Lighting For Photo

Everyday is a good day for a swimwear photo session. Even if the daylight is a bit dull.

Swimwear fashion photo session behind the scenes

Photographer Eivind Røhne gives you a great lighting setup for swimwear fashion photography:

A lot of the fashion stuff I do is photographed abroad, especially since Norway is a rather cold place in November when we often do new spring and summer fashion stuff. This is for a magazine I work with, and this time we travelled to Malta. We try to utilize the time as best we can, and shoot constantly during the time we’re there. We manage to get a lot of stuff done rather quickly, and that’s great for a magazine. Time is money. And to do that you have to work as light, easy and fast as you can. So most of the time we use California Sunbounce reflectors and also diffusors.

It was a bit cloudy this early morning, with no direct sunlight on the model. Unfortunately the swimming pool at our hotel wasn’t heated, and even though it may look warm, the water was only about 14 degrees Celsius. And when a model has to do 40 swimsuits in cold water, I try to work as fast and easy as possible. A happy model is a good model!

The hidden sun is behind the model to the right in the picture, as you can see from the glow on the skin. To fill in the front side of the model, I used a California Sunbounce mini (with zebra or half gold color as you could call it) right in front of her. I put it at an angle, resting on my camera bag. The model stood about a meter in front of it, stepping in and out of the pool with 40 swimsuits. The light was metered with a handheld Sekonic, to get an accurate reading of the light falling on the model, without the camera being tricked by the lighter background. At ISO 50 I got f/5 and 1/125 secs, and it was all shot on a medium format digital Hasselblad.

As you can see from the behind-the-scenes picture, the light is actually rather dull with no punch or contrast, but the reflector did an amazing job of giving us beautiful soft light.

A hot senorita in Oslo.

Variations in the lighting setup gives a more punchy expression

Lighting diagram for hot fashion

Norwegian photographer Eivind Røhne gives you a great case studie of hot fashion.

This fashion shoot was for an Italian client, but done here in Oslo (Norway) in the middle of the summer. The theme for this editorial was ”hot”, and my inspiration came from old westerns, with those great looking desert and their deadly hot temperatures. And of course from those hot and exciting Mexican senoritas!

I used the low evening sun of summer about 45 degrees left of my camera, and put up an Elinchrom 600W lamp with a big Octa shaped softbox in the opposite direction of the sun. Or else the model would just be a silhouette. I metered the existing light so the sky would blow out in the areas close to the sun, but keep details in the rest of the blue sky. Then I metered up the Elinchrom to fill in the opposite side of the sun, but not as powerful as the sunlight. Maybe a stop or so below if I remember right. I also had an assistant holding a reflector to fill in some of the shadows in between. Plus, I had an assistant holding an ordinary black umbrella between the sun and my camera, so I could control the amount of sunlight hitting my lens. As you can see from these two shots, one is controlled and punchy, and the other is more hazy and with less contrast. The punchy one is a result of the umbrella being held so that no light reached my lens. The other one, with that fantastic hot summer haze and less contrast, is because the assistant was holding the umbrella so that a little bit of sunlight reached my lens. Not much, just a little.

The whole shoot was shot with a 22mp Hasselblad digital medium format camera tethered to a laptop. Everything from the lighting, laptop, and all the utilities of the hair dressers and the makeup artist was powered by a portable 1200w petrol generator. The model was prepared in a salon before travelling to the shoot, and the rest of the hair and makeup was done on location. Aaahh the great outdoors!

Norwegian photographer Eivind Røhne

Lighting for photo: – Who are you and where are you from?

Eivind Røhne: – I’m an enthusiastic and energetic photographer from Oslo in Norway, and I’m currently living just 10 minutes out of central Oslo. I’m a professional fashion, people, portrait and wedding photographer, but sometimes I do other stuff as well. Like when someone needs some crazy guy hanging out of a Ferrari or something with a camera at 60 mph for an editorial, they don’t have to ask me twice. My clients are mainly Norwegian, but I also have several clients from around the globe. Even though Oslo and Norway is my main base, I do photoshoots around the world. Sometimes (=very often…) the weather in Norway just isn’t right, so lots of fashion stuff is done abroad.

Lighting for photo: – Any websites or blogs?

Eivind Røhne: – My main website is beyondtheice.no. I redesigned it just in time for summer, and an English version is hopefully coming out soon. It’s mainly pictures though, and pictures speak louder than words. I’ve also got a blog at fotografeivindrohne.blogspot.com with behind the scenes stuff, news from photoshoots, samples etc. The blog’s only in Norwegian. I used to have an English version as well, but didn’t have the time to keep two blogs updated at all times. But if you don’t read Norwegian, this is a great chance to learn!

Lighting for photo: – How old are you?

Eivind Røhne: – I’m a classic! A model -68 that is…

Lighting for photo: – How long have you been into photography?

Eivind Røhne: – Professionally I started out in the late 90’s, but I’ve been a keen photographer since childhood. Started out with fantastic film cameras from Pentax and Hasselblad, and also spent my time in those smelly darkrooms. Charming, at least when you could combine the smell of chemicals with a class of good red wine. But then one day in January 2005, I borrowed a 22 megapixel digital medium format Hasselblad and I was just hooked! I borrowed it for some time, tested it on several assignments, and ended up buying one. Had to wait until early summer 2005 before it was delivered though. I think I was one of the very first here in Norway to have one, and it really beat the crap out of everything else digital at that time. I’ve been fully digital since, apart for some personal projects and art that I still shoot on medium format film.

Lighting for photo: – What is your dream assignment?

Eivind Røhne: – It would be cool doing a big fashion story with cover and everything for Vogue of course, or a major campaign from one of the really big designer houses. None mentioned – none forgotten, so feel free to get in touch anyone! Or maybe get to travel around the globe to meet and photograph the 10 most important leaders of our time my way. Or for something more local, it would be cool to shoot the next fashion campaign for two Norwegian designers called “Moods of Norway”. They design really cool stuff, and basically just seem like great guys to work with.

Lighting for photo: – Who is your favorite photographer?

Eivind Røhne: – It’s really very hard to name a favorite photographer. I’m influenced by a lot of imagery, and it’s the images that impress and inspire me, more than the persons doing them. But I enjoy the work from people like Penn, Avedon, Bailey, Newton, Testino and LaChapelle. And also a bunch of the good old painters and artists like Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Da Vinci.

Lighting for photo: – What is the most common beginner mistake when it comes to lighting?

Eivind Røhne: – I think the most common mistake is that people think they need to buy lots of lighting stuff, and many people over-light things as well. My goal is not to overcomplicate things, but rather solve them the best way I can, with the least amount of equipment. Sometimes you can do wonders with a bit of tin-foil, a white piece of cloth, or one small flash unit. I think it’s more how you see the light and position yourself with the camera, than how many watts you can throw at the subject.

Lighting for photo: – What is your favorite lighting setup?

Eivind Røhne: – I don’t really have one. It all depends on the job and the mood I want to create. But I really do love natural lights with reflectors and stuff, and maybe also mixing it with some flash.

Lighting for photo: – What is your worst photo experience?

Eivind Røhne: – I have had 3-4 times in the studio when the freakin’ Hasselblad digital camera systems have just given up, and I’ve had to get dealer support at times when they’re really not meant to be that supportive… It’s no fun when a camera system costing more than a car just gives up on you with the client and a big team present. I’ve never had any other cameras breaking down but the digital Hasselblads. Not my current digital Nikons, or any other digital camera either by the way… Money really doesn’t buy you reliability if you ask me. Just lots of pixels and an aching back…

Lighting for photo: – What’s your future plans?

Eivind Røhne: – I get a lot of tips from others that I should get myself an agent. So if anyone knows of any good agents, or any good agents reads this, feel free to get in touch!

Fashion photography without using any lighting equipment

Sometimes a window and a wall will do the job

This narrow room is not just an interesting rough looking location. It also provides good lighting possibilities, because of the short distance between the window and the wall on the other side of the room. Cecilie Harris took this photo without using any lighting equipment at all. Impressive.

So if you don’t own a lot of lighting equipment. Just smash down your toilet and you have a fully functional DIY photo studio.

Fashion photography using only natural light

Lighting diagram for fashion photography in natural light

Believe it or not but this stunning fashion photo by Cecilie Harris is shot using 100 percent natural light. Cecilie and the model were under a bridge to avoid direct sunlight and used the reflected light from the right.

On the right location, a reflector and a speedlight is all you need to shoot amazing fashion photos.

The key light is natural and a speedlight is backlighting the wall.

Photographer Cecilie Harris shows us how to shoot amazing fashion with only a speedlight and a reflector. The unusual location provides light through a hole in the roof.

The beauty dish gives a hard light that feels just right for fashion photography

Lighting diagram for fashion photography with beauty dish and reflector

Here’s another great shot from photographer Cecilie Harris. The beauty dish gives a bit harder light than a softbox. If you don’t want the light to be too hard, you can use a reflector to reduce some of the shadows.

A window, a reflector, two models and ...voila!

Even when shooting two models, Cecilie knows how to do it with a minimum of lighting equipment.

Here is a stylish black and white fashion photo by photographer Cecilie Harris. The lighting setup is very simple using only a window and a reflector, yet the result is amazing. Very inspiring!

Cecilie Harris in deep concentration

London based photographer Cecilie Harris is shooting fashion, portrait, and since she is working at a music studio, she is also shooting musiscians. She will share some of her great lighting setups.

Lighting for photo: – Where are you from?

Cecilie Harris: – I’m from Norway, but have lived in London for the last 11 years.

Lighting for photo: – How old are you?

Cecilie Harris: – 36…. shhhhhh

Lighting for photo: – How long have you been into photography?

Cecilie Harris: – I’ve always been photographing, as it seems to be the “thing” we do in my family. But only started doing my photography more seriously about three years ago.

Lighting for photo: – Do you prefer studio or location sessions?

Cecilie Harris: – I much prefer locations, as for me that helps create a story in the image. It also tends to give the models I’m working with more to play with. Of course there are challenges like “you’re not supposed to be shooting here” or weather challenges, but it’s part of the fun to work around anything that creates a challenge.

Lighting for photo: – What is your dream assignment?

Cecilie Harris: – Shooting Natalie Portman at an amazing location with a super team

Lighting for photo: – What other photograpers do you like?

Cecilie Harris: – I love photographers that can create beauty from something ordinary. I love editorials by Craig McDean, Greg Kadel, Tim Walker, Solve Sundbo and Patrick Demarchelier at the moment.

Lighting for photo: – What is your favorite piece of photo equipment?

Cecilie Harris: – My Canon 5D mark2

Lighting for photo: – What is the most common beginners misstakes when it comes to lighting?

Cecilie Harris: – I’ve probably done them all! I think to master something it’s healthy to do mistakes and learn from them. There are so many ways to light things, and personally I don’t use massive amounts of expensive lighting equipment. I love to use natural light where possible. I quickly learned that if use use lenses that lets in enough light and use reflectors to bounce the available light where I want it, I can get some great results.

Lighting for photo: – What is your favorite lighting setup?

Cecilie Harris: – Outdoor I prefer using natural lighting and bring my trusted reflector (and someone to hold it). In studio I love my beauty dish, and then use some fill on one or two sides or from the back, pending on what effect I’m trying to achieve.

Lighting for photo: – What is your worst photo experience?

Cecilie Harris: – Working with models that can’t model, but think they can.

If you want to know more about Cecilie, have a look at here:

Website: www.cecilieharris.co.uk

Agency: A selection of my images are with Camera Press and available for magazines and websites to purchase for publication

Blog: cecilieharris.blogspot.com

Twitter: twitter.com/CecilieNH

Gel filter lighting setup

The white balance settings are important too when using colored gel filters.

Gel filters can really change the impression of the photo. In this photo of Professor Martin J. Blaser, photographer Pontus Höök is using two different colored gel filters to get this expressive effect.

The reflections to the left is from a glass cage used for scientific research. Professor Martin J. Blaser has been researching the bacteria behind ulcers.