One Light Studio Setup Question

Hi guys,

I am attempting at taking portait style shots and was wondering how is this possible with one light? and i currently only have a white sheet that I am using as the background but have found out that this can become extremely blown out! Any ideas on what settings I should use on my camera? and how I should set up the light? The light I'm using is the one you can buy at Home Depot on a stand. The light next to it went out so I'm only using one.

Thanks guys!

Seems like you're just playing and want to use just one light. These are good visual exercises. Try different ways of softening and changing the QUALITY of light.

I use one main light most of the time when I shoot portraits of singles and couples. A large soft box in close, reflector and background light. I own 4 white lightning 1200s for this kind of work but for most situations I prefer one main light IN CLOSE feathered and a reflector. In the studio a hair light if appropriate and a background light on gray muslin which the b/g light keeps bright behind the subject and goes very dark near the edges. (vignette).

If you are serious about portraiture take time and really learn QUALITY of light. And which quality best fits your style. I use one main light and a reflector but that doesn't mean that someone using one main and one fill is not doing things right because that setup might be right for the look that photographer is going for. That the quality the photographer wants.

So play and learn QUALITY. Take the time to learn what light modifiers work best FOR YOU in which situations for which subjects. Don't be in a big hurry because it really does take a long time to master. 30 years for me and I'm still work'n on it.

Thanks for your response! and yes you are correct..I am currently just experementing with this set up..I have read a few people using white sheets of paper to bounce light from the one light onto the other side of the subject. I think this will be my next step. I will try and post pictures later today for critique.

Hey, David. I totally agree with Airfrog. He's good and knows what he's talking about. I'm a big, fancy, commercial studio photographer and I still like to shoot with one light. Shooting with one light in a studio is exactly the same as shooting in bright sunlight. The only difference is you can't control the sun the way you control a studio light. Sure, you can put a diffusion panel between it and your subject, but really you're just a slave to the awesome, gargantuan power of the sun! Mua-hahaha!

So, uh...a good place to start is ISO100, 1:60 shutter and put the flash on half power. Then adjust your camera's f-stop until the picture looks nice. Also, you can control how hot your background is by physically moving the light away from it. This will make your subject darker, too, so move it with the light. Need to compress the background more because it's too small to go back too far? Then you move back further from the subject and zoom in until the background fills the screen.

You know how this works: you've done it before. Except now you have total control over the light and it feels a little perplexing: I know. Just do it and have fun with it. Pretty soon you'll know things about single light studio photography that even I don't know about.

For more info, be sure to check out strobist.com. Even if you're not shooting with speedlights, the actual practice of shooting with a single light is covered pretty well. Also, check out onelightworkshop.com.

WOW! Thanks both of you for the very informative posts! This makes me want to go home right now and perfect my technique..gotta wait till 5 though ...I was shooting at ISO400..that might have been what was leading me to my blown out background so I will shoot at ISO100 from now on. The only flash I am using is the built-in flash and from my experience with it when I use it with my one light..the pictures come out yellow/orange..is there any way around that? I have been shooting without flash once I discovered that. The only thing I can think of is that my studio light and flash are at different temperatures so it throws off my WB.

Thanks again!

What is this "one light" you speak of? You're using a hot light aren't you? Probably a tungsten bulb? That would explain the orange. Set your camera's white balance to tungsten: it looks like a light bulb.

Oh, and if you ARE using a hot lamp, then stop using your on-camera flash. 1. It's just gonna overpower your off-camera light, 2. you shouldn't be using an on-camera flash EVER.

I have discovered the tungsten WB after getting the orangish tint ...and yes it is a hot lamp and man do I hate it..I need an A/C running just to keep us cool.

Thanks again!

It's a Lowell isn't it?

...you know what you should do? Go spend $80 and get the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens. That and the not-bright-at-all EV of the hot light will get you some killer portraits.

Like this one (not that it's particularly awesome, but it was the fastest one of mine I could find):

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That's a nice shot! I think I need to steer away from my white background because the subject seems to be exposed correctly, but the brightness of the background seems to distract. I am currently debating on getting either a 50 f1.8 or a lens with longer reach.

Thanks again for the info.!

Click here for lens recommendations. Also, since you do want a lens, I would personally recommend this one: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM (Prime lenses are your friend. Zoom with your feet.) I use big, fancy L lenses, but I'm like that. You don't NEED big, fancy L lenses to take a good picture. Check out what other peeps do with the 85 1.8 here.

If you happen to be a fred miranda forum member there is a huge archived one light thread that is very informative (its an old thread so a lot of the older pics are sadly missing). Even with missing pics it is enlightening (keke). If you search the lighting forum for 'one light' there have been a couple good ones since as well.

Thanks! I'll have to check that site out.

Just found this thought this might be what you were looking for. Check out episode 13
http://prophotolife.co​m/
hope this helps John

DavidSR wrote in post #5643110
That's a nice shot! I think I need to steer away from my white background because the subject seems to be exposed correctly, but the brightness of the background seems to distract. I am currently debating on getting either a 50 f1.8 or a lens with longer reach.

Thanks again for the info.!

Heres a shot I did last week for a health care client. On the right side of the frame they will run type for an ad. This is one light on subject soft box over camera and a light one white seamless paper.

^^That's a good picture with only 1 light.

Thanks guys! Hopefully I can manage to buy some AlienBees in the future..I keep telling my fiance that if I buy equipment to take pictures, than we don't have to go to JCPenney any more lol..and we can make all the enlargments we want for a fraction of the price..haha..we'll see how that goes. Anyone know what a decent photostudio set up would sell for?

Thanks again!