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Multiple lights, Multiple colors setup – The Lighting Series #8

Jan 6, 2019 by Stefan Kohler Leave a Comment

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There is one genre of photography that is black and white. There is another genre that is exactly the opposite and it is full of color. Today’s breakdown belongs to the second genre.

Nikon D800, 85mm f1.8 @f9, ISO 100, 1/200s

The lighting series is a comprehensive lighting guide. We talk about flash photography, lighting, posing, color, and walk you through a series of lighting setups. Some will be simple, some complex, but in the end, they are all tools to add to your photography toolbox. Here is a complete list of the lighting tutorials.

  • How to create a low-key boudoir portrait
  • How to color backgrounds with light
  • How to mimic sunlight in the studio
  • The perfect white background
  • The shadow game
  • Lighting a beauty shot
  • Face projections
  • Multiple lights, Multiple colors setup
  • Stylized portrait, right out of the camera
  • The Black and White portrait
  • Soft fashion light
  • Healthy skin tones
Download as a free advanced lighting eBook

Lighting gear

  • 3x Striplights with an orange gel on three 500Ws monoblocks
  • 1x 150cm octabox with cyan gel on a 1000Ws monoblock
  • 1x normal reflector with an orange gel on a 500Ws monoblock
  • 1x hand-painted Gravity background

Lighting setup

Granted, this setup is complex and leaves little scope for the model – but it is pretty grand at the same time.

The main light is a 150cm octabox with a cyan gel hanging from the ceiling in front of the model. The light is being feathered (See Setup # 2).

From the left and right, two striplights create a symmetrical light edge and the whole scene is lit from the bottom-front with a third striplight, which also had an orange gel.

Behind the model, there is another strobe with a normal reflector, which gives the background a vignetted effect.

The background is a hand-painted backdrop by Gravity. These backgrounds fill the scene completely. Think of them as paintings; no painter would ignore large areas of a canvas. Their presence brings a great deal to the composition.

The camera position was not easy, because you are using very big softboxes. The mix of focal length, distance, and position is a bit tricky.

Individual Light Sources

Main light

The octabox is directed perpendicular to the ground in front of the model. The shadows are important here. We absolutely need shadows in the picture as they are going to carry the highly saturated color.

Side lights

The same applies to the lights from the side. Two striplights form a clean edge of light, filling the shadows of the main light.

Main light + side lights

Used in combination, two colors—cyan and orange—result in high color saturation. If you were to mix the the two colors, you would produce a reddish white rather than the intense orange/blue tones.

Light from below

The legs lost a bit of color, so to compensate for that we used a discreet softbox. It lightens up the remaining shadows and produces an orange tone.

Main light + ground light

The ground light and main light together produce distinct colours but nothing is too bright to reduce the shadows.

Background

The light for the background was hidden behind the model. This is a bit tricky, because a slight sideways movement from the model will immediately reveal the equipment. As I said, the model doesn’t have much room for maneuvers.

Downloads

For the pictures in the article, we used the light simulation Set.A.Light 3D. You can download the lighting setup and try everything for yourself. You can also download this series as a free ebook.

If you’ve never worked with Set.a.Light before, you should give it a try! There is also a free demo version on the website, which you can use to open these setups.

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Related posts:

Lighting a beauty shot – The Lighting Series #6 Lighting setup: Textured fashion lighting with coloured gels Lighting setup: Classic editorial portrait lighting Healthy skin tones – The Lighting Series #12

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: color, flash photography, lighting, The Lighting Series

Stefan Kohler: from diyphotography.net

About Stefan Kohler

Stefan Kohler is a full-time retoucher. He's from Germany and likes bacon. In the last years, he built up a broad community around his retouching classes at the Infinite tool's website. You can follow his work oninstagram.

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