Fashion & Glamour Lighting Techniques Revisited
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by Thorsten Ott

hxxp://www.zeroplusplus.com/content/view/20/39/

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This file is only there to preview the movie, if you do like it,
buy it to pay your respects to this photographer and the time
he took to record and compress his knowledge in just 1:30 hours
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Duration: 1:31:12
Video Codec: DX50
Resolution: 720x404
Framerate: 30fps
Audio Codec: mpga
Rate: 44,1 kHz
112 kb/s

Size: 736MB

The video will play the best on your computer with VLC Media Player
or Divx Player. I suggest the free VLC Media Player from 
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/as it works great on any operating system platform. 
Divx Player is also free at http://www.divx.com/divx/

This first video examines fashion and glamour lighting using just 1 or 2 light sources.
We will examine each of the 12 lighting modifiers and how or when we might use them. 
We will discuss the 18 lighting diagrams and the 19 images created. 
Follow me as I comment on the lighting diagrams and watch a behind-the-scenes
video of the 4 models photographed. This video spans what I have learned over the 
last 20 years of shooting and modifying the light quality of my studio flash units 
to a give a 3-dimensional and cinematic light quality.


I use both traditional light modifiers and also several custom built modifiers. 
It is important to understand that lighting modifiers do not necessarily 
have to be expensive, they just have to work consistently under varying environments. 
I do not push brand names or endorse any specific company. In fact, I use a very 
inexpensive brand of mono-head flash units to create the images both in the video 
and for my commercial portfolio.


The specific light modifiers discussed include the 22in Beauty Dish w/Grid, 
Modified 4in Octabox w/Grid, Strobe Head w/7in Grid, Strobe Head Bare-bulb, 
Strobe Head w/Reflector, 4 different versions of the V-Bank, and several 
flat panel variants. Each image in the video uses a different combination 
of the modifiers to demonstrate the degree of flexibility they can offer the photographer
 

As a commercial photographer, I prefer to have visual explanations, 
and that is the format for all the tutorials. Rather than focusing on technical 
aspects related to digital photography, this video is about LIGHTING. 
The inspiration for this video was to teach LIGHTING, not Photoshop or how to fix it later. 
Show me the lights, the modifiers, and toss in a few tips on when to use these lights. 
The images in the video are not retouched for lighting, just RAW conversions and 
the basic 30-second levels adjustments and simple skin cleaning.
 

I felt it was necessary to touch on a few digital tech details, 
we all come from different skill levels. Monitor Calibration, White Balance, 
Color Spaces, and Light Meters may be new areas for some of us. This chapter is more 
about bringing us up to speed than a in depth discussion. Never the less, this a very 
important yet frequently over looked area.

 

Topics include:

1) The Lighting Modifiers used and how to build your own inexpensively
2) White Balance - Using a gray card
3) Color Spaces - sRGB vs. Prophoto and 16 Bit
4) Monitor Calibration
5) What is a good exposure
6) How to use a light meter
7) My lens suggestions
8) Alien Skin Filters and Plugins used for the images

 

Production Planning

1) Planning the Day for Success - your crew and team
2) Utilizing Assistants
3) Directing Models