Emphasising muscle tone (has adult hidden thumbs)

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/25/2007 08:25:44 AM · #1

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DemonLlama

Canon EOS-30D

10/25/2007 08:37:21 AM · #2

Your SB800 will be more than enough to pull this off easily. Get a piece of black cloth (velvet or fake velvet absorbs the light best) and you won't have to underexpose the background at all - it will all just disappear.

Do control all ambient light - you'll need a completely dark room and the strobe at a pretty oblique angle. Keep the power low, you don't want to blow out highlights. I would recommend a honeycomb grid or something similar over the strobe to direct the light. You can always use a piece of poster board taped to the side to direct the light more if needed.

In the images you posted, look at where the light is positioned for the shadows.. #1, 180deg to the left, #2 using two lights (notice the highlights on her arm on the right too), #3 front strobe but also a backdrop light, #4 I would guess only one light off to the right, etc... The shadows will be what makes things pop out and if the light is too direct on, you'll kill them all.

I'm no where near an expert at lighting but I've been in the studio a few times to see stuff like this done. Eliminating the extra ambient light is probably one of the most important steps - you can't let anything else bleed in and you need to control ALL light.

Hope that helps - good luck!

10/25/2007 08:46:32 AM · #3

awsome advice, thanks, good advice on the BG & well all the rest too :)

rossbilly

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

10/25/2007 11:57:26 AM · #4

If you want to recreate the shot with the sun in the BG, go for early OR late in the day. One SB800 isn't enough to overcome mid-day sun. I recently customized a flat piece of aluminum stock so it would hold two SB800's on top of one lightstand & fire through one umbrella. Works well, but it has to be VERY close to work in full sunlight.

became

(not perfect, but these were my first attempts, just last weekend)

Just set your ISO to 100, shutter speed to 250, and aperture to f13-f22. Play with the aperture until you get the brightness / darkness of BG you desire.

Hope this helps...

Billy

Message edited by author 2007-10-25 11:58:31.

10/25/2007 09:02:14 PM · #5

thanks billy, hadn't thought of using two to build up the power like that. Im thinking thou that it will be more at dawn, with some better lighting and perhaps at night in a dark room. I cant find someone close that sells honeycombs, can one be built out of straws perhaps?

Steve

rossbilly

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

10/25/2007 10:25:53 PM · #6

Originally posted by Shadowi6:

That, or you could use some cardboard & aluminum foil to create a snoot. I've even seen people use potato chip cans, cut to different lengths for different effects /patterns. There was a Strobist article / link to someone making them from stiff fabric.

A company makes / sells little metal bars to mount 2+ flashes on a lightstand - I just had the tools & materials to do it myself (really VERY simple).

Good luck & let us know how it turns out!

Billy