On Location Natural Light w/ Sam

There really is nothing to this picture, but people are always commenting on it and asking how I did it. As the diagram below will show, it was just me, the model, and the sun.

What I think makes the image of interest to people is the post work that's been done to it. The exposure for the background was processed separately from the subject. I don't mean that the subject was placed into the shot later, I just processed the same image in two separate ways, then merged them in Photoshop. The image was exposed with an average of the sky and model. This way, when I opened the image in a RAW filter, enough information was present in the photograph process for the sky in version and for the subject in another. Then if Photoshop I was able to mask in the desired elements from one version into the other.
The original shot of this image the sky had the beautiful gradient that you see in it now, but it was an exceptionally cloudless day that day which I felt left the image looking a bit empty. So from a different image from a different shoot on a different day I took an image that had some nice clouds and blended them into this image.

© 2010 Michael Myers Photography

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3-Light Beauty Shot Clamshell Technique w/ Tavia

*Note: The diagram for this post pertains to both shots, however in the second shot, there wasn't a light on the background.

So for these two shots, I was going for an all around well lit beauty shot. Traditionally you would probably want to use a beauty dish, but I opted to try what is known as clam shell lighting. For this type of lighting you normally would need two soft boxes of the same size, however I didn't have two of the same size, so I used one large and one medium. The larger softbox was positioned in front of and above the model angled down. The medium softbox was positioned in front of and below the model angled up. I was, of course, sure to leave a large enough gap between the boxes to shoot through.

 For the first image below, I wanted the image to look very clean, so I wanted the background to be a solid white. A strobe with a 7.5" reflector was positioned off set pointed toward the background to blow the background out to white. A large black card was placed between the model and the strobe to keep the blowout from the strobe casting onto her right side, thus keeping the lighting on her even.

© 2011 Michael Myers Photography

 The only real drawback that I see to this lighting is that it doesn't leave the most appealing catchlight in the subjects eyes. That's where a ring flash or beauty dish would help. I'll post examples of shots with those kind of lights in the future.

© 2011 Michael Myers Photography

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3-Light Small Space Setup w/ Carlos

This is an image I shot for a modeling school's graduation. As part of their graduation they each received a 2-look photo shoot. In this shot, I would have liked to have the subject sitting farther away from the backdrop so that he didn't cast such a dark shadow, but I had to do the shoot in one of the school's classrooms, which was not very big.

© 2010 Michael Myers Photography

So the key light was just a large softbox placed camera right, and because of the small size and white walls of the room, it created a fair amount of fill light on the subject. A strobe with a 7.5" reflector was placed slightly behind and to the subject's right to give a highlight. A snooted strobe was shooting onto the backdrop for the spotlight behind the subject.

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On Location 2-Light Setup w/ Matt

This shot was part of a test shoot I did for the Linda McCallister talent agency in Dallas. We found a really cool abandoned car repair/ gas station with an old truck in front of it in Deep Ellum and decided to shoot there. I knew I wanted it to have a realistic HDR look so I set the exposure for the background and used the lighting setup in the diagram below to illuminate the subject.

© 2011 Michael Myers Photography

Placed behind and to the subject's right was a snooted strobe (you can see a bit of camera flare from it on the left side of the image) to separate him from the busy background. The key light was a large softbox placed camera right. It was super windy so I had to sandbag the snoot and have an assistant hold the softbox.

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Natural Light Studio Setup w/ Melissa

Below are two examples of a simple, natural light setup I did for Melissa's acting head shots as part of a test shoot for The Clutts Agency in Dallas. The only equipment used are two white bounce cards and camera (5D Mark II). The setup diagram is at the end.

© 2011 Michael Myers Photography

© 2011 Michael Myers Photography

The subject is facing the camera with her back to the window. The white bounce card to camera right is placed closer to the subject to reflect more of the light onto one side of her face. That's it.

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