Go-To Lighting Setups

Click to Enlarge

Do you have  a go-to lighting setup? One you employ more than others? I sure do. I have other lighting setups I sometimes employ, you know, other than my main, go-to, setup. But my go-to set-up is the one. The lighting set-up that trumps the other lighting set-ups I sometimes use in terms of frequency of use. Leastwise, when I'm shooting glam/tease. And it trumps all the others combined.

What set-up I use often depends on the environment I'm shooting in. (And other factors probably not worth mentioning.) More often than not, though, I'm going to go with my "go-to" for most of what I shoot.  It's quick to set up and I don't have to think much about it. I just set it up and shoot. That way, my focus and attention is mostly where it should be: on the model, from the beginning to the end of the shoot.

That probably sounds rather boring, shooting in the same ways, lighting-wise, most of the time. And it kind of is boring from that perspective. But the thing is, my clients expect consistency in my work. In fact, they rely on it. In other words, they rely on me to produce that consistency every time they hire me. That's why I generally rely on the same  (boring) consistently-used lighting setup... because I generally prefer being hired and paid... consistently.

Much of my work, the glam/tease/nude work I produce for clients, has me shooting models against a seamless.  For that stuff, my go-to setup is definitely "go-to."  Time is often a factor, lack of it that is, so I go to my go-to setup not only because it represents my general, consistent, overall lighting style, but also because I can get set up with my go-to set-up quite quickly, with little thought, and then be shooting, also rather quickly, when I employ it... my main go-to-lighting setup that is.

There's a behind-the-scenes image of my go-to lighting setup posted below, albeit it's not set up in front of a seamless background. It's in a grungy, dirty, nasty, impound garage we were shooting in.

As you can see, my go-to lighting setup involves three lights. It's sort of like the traditional 3-Point (or triangular) lighting setup that's been around since, well, since lighting set-ups have been around. The old-school, 3-Point, triangular lighting set-up is comprised of a main or key light, a fill light, and a back light. My go-to, modified, 3-point, triangular lighting setup features a main or key light, just like the traditional 3-point lighting set-up relies on, but the two other lights aren't a fill and a back light. Instead, they're both set as back lights. (Plus, I often set a reflector to fill-in for the missing fill light.)

By the way, I usually dial-up my two back lights to about 1/3 of a stop brighter than my main. Sometimes, I might crank them up to a half-stop brighter. It depends on the brightness of the background and/or whether I want the highlights a bit more tame or very obvious. Occasionally, I let them blow out. But that's a style thing. My main light for this image is a Photoflex 5' Octo. The two back lights are shoot-through umbrellas. They're either 2' or 30" in diameter. Images were snapped with a Canon 85mm f/1.8 prime on a classic Canon 5D. (ISO 100, f/7.1, 125th.)  Also, I'm a PocketWizard guy. That's how I trigger my lights.

As you can see, the image at the top is one from the set I snapped in that dirty garage (seen below) with my go-to, 3-Point, triangular lighting set-up. Personally, I think it works just peachy.

 

Cick to Enlarge

No Rest for the Weary

Click to Enlarge

Call me crazy. Call me determined. Call me whatever you want. I have rhino skin.  (Please note: I said "rhino" and not "RINO."  I'm not that second thing in name only or in any other way.)

 Politics aside -- after all, politics have nothing to do with this blog, although I am going to be photographing  campaign photos for a woman running for the California State Legislature in the not too distant future -- my skin is thick, very thick. It took quite a few years to grow and cultivate it to its present state of thickosity.  Heck. If it gets any thicker, I might have to become a Marvel Avenger. Bullets, arrows, and weaponized insults will bounce off me... metaphorically speaking, of course.

Anyway, politics, thick skin, and metaphors aside, I'm not going to rest on the recent release of my newest ebook, Location Flash. It's doing quite well, by the way, sales-wise. It's even spawned additional sales of my previous ebook, Flash-Free Portrait Photography, that I released last July.  Gotta love when that happens.  I've already received some pretty good feedback from a number of buyers/readers of the new book. My ego just loves those little cyber-strokes!

A woman in Slovakia (Yes, Slovakia) emailed me to say how much she likes the ebook and to ask me a question: a clarification of something on the technical side that's in my latest book. I kind of chuckled. Not because of her kind words about the book or the question she asked. (She writes in English perfectly, I might add. How many English speakers could you say the same about for writing in Slovak or whatever they speak there?) I chuckled because I suddenly realized I'm a bookseller in Slovakia! Heck, I'm not sure I could pin-point Slovakia on a world map.  Yet, I'm a bookseller in that far off land! Cool, no?

Okay... Politics, my thick skin, metaphors, and Slovakian bookselling aside -- I never thought I'd write a sentence with those words in it -- I'm not resting on the release of my latest ebook just two days ago. I've already begun working on the next book and I hope to complete it within a few months or so. What's my next ebook? (Drum roll, please!) A follow up  to my very first ebook released three-and-a-half years ago: Guerrilla Glamour.   (You probably already figured that out because of the graphic at the top, but I like trying to build tension in my blog writing, whether I'm successful at doing so or not.) Three-and-a-half years! Damn! Time flies when you're authoring ebooks.

I've had a number of people over the past three years ask why I don't put together a follow-up to Guerrilla Glamour? Well, no reason other than I had other stuff to write. It's like a calling, you know?

I even came up with a really clever, catchy, title for this next one.  I'm going with  "Guerrilla Glamour 2."  (As you also already guessed, also from the graphic up top.) Wow! Cleverness, catchy-ness, and tension building! How's that for blogging skills?

Guerrilla Glamour 2 will build on what's in Guerrilla Glamour. As the sub-title says, it's all about kicking up your glamour photography a notch or two.  Who knows? Maybe more than one or two notches? Maybe three... or four!  Perhaps it will take people's photography to that "next level" less clever bloggers and ebook promoters like to say... again, and again, and again.  Anyway, I've already begun writing it. I have a whole two pages done!  And, as you can plainly see, I've also invested the time to slap together a temporary book cover for it. All that in two days!  Plus, playing the role of bean-counter watching my sales figures! Yeah. I can multi-task!

I'm on a roll, people. A freakin' roll!

The pretty girl featured on my interim GG2 cover is the beautiful and sensuous Penthouse Pet of the Month and Hustler cover girl, Celeste Star, who, I might add, is a heck of a lot of fun to work with!

New "Location Flash" eBook Released!

I'm super excited to announce the official release of my newest eBook, "Location Flash: How to Shoot Awesome Portraits Combining Natural and Artificial Light."

I've put a lot of work into this book. It covers it all, flash-added-daylight-portrait-shooting-wise. Well, nearly all. Covering it all, that is ALL all, would take multiple volumes. But I think I've got the really important stuff covered.

If you're interested in elevating your skills when adding flash to your daylight portraits, and no matter what kinds of portraits you're shooting -- weddings and events, babies, kids, seniors, families, entertainers, models, business and professional people -- it's all the same when it comes to the lighting skills you need to possess and have comfortably at your disposal. 

To learn more about how this new eBook and how it will help you improve your flash-added daylight portraiture, please  CLICK HERE.

By the way, that's not the official cover for the book up top. It's an alternate cover. But since the actual cover for the book features a child, I didn't think it appropriate to post it on a glamour photography blog.  I was considering using the cover (above) as *the* cover for a while though. But like most things, things change.

New eBook Right Around the Corner!

It's done! I've been putting in a lot of hours finishing my latest ebook, "Location Flash,"  and it's finally done... well, sort of done. Yep. The book is finished, actually it's been finished for a few days, but now I'm focused on the editing and proofing part.  If the title doesn't automatically tell you what this new ebook is about, I will:  Shooting portraits (of all kinds) in natural light (daylight) with flash added. 

"Location Flash" is my 5th ebook.  It's 90 pages in length with 8 chapters, arjound 20,000 words, and 82 images-- most of them photos, many of which I went out and snapped specifically for the book. It also includes a smattering of other graphics in that image count. Twenty-thousand words, by the way, is considered (by "experts" who count words for this sort of stuff) as the minimum length for a mainstream adult novella or a novel aimed at teens and young adults. Yeah. I did a quick Google search on word-count for books.

I think I've got the subject of using flash in daylight moderately well covered. It's a big subject. So, what I focused on was the basics as well as lighting strategies. It isn't an overblown tutorial for speedlights. "Location Flash" is aimed at novice through intermediate photographers looking to develop and hone their skills adding flash to natural light. It isn't gear or brand-biased. I used small flash instruments for the pics as well as studio strobes with portable power.  I covered shooting with flash in manual mode, as well as Av (Aperture Priority) and Tv (Shutter Priority) modes, and why you might use any of those modes. I paid special attention to the different and unique (yet related) functions of aperture and shutter speed when adding flash to daylight. (As opposed to their functions shooting in natural or constant light light alone.)

I went out of my way to author a stand-alone book but, for those who have read my last ebook, "Flash-Free Portraits,"  it also serves as something of a sequel, but this time out adding flash to daylight-only portraiture.

Release of "Location Flash" is right around the corner. Like I said, I'm still proofing and editing... and proofing and editing some more. Plus, I still have to build the "sell" page for it. But that shouldn't take too long.  Look for it real soon!

The book cover (shown above) is not the book's actual and final cover. It's an early mock-up of what I thought I might use for the cover. The final cover includes a photo of a 7-year-old girl which I didn't think would be appropriate to post on this glamour photography blog. 

Dan Does it Again!

My favorite nude and glamour photographer in the Czech Republic has done it again!  Dan Hostettler of Studio Prague has come out with another terrific posing guide: "fashionNUDES & Freestyle Poses." Better  yet, for the next ten days you can get your very own copy minus 25% off the purchase price by using discount code PROMO25 at checkout.

That's right! A whopping 25% off simply by using discount code PROMO25 at checkout. But it's only good for the next ten days.

In his newest glamour, nude, and fashion-nude posing guide, Dan takes you to another level of posing with the help of the beautiful, sexy, and alluring Vicka Starr.  Let Vicka and Dan show you the kind of posing techniques that will get your photos noticed! Become inspired by loads of sexy, professionally-performed poses that will help you learn how emotions, expressions, stories, and more will elevate your "pretty girl" nude, glamour, and fashion-nude photography.

To learn more about Dan's awesome new posing guide and/or to get your own copy at 25% off, CLICK HERE.  And don't forget to use discount code PROMO25 at checkout!

Tell 'em Jimmy sent you!

Become One With Your Camera

Click to Enlarge

Been working on my next (and 5th) ebook: Location Flash. I hope to get it done and released in the next few weeks. I have a few more photos to snap for it but that's the fun part. They're not random photos, of course. Rather, they're images that help illustrate the ideas, concepts, and techniques described in the book.

Unlike some other ebooks on the market, mine aren't about showing off my photography. Mine aren't about teaching people to shoot pictures that look like mine. (Not that I'm saying anyone would necessarily want to do that.) My ebooks encourage readers to develop their own styles and ways of doing things. I provide information that people can take, incorporate into their production work-flows and methodologies, and do just that-- make the photos their own and not some cookie-cutter images mimicking the work of other shooters.  My aim with my ebooks is to help less experienced photographers develop their photographic potentials... and to earn a few bucks for my Paypal account. (Hey! At least I'm honest about that part, right?)

Superstar photographer, Annie Leibovitz, once said she uses her camera "in a Zen way." It's a telling statement that resonates with me. It doesn't mean she walks around wearing the orange robes of a Buddhist monk with a camera in her hand. It means -- leastwise, for me it does -- that she becomes one with her camera when it's in her hands. In other words, it becomes a part of her. An extension of herself.

How do we become one with our cameras?  Well, doing so requires learning about our cameras. Not so much what makes them tick but how to make them tick in ways we want them to tick. We should be learning as much as we can about them in terms of  how they function, what their controls do and where they're located, what their many capabilities are (or few depending on the camera) so we can best employ that knowledge in order to capture the images we hope to capture. We become one with our cameras when we know these things inside out, when they become like second nature, automatic, as if our cameras are extensions of ourselves, like another limb or hand or a part of our limbs and hands.  Especially those functions, controls, and capabilities that are most important to the sorts of photos we most often snap.

Remember the Johhnny Depp film, Edward Scissorhands?  That's what I'm talking about. Our cameras should become (for us) like Edward's scissor hands were to him. He was one with his scissor hands.  We, as photographers, should become one with our cameras.

And guess what happens when we become one with out cameras?  We are free to bring our creative selves to the images rather than worrying about (or trying to figure out) how we can do this or that with our inanimate instruments/tools designed and manufactured to do just that: to free us creatively from the some, if not many, of the technical sides of photography.  But doing so requires investing time in what often seems like the mundane. The least glamorous part of photography. The technical part.

My ebooks, by the way, don't teach people the tech side of their cameras. That's something for them to learn about on their own. Fortunately, most cameras come with an instruction manual, a user guide. Crack it open. Spend some quality time with it. Seek out other technical guides that will help you become one with your camera and then practice what you've learned.  Practice, practice, practice. I guarantee the time invested will be well spent. It will pay-off dividends. It will help you become one with your camera. You might not end up as successful a photographer as Annie Leibovitz -- or perhaps you might --  but you will become a better photographer. A much better photographer.  You can take that to the bank.

The gratuitous, golden-hued, eye candy at the top is Charmaine. She's lit with a 33.5" Mola "Euro" beauty dish for the main, a couple of strip boxes either side for kickers, and a small soft box boomed overhead for a hair light. I put a small piece of Rosco's Bastard Amber gel on the glass baffle of the Mola dish to warm her up a bit. Some photographers like to use a bit of CTO gel (Color Temperature Orange) to do that but I prefer Bastard Amber. My second choice for skin-warming gels is "Straw."  I rarely, if ever, use CTO, leastwise for warming up the skin displayed by my glamour models.