Lights, Camera... Nude!: A Guide to Lighting the Female Nude for Photography (6 page)
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Authors: A. K. Nicholas
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Lights
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One monolight, minimum 600 watt seconds
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Second monolight, minimum 300 watt seconds
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Modifiers:
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Small softbox 24”x24” or larger
•
Two 48” shoot-through umbrellas
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One 48” collapsible reflector white/gold
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Light stands: Two 8’
Photo 23: Light kit 1
Model: Narzahni C.
4 Lights, Practical setup
This set up is economical and represents the minimum for attempting most studio lighting. The sock style diffusers are much more economical than softboxes and quite sufficient for background lighting. You can come close to many of the lighting setups in this guide using this list of equipment, but to achieve everything in the guide you’ll need to spend more.
A shoot-through umbrella can be used to reflect light or diffuse by shooting through it. The sock type diffusers quickly slip over the light heads with an elastic band and can help you economically diffuse the background lights.
The monolights allow you a portable two-light system for location shoots as well as a backup should your main pack fail.
•
Monolight, minimum 300ws
•
Monolight, minimum 600ws
•
One
p
ower
p
ack (
minimum 600ws
)
•
Two
strobe
heads
•
Modifiers:
•
Small softbox 24”x24” or larger
•
Two 48” shoot-through umbrellas
•
One 48” collapsible reflector white/gold
•
Two
40-degree grids to fit strobe heads
•
F
our
sock diffusers
•
Light stands:
•
Two 8’
•
T
wo
heavy duty 10
’
Practical Tip: Move freely. Use a wireless trigger instead of a sync cord.
Photo 24: Light kit 2
Model: Narzahni C.
5 Lights: Versatile Power
This light kit contains the equipment you would need to shoot the vast majority of images in this guide.
•
Monolight, minimum 300ws
•
Monolight, minimum 600ws
•
One power pack (minimum 600ws)
•
T
hree
strobe heads
•
Modifier:
w
hite beauty dish
, minimum 22”,
with grid
•
Modifier:
s
trip
softbox
, 17”x54” or taller
•
Modifier
s
:
t
wo s
noots to fit strobe heads
•
Modifier: one 24”x24” softbox
•
Modifiers: two 48” shoot-through umbrellas
•
Modifiers: three 40° grids to fit strobe heads
•
Modifiers: three sock diffusers to fit strobe heads
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Light stands: two 8’
•
Light stands: two heavy duty 10’
DIY* Tip: You can make an inexpensive snoot out of thin aluminum roofing sheets sold in home improvement stores. Take care, aluminum sheets can cut you. Tape the edges with foil tape for safety.
*DIY (Do It Yourself) tips can save you money, but will require more effort.
Photo 25: Light kit 3
Model: Narzahni C.
6 Lights, plenty of options
With this kit you can recreate any image in this guide. Higher watt-second outputs than the minimums listed will give you more options for experimentation.
For the large umbrella in this kit I prefer an 84” silver parabolic lighting modifier, with white diffusion fabric so it can be used like a softbox.
•
Monolight, minimum 300ws
•
Monolight, minimum 600ws
•
One power pack 600+ws
•
Four
strobe heads
•
Modifier: white beauty dish, minimum 22”, with grid
•
Modifier: strip softbox, 17”x54” or taller
•
Modifiers: two snoots to fit strobe heads
•
Modifier: 24”x24” softbox
•
Modifiers:
f
our
48” shoot-through umbrellas
•
Modifiers:
f
our
40° grids to fit strobe heads
•
Modifiers:
f
our
sock diffusers to fit strobe heads
•
Modifier: umbrella/
brolly
box, min
.
60”
•
Modifier:
g
el kit and barn-doors holder
•
Light stands:
three
8’
•
Light stands: two heavy duty 10’
•
Light stand
: 14’
boom
Model: Narzahni C.
Photo 26: Light kit 4
Model: Anna F.
