Technical Info

I've gotten a number of emails asking about what equipment I was using and it occurred to me it might be a useful addition to my web site for those who are interested in such things. I think my setup is a good example of a middle of the road studio price-wise; you could spend a ton more but it would be hard to spend a lot less and get the same functionality.

Studio

My studio shares space with my home office, or vice versa. The room is 14x25' but because of computer workstations, book shelves, a conference table and the like, my shooting area is only 10x14'. It'd be nice to have a couple more feet of width since it's tough to do groups without running off the background and it would also be nice to have more length to get the subject a bit farther away from it. Oh, ten foot ceilings would be nice too but...

I use both seamless paper and muslins for backgrounds. Both are hung from a 9.5' length of electrical conduit suspended by two short lengths of chain attached to my suspended ceiling.  Total cost was less than $10 and it works great.  I take the backgrounds down after each session. I use muslins for most portraits and paper for model shoots and more casual photos.  The three muslins I own now are from Omni International. One is a dark charcoal another is green/blue, and the third is a semi-high-key white with some other colors added.

Behind the backdrop are five display prints in sizes from 11x14 to 16x20 which I rotate as I take better ones.  I also have an easel that holds more display prints.  I've had every size made up to 30x40".

Hardware

I'm using five monolights. Two are Photogenic PL-1250's (500 ws), two are Photogenic PL-375's (150 ws) which I picked up on ebay, and my latest is an AlienBees B400 (160 ws) with a 20 degree grid.

One PL-1250 is used for my fill light with a white 42" Eclipse umbrella. The other PL-1250 is used for my key light. I alternate between a 36x48" Larson softbox, four Eclipse umbrellas (white 42", white 31", silver 42", white 60") and a 16" parabolic reflector. To date, I've gotten my best portraits with the white 60" and the softbox but I'm doing more experimenting with the others.

I use a PL-375 as my background light with Photogenic's conical background reflector and accessory kit. The accessory kit contains a frame that will hold a diffuser and/or colored gels. It also includes two reducers for use with accent lighting. I use it on a Bogen background stand with extension pole.  For hot white backgrounds I use one or both of the PL-375's with the scoop type background reflectors.

The B400 is used on a Bogen 3085 boom for the hair light. All of my light stands are Bogen 3086's. The stands used for the boom and key light are on casters. The 3086 is a bit lightweight for the boom with the ten pound counterweight and the B400 so I'll probably be adding a heavier-duty light stand for this purpose fairly soon.

I also sometimes use Wescott 42" reflectors for fill and attach those to one of my light stands with a Bogen arm made for this purpose (RH353).

A PocketWizard Plus triggers the fill light and the others are triggered by their internal slaves. Metering is done with a Sekonic L-358 flash meter that has the PocketWizard module that will also trigger my lights.

My current camera is a Canon D60.  The lens I use for portraits is the 28-135 IS.

Other hardware includes a PacificImage PrimeFilm 1800u film scanner and an Epson 890 printer.

Modus Operandi

I set my shutter to it's highest sync speed (1/200 sec) and the aperture to f8. I then decide what lighting ratio I want to use for the current subject. For most portraits, I set the fill light to f2.8, three stops under the key light, but it may be as little as one stop depending on how deep I want the shadows.  I meter the fill light alone and adjust the power until I get the desired reading.

My fill light is behind me and on the opposite side from the key light. It's positioned at roughly camera height to provide good overall illumination to the scene.

Then I turn on the key light and position it as close to my subject as physically possible. With both lights on and the meter aimed at the key light, I adjust the key light until the combined reading is f8.

Then I turn on the background light and adjust it until it meters f8 also. For low key shots I might use f4 or even no background light at all.

Finally, I shield the meter and adjust the hair light until it also reads f8, or f9.5 if I want it a little hotter.

Where I'm Going

I haven't done much with kicker or accent lights yet so those are in the plans.  I'd also like more practice with kids and small families.  I've worked some with existing light outdoors but don't have much to show for it thus far.

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