One Blustery Winter Night...

[Dan Quan]

A few days before Christmas I had gotten a call to shoot a rush portrait of an author for web and print, and she didn't want a dark background is all I was told, which can be taken literally or mean very little. Since it was at a location I had never seen I brought WAY too much light, just in case. After a tour of the home I was able to talk to the author a little more in-depth and found out the subject matter was of "New Beginnings" and establishing a new mental paradigm when faced with incurable physical illness. No wonder she didn't want a "dark" background, not even somber or "serious" would do in my opinion. For whatever reason a "Bright Summer Morning" came to mind and she loved it, so on this blustery cold winter night with just a bit of rainy snow starting to come down I lit up her kitchen for a happier mood, a new paradigm, a bright summer morning. And I only needed two lights, who knew...

Now, this was recorded using a "D" word capture device, but I thought the experience, solution and diagram might be of use to some here, since the lighting is the main subject and is applicable cross platform.

edit: In case anyone is concerned, I asked for and received the authors blessing to post this.

 

[TheToadMen]

Very well done!

Bert from Holland
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl

 

[Dan Quan]

Thank you, I hope it is useful.

 

[richard ide]

No comment. What does analogue mean??

Next time you post anything regarding digital prepare yourself for extreme rudeness.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Nice work Dan. Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[doughowk]

Thanks for sharing. I'm a real novice as to lighting (still working thru Kirk Tuck's video on Craftsy ;-( , so such tips are much welcomed.

 

[WetMogwai]

Thanks. Lighting tips are always good, even if the setup was for a computer with a lens rather than a camera since it translates well.

Also, I'm loving the lack of the extreme rudeness that was predicted.

 

[richard ide]

If it concerns digital.... Take it somewhere else.

 

[Dan Quan]

If it concerns digital.... Take it somewhere else.

This concerns light.

This forum is LITTERED with digital images. We all know all those "What is this?", "Is this broken?", "Look what I got!", "How does this work?", "Please recommend a ____ for a ___" posts are shot with digital. In fact I would bet most of the images in the forum are digital, except when the post specifically concerns analog images. The gallery is limited to analog photography recording media and not a complete analog workflow with mercury thermometers and spring wound timers. Most of the flash meters we use are digital and most of the flash units we use are digital, after all most of us are photographers, not troglodytes.

Others have said they find my posts useful and this post is clearly no problem to the admin's and moderators or they would have deleted this post long ago. If you do not find my posts useful then please ignore them. You can do this manually by using self control or if you lack the self control it can be done automatically by going to: Dan Quan : view profile : add to ignore list

However, instead I would encourage you to share your lighting experiences and solutions so we can all benefit from them. That is what this forum is supposed to be all about.

edit to add: but I do still use a mercury thermometer.