SVA Girl

Very nice work as always Doug.How would you of arranged the studio lighting for this subject?
How have you been? I would imagine you wouldn't be running any classes at the moment.

Hi Awty, your name is Paul, right? So, I've been surviving here in NYC. I had my 74th birthday under lockdown. Since the Brookln College campus closed, classes went from in person to running online. That was no problem for my digital class, but the darkroom class had to morph into shooting assignments with any camera the students had handy, and lots of critique and and looking at the work of well known (and less well known) photographers.
The light was a Speed-a-tron flash, with one head only, directed into a large white umbrella, not through the umbrella. It was at about a 45º angle from the camera axis, above and directed downward. No fill of any kind. I always tell my students to look at the catchlight in the eye for clues about the lighting. The sitter was quite far from the background, so it didn't receive as much light as her face. Umbrella lighting was still kind of new in this those days, having become popular I the mind to late 60s. I still love it as a light source.

Nice always appreciated your work

Thanks, Peter. Hoping to print much over the summer.

@artonpaper Yes Paul.
We seem to have dodged the bullet for now, so hard to rationalize how those in the thick of it are coping, good to hear you are well.
Ive been playing a little with lighting in a small room, has plenty of challenges, have been using a couple of those umbrellas and by the looks of them they were probably from the 70's. Thanks for you detailed explanation. Can you care to tell me what clues lay in the catch lighting in the eyes? Thanks

@awty look at the closeup of her eyes, below. We see only one light reflected in her eyes. It coming from above and any about a 45º angle. The catchlight is a round white disc with a dark center, the telltale sign of an umbrella, and no signs of a reflector.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/baqc26062wj4k3c/SVA Girl Eyes.jpg?dl=0@awty