Photographer Joe McNally famous for his National Geographic work was invited to the studio by another prolific camera master Daniel Norton from Adorama TV to shoot series of portraits using gridded strip boxes.
Playing with two light setup, Joe uses the strip on camera’s right as the portrait side light, and a strip on camera’s left as the highlight for model’s hair, placing the light a bit behind the model. The background is chosen to be black to eliminate any light spillage and reflection.
Since the grid is used on both light, it is very important to establish a precise position for it. The direction of the gridded light is very narrow, which may result in a huge shadow on the face if the angle is off a few degrees.
During the photoshoot the two lights were switched with each other, now making the camera’s left light the main portrait light and camera’s right the highlight light. Following the attitude and demeanor of the model, the photographer wanted to add to it using different light variations. Even with two same lights positioned differently, the picture changes in its delivery, overall attitude and perceived look.
The third and final set up Joe got to use was a classic “clam shell” position where both lights positioned in the center, bottom light shoot up from 45 degree angle and the top light shoots down from 45 degree angle. Designed to eliminate any harsh shadows model’s face, this light setup never disappoints.
During the photoshoot Joe noticed the difference in skin reaction to the light. Female model’s skin was more reflective then the male’s resulting in misbalanced exposure. Switching models’ positions as well as fine tuning the f-stop usually remedies the situation quickly.
Watch the full video on Adorama TV youtube channel: