Commercial photography is photography that sells products or services to a specific audience. While that may sound rudimentary, it’s what you’ll want to remember on set, because it’s the first thing you should be considering when photographing anyone for a commercial image. Your only focus as a commercial photographer should be to sell that product or service and make your audience feel as if they could NEVER live without it. For example, if you’re photographing a commercial hair campaign, your focus should be to accentuate the hair and less so the subject. It doesn’t mean that you want your subject to look terrible. It’s simply that you’re trying to showcase the hair and make the audience want to use the products used in the hair campaign.
If you’re a photographer who’s selling a beauty product, say, makeup or hair products, then you’ll want to be sure that you pay particular attention to how those elements look in your final image. If you’re photographing lipstick, you don’t want the lip line to run. Similarly, if you’re photographing hair, you want it to look perfect ( Figure 12.1 ).
The same can be said for lifestyle products, like athletic wear. However, you’ll want to pay particular attention to body language. Remember that you’re selling products to educated consumers. If you’re selling a pair of heels and the model looks uncomfortable, then your audience probably will not want to buy that pair of heels. In that specific example, if the model were really uncomfortable, say, because they were a size too small, you’d potentially want her to sit instead of walk in them.
The lighting setups in this chapter have been designed to help you sell goods or services, but if you have little interest in commercial photography, fear not. You can still use them in your portrait photography, high-school senior sessions, or engagement sessions. Remember that all the lighting setups in this book can be combined with one another to create your ideal vision.
In 2015, I was commissioned by Privé by Laurent D to produce a couple of images for a hair magazine later in the year. The mood board for the shoot was a vintage-inspired finger wave ( Figure 12.2 ) and miscellaneous other styles with lots of wave. I mention this because lighting plays a crucial role in how hair will photograph. If you’re photographing a hair campaign, you don’t want hair to fall flat. You want extra emphasis without necessarily having a definitive hair light, like with the image in Figure 12.1 .
FIGURE 12.2
For this setup, I’ve opted to use a gridded beauty dish directly above my subject’s head. This allows light to create shadow between the waves and add dimension, like you see in the waves in Figures 12.3 and 12.4 . To light the subject’s face, I’ve opted to use a diffused beauty dish positioned at 45 degrees down at my subject to carve out her cheekbone and jawline ( Figure 12.5 ). Positioning my light at that angle also creates beautiful highlights in her clip (Figure 12.2 ) and sequins (Figure 12.3 ).
FIGURE 12.3
FIGURE 12.4
FIGURE 12.5
In 2014, I started going to the makeup and beauty trade shows, like the International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) to do some market research on what the industry’s standard ad campaigns looked like. This helped me better understand their expectations of photography and how to create images that appeal to that target audience. From there, I started shooting mock hair and makeup campaigns to reach out to clients who’d be interested in hiring me to replicate that work. The result was the image in Figure 12.6 .
FIGURE 12.6
The goal of this image was to create smooth, even skin and picture-perfect hair, all the while using light to emphasize both. To achieve this, I used a diffused beauty dish on the face to soften the skin and a gridded beauty dish to create a hair light and accentuate the subject’s shoulders. I then used a single square foam board as a reflector to fill in shadows.
The main light, a diffused beauty dish, is placed about 4 feet from the subject. As a rule of thumb, the closer the light is relative to the subject, the brighter the catchlights will be on her skin and vice versa. For smooth, even skin, you do not want extremely specular highlights, as it can look more oily than natural, so position your light just far enough to light the subject, but eliminate unnecessary specular highlights.
The fill light is simply a white foam core that I purchased from a local craft store for around $4 to $5. In a pinch, these are the easiest things to find when you don’t have a reflector.
The hair light is a gridded beauty dish placed 45 degrees down at the subject and slightly behind her in order to make sure that the light does not completely wrap around to the front of her shoulders—and that’s it! It’s a very simple setup that commands a lot of attention ( Figure 12.7 ). I also want to point out that the image in Figure 12.6 is heavily retouched. No one has hair that perfect; even with her hair and makeup done, it’s far from the final product ( Figure 12.8 ). You could easily replicate this image by using some of the retouching techniques I discussed earlier in the book.
FIGURE 12.7
FIGURE 12.8
As I mentioned in the previous lighting setup, photographing skin requires a bit of attention to where your light is placed. Place the light too close, and you’ll have very specular highlights on the skin. Place the light too far away, and her skin will be dull and matte. The goal here is to find a balance between the two in order to draw attention to the most important part of the image that you want to convey, in this case, the skin and makeup ( Figures 12.9 and 12.10 ).
FIGURE 12.9
FIGURE 12.10
As you can see in Figure 12.11 , this is a really simple setup that creates a lot of impact. Our main light is a collapsible, diffused white beauty dish, which carves out the subject’s cheekbones and jawline. For fill light, I’ve opted to use a Rogue Super Soft Silver Reflector just below her chest, which helps fill in the shadows on the face. Finally, I’ve used an open strobe with a blue gel taped over it to illuminate the background. That light is placed directly behind my subject in order to create a beautiful, vibrant background ( Figure 12.12 ).
FIGURE 12.11
FIGURE 12.12
NOTE I want to be sure that you’re aware of how using Adobe Photoshop alters the image. Notice the difference in skin and color in the original image (left) and the final image (right) in Figure 12.13 . The subject has smooth, even skin, and the background color has changed from a deep blue to teal for no other reason than creative preference.
FIGURE 12.13
This is one of my favorite lighting setups for sports apparel campaigns, but it could also be used interchangeably as you see fit. In this case, it’s used to accentuate the model’s shape, as well as her accessories ( Figure 12.14 ).
What makes this lighting setup stand out so much are the bright rim lights highlighting the subject’s body ( Figure 12.15 ). The rim lights help define her physique’s shape and form, while also making it easier to composite images in postproduction. This is why commercial photographers like Joel Grimes love this lighting style so much.
FIGURE 12.14
FIGURE 12.15
As shown in Figure 12.16 , the main light in this lighting setup is a 20.5” white beauty dish. This creates a very hard form of light with well-defined shadows, which better accentuate the cheekbones and jawline. If this were an athletic photograph, it would also help define every muscle or the texture of the products being sold.
FIGURE 12.16
The rim lights in this image are created by using two barn doors, which are both closed down to have a very narrow strip of light emanating from them. As a note for placement, be sure that your lights are far enough behind the model so that they don’t create a highlight on the nose, but far enough forward so the light isn’t reflecting back into your lens, to avoid lens flare.
If you can’t avoid lens flare, this is probably one of those instances where you’ll find a lens hood useful indoors. Another trick is to use a longer focal length in order to focus on the subject, because the lens isn’t wide enough to allow the rim lights to show in-frame.
Finally, I’ve opted to use a softbox to fill in any unwanted shadows in the image, and that light is placed 45 degrees camera right and is at a relatively low power setting ( Figure 12.17 ).
FIGURE 12.17
Let me begin by saying hard light isn’t flattering on everyone, but some subjects can really pull it off. In this image, I’ve used the standard silver reflector that comes with most studio strobes to create a beautiful mock jewelry ad.
This lighting setup is extremely simple and practical if you’re just starting to learn how to light, because it’s directional and really easy to visualize. My main light is placed 45 degrees camera right and at a 45-degree angle down at my subject. This gives her a well-defined jawline and cheekbones, while also being extremely specular, helping to define the jewelry in the image ( Figures 12.18 and 12.19 ).
FIGURE 12.18
FIGURE 12.19
The light from the main light has a ton of contrast, so in order to fill in some of those shadows, I’ve opted to use a Rogue Super Soft Silver Reflector just out of frame, under my subject’s chest, to bounce back light into the frame ( Figure 12.20 ). Not only does this help me fill in shadows, but because the light from the strobe is so specular, it’s also able to bounce back into the reflector and create highlights in the jewelry, drawing more attention to those areas of the image ( Figure 12.21 ).
FIGURE 12.20
FIGURE 12.21
Among my favorite lighting modifiers in the world are reflectors. They’re cheap, portable, and versatile. Westcott makes a wonderful reflector called the Eyelighter, which has a concave shape that naturally conforms to the subject’s eye. While it’s an amazing reflector, it’s not the cheapest solution for most aspiring photographers. The image in Figure 12.22 was taken with my budget eyelighter setup. Instead of using the Westcott Eyelighter, I’ve opted to use a narrow strip softbox as a replacement. While it’s not the shape of the subject’s eye, it still draws lots of attention to the eyes nonetheless.
The main light in the image is a large octabox, placed center and facing 45 degrees down at my subject to better accentuate her cheekbones and jawline. As you can see in Figure 12.23 , the second light, with a strip grid, is placed directly below the main light, positioned at 90 degrees directly at the subject. The trained eye will see that my strip grid seems to have a slight curve, as you can see in the unedited image in Figure 12.24 . That’s simply because I’m using an old strip grid that has lost its rigidity. Sometimes old modifiers work wonders.
FIGURE 12.22
FIGURE 12.23
FIGURE 12.24
FIGURE 12.25
One of my favorite photographers in the world is Martin Schoeller. His work is easily recognizable by his signature style, and while this isn’t a picture-perfect replica, it’s an homage to someone I greatly admire.
The signature markers of Schoeller’s work are the two light bars with which he lights his portraits, creating a distinct cat-like catchlight in the eyes, like in Figure 12.25 . Because light bars are so expensive, I’ve opted to use two strip boxes as an alternative for this setup.
The strip lights are placed fairly close together (approximately 10 to 12 inches apart), parallel to one another in front of the subject, and approximately two feet from the subject’s face. I’m effectively placing my camera between the two strip boxes in order to take this photograph. As you can see in Figure 12.26 , I’ve placed a third light directly behind my subject in order to illuminate the background. Because I’m taking a fairly close portrait of the subject’s face, I’ve opted to use a silver reflector dish, because it concentrates light just around my subject’s head (if I’ve cropped the image correctly). This is best shot with a longer (85mm+) lens ( Figure 12.27 ).
FIGURE 12.26
FIGURE 12.27
