How to imitate sunlight (beach) with strobes... (pix)

Hi,

I was asked to shoot a model yesterday. My images will be used by a clever designer for a flyer for a beach dance-party. The image of the model will be placed on a beach background etc.

So in my shoot I tried to imitate sunlight. Boy, that turned out to be harder than I thought! Have you any input for me?

Here's what I was thinking. Sunlight on the beach is direct and pretty harsh. Strong lught creates strong shadows. I ended up using a Bowens 500W lamp in a 60x80cm softbox (20x30" or thereabouts), with a black cloth close to the models right side (viewer left).

Here's what I came up with. Please let me know what I could have done better. These images are straight from the camera; no white-balance or histogram corrections.

Rogier





















--
Rogier Bos
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Digital communication and imaging
web: http://www.rogierbos.com/
photoblog: http://ourjourney.typepad.com/photo/

To imitate sunlight try shooting with a bare bulb flash as the main light.

Do not use any reflector, and place the head as high up in the studio as possible. I like to place the strobe in a vertical position to light all over.

Pump up the light to achieve f/16 at 100 ASA. and then fill with softer source such as soft box stopped down to f/11.

That's my formula... Hope it helps...

Scott

... strong directional light. Soft fill at least 2 stops below "sunlight" strobe.

This shot was taken in total shade using a strobe to simulate the sun at sunset. It's not a great shot (it wasn't really setup properly as my "assistants" were other photographers who weren't nearly as interested in my shot as I was) but it illustrates the concept.

Strong directional light from camera left. Feathered light from camera right - just enough to fill in the shadows. Actually, a fair amount of fill was provided by ambient light (dragging the shutter).

In this shot, the light from the flash was "warmed" by manipulating the WB in PP. Other options would be gelling the flash or manipulating the camera's WB.

Ralph

Another effective technique I used for miniature shooting is to put a blue cel on the fill flashes (or slightly purple for late afternoon/evening). There is a lot of extra blue lighting coming in from the blue sky. Dark, muddy shadows just screams "indoors". Surprising how effective that can be.

-- A bare camera-top flash makes an excellent simulation of sunlight because it is small and therefore reproduces the same kind of sharpness of shadow.

-- Position the flash off-camera and adjust the height to correspond to the appropriate time of day.

-- If that time is within 2 hours of sunrise/sunset, with the light lower and sideways going, the flashlight should be warmed up a little with an amber coloured gel.

-- For fill use a reflector that copies the background colour of the beach in question.

Note: Softboxes simulate Hazy Sunshine with shadows much softer at the edges.... not llike the sharp shadows of clear sun.
--
Regards,
Baz

I should have mentioned in my post above....

-- There is no lack of bounced back "fill" lighting from a beach in sunshine. Indeed, fully HALF the actual volume of light hitting the subject on a sunlit beach is that returned from the ground. For this reason the black cloth was a bit of a mistake, really. You should have been using a reflector instead.... depending on the colour of the intended sand(?) it could have been a warm-toned one.

-- Alternatively, you could have used your warm-toned softbox in the fill role, positioned close UNDER the camera.

Sorry I did not put this in the previous post.
--
Regards,
Baz

The other thing the sun does that's not been mentioned yet, is not fall off in brightness.

you've got to get your flash far away from the subject to even attempt to recreate this. Using a focused spot light attachment helps with the sunlight look as well.

You've got to keep it very powerful, and try to keep it's size about the size of the sun.

A far away softbox with a very powerful flash would really be a huge step in the right direction.

Hi Rogier,

Normally the first thing to ask is for the image where your model photo is to be inserted.

This will tell you which side the sun is coming from, how much reflectance is needed and whether it is sensible to use transparent clothing (!).

Without this you're pretty much guessing.

--
Ian.

Samples of work: http://www.AccoladePhotography.co.uk
Weddings: http://www.AccoladeWeddings.com
Events: http://www.OfficialPhotographer.com

Theres only one sun. Why do I need more than one light to get a natural result?

Thanks to all your replies. I agree that the light source should have been higher so that the light-drop-off would have been minimal. Unfortunately I was working in an office building and this was as high as the ceiling allowed me to go. Also, gelling the shadows in blue was a good idea - I'll remember that for next time.

You live and you learn. Perhaps the designer can correct the image to make it look like a sunny day...

Rogier

--
Rogier Bos
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Digital communication and imaging
web: http://www.rogierbos.com/
photoblog: http://ourjourney.typepad.com/photo/

RogierBos said:

Thanks to all your replies. I agree that the light source should have
been higher so that the light-drop-off would have been minimal.
Unfortunately I was working in an office building and this was as
high as the ceiling allowed me to go. Also, gelling the shadows in
blue was a good idea - I'll remember that for next time.

Click to expand...

Gelling shadows to blue not a good idea.

Only the shadows ON the horizontal beach are blue, because they are facing the sky. Shadows on vertical front face of subject get more light from bounce-back off the beach. These shadows are not usually blue, even on a clear day with no clouds.
--
Regards,
Baz