EX flash on a lightstand or shelf or whatever you can cobble together to hold it. Put the flash as close to the subject (off to one side at 45 degrees) as you can get without actually seeing the flash in the viewfinder. This will look best if you can diffuse the flash with a shoot through umbrella or something, but bare flash will work.

The principle you are using here is the inverse square rule. Basically light intensity falls off with the square of distance from the camera. So the flash will be relatively a lot brighter on the subject who is perhaps 1 meter from it while being very dim on the wall behind which is hopefully 4 meters away.

Camera settings will eliminate any ambient light from the shot, so the flash will do it all.

Here is an example. In this I used an ST-E2 to trigger two 430EX flashes, the one on the right is the main and the left was at 1:4 power for fill. Both fired through umbrellas, and the umbrellas are just out of view on either side (as close as possible). This was shot in my basement with the lights on.

[Hknivers]

Thanks, but I was kinda looking for this "feel":
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2735723

And experimenting with pictures like this:
http://www.pbase.com/j_nasche/image/39808063

[JeffreyG]

The links you have are not fundamentally different than the technique and sample I posted. Let's review:

First link - the picture of the man with the mustache and goatee. This was shot with a single, diffused flash to the camera right. As I described, placing the flash very close to the subject is why the background is black. The rest of the look - the B&W and the 'texture' of this shot are achieved in post processing actions.

Second link - Cowboy. Again, this is a single flash and this time it is above the subject. Also again B&W and some actions in Photoshop I suspect.

The biggest difference between my shot and these is that I used a second flash to light the non-key side and these were treated differently in Photoshop.

[Hknivers]

OK, thanks Jeffrey. :D

I'll experiment a bit.