Let’s begin this chapter by revisiting one important tip: fashion lighting will focus on the attire in an image. Your job as a photographer is to navigate the audience’s attention to whatever subject matter you’re trying to showcase. For example, if you were photographing a fashion campaign for high heels, you would probably want to highlight the heels in the image. While that sounds really basic, sometimes photographers forget that simple concept. You’ll see photographers who want to break into the fashion industry focusing more on the subject and not on accentuating the clothing, and that’s absolutely counterproductive. Obviously, this rule can be broken, but I’d recommend sticking to it until you can master navigating the audience’s attention successfully ( Figure 13.1 ).
Throughout this chapter, I’ll dissect a couple of different lighting styles for fashion photoraphs. The idea behind these lighting setups is that you, the reader, use them to create your own lighting style. I’d recommend drawing inspiration from each lighting setup and re-creating something that you can call uniquely your own.
Simplicity is such a beautiful thing. This is one of my favorite go-to lighting setups to photograph fashion editorials and lookbooks because it’s a really simple setup that can easily be converted to a mobile lighting kit. The images in Figures 13.2 and 13.3 use a deep parabolic umbrella positioned in Rembrandt position, which is 45 degrees from the subject and 45 degrees overhead. In these specific images, my modifier is the Profoto Umbrella Deep White XL with diffusion material. My light is placed around 6 to 8 feet from the subject, and my subject is approximately 4 to 5 feet from the background, ensuring that both my subject and the background are lit evenly in the image.
FIGURE 13.2
FIGURE 13.3
FIGURE 13.4
If you find that the lighting is too dark on the shadow side, you have a couple of options. I would recommend simply introducing a reflector or white V-flat on the opposite side of the light. You can, however, place a second light with a softbox to fill in some of the shadows. If you decide to use a second light, you’ll want to be very cautious of cross light, as the second light will produce its own shadow if the light isn’t dim enough. To test the shadow of your second light in this case, turn off your main light temporarily and use the second light only to see if there is any shadow produced. This is a go-to setup any photographer should feel comfortable using in a pinch ( Figure 13.4 ).
If you’ve ever gone through my portfolio, you’ll quickly realize just how much I love dramatic lighting setups. Most of my images have lots of contrast and lots of texture. That’s because contrast and texture go hand in hand. You literally cannot see texture without contrast or shadow. Any object or person that is evenly and flatly lit will not have a lot of texture. While flat, even lighting is great on the face and can reduce the appearance of skin blemishes, it’s not always great to showcase clothing; remember that the point of fashion photography is to showcase the clothing . Designers spend countless hours selecting intricate pieces of material to use in their work, along with piping, tulle, and metalwork to complement them. If you’re using flat light to photograph clothing, you’re often doing a disservice to the designer.
The images in Figures 13.5A , 13.6A , and 13.8A were photographed using a very simple lighting concept. The main light is placed to accentuate the subject’s face, the second light is placed to accentuate her clothing, and the third is placed to light the background ( Figure 13.7 ). You can see the original, unedited versions of these images in Figures 13.5B , 13.6B , and 13.8B .
FIGURE 13.5A
FIGURE 13.5B
FIGURE 13.6A
FIGURE 13.6B
FIGURE 13.7
The main light is modified by a silver reflector, which creates a lot of contrast on the subject’s cheekbones, but it’s also placed far enough away so that the light is broad enough to light the top half of her body. The second light is a beauty dish with a diffuser, placed on the opposite side, 45 degrees from our subject and helping to lighten the shadows in the image. This ensures that the shadows do not fall to black. The final light is an open, gridded beauty dish placed to the subject’s side and is used interchangeably between images, depending on where I’m trying to draw the subject’s attention. For instance, the background light is used in Figure 13.5 to ensure that the earring can be seen and that the audience’s eyes are drawn to that area.
FIGURE 13.8A
FIGURE 13.8B
My favorite high-key setup is far from traditional. It’s one that I learned from one of my first photography mentors and modified it to fit a subject photographed at full length ( Figure 13.9 ). This lighting setup requires a bit of creativity and a less technical approach.
The main light in this image is a 21” white beauty dish with diffusion material, and the second light is a 6’ x 4’ softbox placed directly behind the subject, also with diffusion material. The subject is placed about a foot from the background light. The main light is placed about 2 to 3 feet from the subject and faces down 45 degrees to accentuate her jawline and cheekbones, while simultaneously creating lots of texture in the metal pieces on her dress. The main light also does a great job of creating lots of contrast and texture in her hair to accentuate her beautiful braid ( Figure 13.10 ). When using this setup, be sure to have your subject block the strobe light from flashing directly into the camera.
FIGURE 13.9
FIGURE 13.10
This is a really simple setup (as shown in Figure 13.11A ) that creates a lot of drama, and it requires very little equipment to produce, so it’s great if you are photographing in your living room, second bedroom, or garage. See Figure 13.11b for a behind-the-scenes look at how these shots were created.
This is the same lighting setup I used to photograph Laurel Dewitt’s collection that was featured in Elle Sweden ( Figures 13.12 and 13.13 ).
FIGURE 13.11A
FIGURE 13.11B
FIGURE 13.12
FIGURE 13.13
Lookbooks are collections of images that display a fashion designer’s upcoming or prior collections. Collections allow designers to create a brand identity, and they are usually divided by seasons, such as spring, summer, or fall. This is why you’ll typically find that designers spend quite a bit of time and effort developing a concept for how they want their work to be featured.
Some designers prefer their images to be high-key, while others prefer more dramatic looks. Every designer will have his or her own styling approach and brand identity. If your ambitions are to become a fashion photographer and photograph designers’ lookbooks, it’s not terribly difficult to do. This chapter provides seven unique fashion looks that you can incorporate into a designer’s lookbook relatively easily.
The two lighting setups labeled Lookbook I and Lookbook II are very similar setups. In fact, I’d admit that the untrained eye wouldn’t see much of a difference. So let us distinguish what makes each lighting setup unique, starting with Lookbook I. If you look at the images in Figures 13.14 and 13.15 , you’ll see that the light that hits the background is very directional.
FIGURE 13.14
FIGURE 13.15
The light is placed in a position where it is high above the subject and illuminates the subject at a high angle. The direction of light is also due to the fact that I do not have a diffuser over my main beauty dish. This allows my main light to be more directional and also have more contrast, compared to adding diffusion (as shown in the “Lookbook II” section).
Now that I’ve determined where my relative position of light is for Figure 13.15 , let’s assume that based on the position of light, the main light is doing a great job of lighting my subject’s face and carves out her jawline and cheekbones. Unfortunately, because of the relative fall-off of light and distance, that light will quickly fall to shadow. By introducing a softbox, as you can see in Figure 13.16 , I’m able to fill in the shadows and simultaneously create beautiful highlights along the dress, as well as more sparkle in the eye, as you can see in Figure 13.17 .
To be clear, the reason I judge light based on the background first is that it easily lets me determine the position of light, because it’s a flat plane. While you can judge light on a person’s face, it can be difficult to determine distance solely based on the contouring of light on the person’s face.
FIGURE 13.16
FIGURE 13.17
As I mentioned in the “Lookbook I” section, the two lighting setups labeled Lookbook I and Lookbook II are very similar, but they have key differences. In contrast to the image in Figure 13.15 , the light that hits the background in Figures 13.8 and 13.19 is not as directional, and the light in these images is not illuminating the subject at as high an angle. The main light also has less contrast due to the added diffusion. Furthermore, you can see that the background in Figure 13.19 is soft and directly behind my subject. This is because both my subject and my main light are closer to the background, compared to the image in Figure 13.15 .
FIGURE 13.18
FIGURE 13.19
If you’re working with a very limited budget, with minimal equipment and space, then the lighting setup in Lookbook II should suit you perfectly. I photographed this lighting setup in an 11-foot square space in order to accommodate for the 9-foot seamless background.
The lighting setup is relatively simple. The main light is positioned 45 degrees from the subject, as you can see in Figure 13.20 , and is approximately 3 to 4 feet from the subject. Because the light is so close, the light focuses on the subject’s face and chest and quickly falls off to shadow, as you can see in the image in Figure 13.19 . Because I’m using a diffusion material over my white beauty dish, the light is then softened, allowing less contrast and filling in most of the shadows in the image. The audience’s attention navigates from her chest to her face and the jewelry in the image before ever focusing on the purse. For a readywear lookbook to highlight the dress, this would be an ideal lighting setup to use.
FIGURE 13.20
FIGURE 13.21
FIGURE 13.22
Sometimes less is more. Inspired by the Swarovski ads featuring Miranda Kerr by Nick Knight, this lighting setup is a testament to that. Before we begin dissecting the lighting setup, it’s important to note the importance of contrast. Contrast is the difference between the darks and lights in the image. An image with a high level of contrast would have prominent shadows and highlights, with everything varying from extremely black to extremely white. In a low-contrast image, on the other hand, there really isn’t much differentiation in the shadows and highlights. In my perspective, neither is wrong, as long as the result aligns with your intention.
FIGURE 13.23
As you can see in the images in Figures 13.22 and 13.23 , there is more visible contrast, compared to the lighting setup used in Figure 13.10 . That’s due to a few factors:
The reason the type of modifier you use is important to note is that I purposely selected the beauty dish as my main modifier for this image because of the contrast it produces. The contrast allows me to better define and show off the small, intricate patterns of the jewelry, showcasing the details in the image. Remember that using flat forms of light may be great for minimizing skin blemishes but may not showcase the jewelry in a flattering way. These are all considerations that you should make prior to selecting your modifier or positioning your light.
My main light is positioned at a 45-degree angle, centered on the subject, about 2 feet above her head and 2 feet from her chest ( Figure 13.24 ). This allows me to better define her cheekbones and jawline, as you can see in the example in Figure 13.25 , and the silver reflector allows me to fill in the shadows remaining in the image. Remember that the distance of my reflector in relative position to the subject will directly influence how much I’m able to fill in the shadows. The amount that you’d want to fill is solely up to your personal preference in terms of how much contrast that you prefer.
FIGURE 13.24
FIGURE 13.25
If you haven’t figured this out by now, I’m a huge fan of simplicity, so it goes without saying that the last setup in the chapter would be another simple light setup. The image in Figure 13.26 was inspired by a couple of fashion editorials I’d seen in prior years in prominent fashion publications, campaigns, and web editorials. I love how the light illuminates the subject’s cheekbones in a very dramatic, but flattering, way. I also love how the background has a subtle gradient to separate the subject from the background, and I was able to create all of this with a single light.
FIGURE 13.26
Let’s start off by mentioning that you can learn a lot about how an image was lit simply by analyzing the reflective surfaces in the image. Things like metal bands, rings, and even eyeballs allow you to better determine where the light is positioned. Let’s analyze the subject’s eyes in Figure 13.27 . You can determine by simply looking at her eyes that there are two lights in the foreground. If I were to make an educated guess about the lighting in the image solely based off of that, I’d say there were obviously two lights. However, when you start to really anaylze the catchlights, you can see that there is a perfect, round catchlight and also a faint, uneven oval under the main light.
FIGURE 13.27
Remember that most modifiers are very structured and have definite shapes. Octaboxes have eight sides, beauty dishes are round or oval depending on their relative angle, and softboxes are square or rectangular—but this specific catchlight is flimsy and unshapely. That’s because it’s a warped silver reflector positioned to fill in unwanted shadows in the image.
You can also see that the metal bands in the image only have one solid catchlight, and that’s evident in the bangle. The right side of the bangle has a subtle highlight but doesn’t have the same intensity as the main light. The trained eye can also see that the subject’s skin only has one highlight along the fingers and on the fingernails. All of this information can better inform you of how an image was lit.
In this partiicular setup, the main light is placed slightly off-center. There is a black V-flat camera left, to absorb light and produce more dramatic shadows on the left side of the image (subject’s right), and the reflector helps to fill in unwanted shadows in the image. As you can see in the diagram in Figure 13.28 , the subject is placed farther away from the background so that her shadow is not seen in the image. The attention to detail in this image allows me to use a single light in a very flattering, but dramatic, way.
FIGURE 13.28
