Guestblog Patrick Fatigati

In our series guestbloggers it’s time for Patrick Fatigati today.
For the guestbloggers I try to find photographers, models, MUAs, Stylists etc. that can give our readers an interesting read. All Guestbloggers are selected by me for their work, reactions on fora or simply put because I think they can add something to the blog 😀
I hope you enjoy the series and would now like to give the blog to Patrick Fatigati:

Sometimes, one light is all you need

I would like to share how much I love working with just one light for fashion and beauty photography. Sure, you can create stunning lighting effects using three, five, or twenty lights if you want, but I do like to push how much I can do with only one. It can give you that clean and simple, yet effective, look you were going for.

This is the first example of why I like using just one light.
For this shot of Madria, I wanted to give a warm, sensual feel to the viewer, so my intention was to bathe her face in soft light, without any accent lights for the background or hair, which would have given a more “snappy” feel to the picture. I needed the softbox to light the model’s face, her dress, and the background. I wanted the model’s face to be the point of interest in the picture, which is why it is the most brightly lit area.

To achieve this, I simply placed the SB slightly higher than the model, angled down toward her face, at about 60 degrees from camera axis so it would light some of the background as well. The SB was as close as possible to Madria’s face, as I wanted to achieve a visual contrast that would make her facial features stand out.

Theory plug : The closer you put the light source to your subject, the faster the light fall-off, meaning the transition from light to shadow will be more evident (remember the inverse-square law). This is useful for creating the illusion of depth on a person’s face, or any 3D object.

I took an exposure reading near the model’s forehead (the closest area to the light source) with the dome pointing toward the light source – thanks Frank ;). At the given value, since the white, seamless background was a few feet away, it was several shades of grey.

Here is the result after a minimal amount of post production, consisting of minor skin retouching – and some sharpening of course.

For my second example, I will use a shot of Jasmine.

I first needed the softbox to light Jasmine’s face and the mask equally, continue along her body while hitting the sofa, then end on the boots. I wanted to have as few shadows as possible on both faces, so I placed the SB to my right, at the model’s level, pointing at her face but angled slightly left (you can tell just by looking at the shadows on the nose). It was maybe three feet away from her. I needed to place it at a good distance as I wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be too much difference between the light on her face versus her legs.

Again, I wanted the faces to be the point of interest in the pictures, so they are the most lit. I wanted the boots to blend with the background (the picture kind of “ends” there and I didn’t want to create too much tension between them and the faces). The boots were the farthest from the light source, but only a small amount of light was needed since they are made of PVC (highly reflective), so it was easy to get specular highlights that would define their shape without giving them off too much.

Here is the result with some PP, consisting of the usual skin retouching and sharpening, some darkening on the lower part of the sofa, and some play with saturation to make the mask’s feathers stand out more.

In the end, we have to keep in mind that even if at first it seems like using one light is more difficult (and it can be), you will always be rewarded for trying it, even if you realize you need more than one. Plus, a scene you thought needed three lights might only need two, and in my personal opinion, the less lights, the more natural the look.

Last but certainly not least, a sincere thank you to Frank Doorhof for having my post on his blog and for teaching me what I know. I highly recommend his DVDs and workshops; they have been very helpful!

Thanks for reading!
Patrick Fatigati
www.modelmayhem.com/pf1