Tuesday this week I photographed 22 Wedding dresses for a 13 page editorial in a magazine. I only had about 15 min pr. dress so I had to think how can I light well and change it fast without adjusting to much power etc. I came up with this 5 light set up (see overview) after lot’s of thinking the night before. From left lamp #1 a 74inch Elinchrom Octa Bank working as an even backlight for the whole body. Lamp #2 a square pan reflector with grid in the middle above the thunder grey Superior seamless paper background. Then lamp #3 a 2nd octa (this one medium) on the right side of the bride, is in this overview pulled more forward then in the sample shots (more back like the large octa on the left). The next light #4 is essential for this shots, it’s a spot with a grid pointed to the brides face, trying to avoid the dress. Last lamp #5 is a fill about 2 f stops under the spot and octa’s sent into my neutral grey wall and ceiling for a large fill in a high angle. The whole thinking is to light the dresses best possible which leave the face dark in the middle (see image underneath), then punch the face with the spot in a flattering way for the model (image number 2 underneath text). I almost always, inside and outside light the dress and face separately, simply because they look their best in different light 🙂 Last image shows a variation with profile, we can work so fast when assistant here quickly follow the models face with the spot. All lamps Elinchrom , camera Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, lens Canon 70-200mm. f2.8
PS. I am generally against many images in a blog, but felt this one needed it to illustrate the light well.
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