Lighting On The Down Low

I have been stuck in this rut…well I hate to call it a rut, maybe a phase is better…this phase where most everything I shoot in a studio (and really on location too) is high-key. I like the look I get when shooting high-key; bright, clean and sharp. It has become easy for me to get into the studio and throw together a basic high-key set up and go from there, little thought required. My goal over the past week or so has been to break this cycle and get into a darker place, to begin shooting lots of low-key images. With a lighting concept in mind and a few willing volunteers, I set about on this mission. How deep will the rabbit hole go you may be asking? Well hit the link to dive in…

Yesterday I had agreed to help my friend Dano with a shoot he had scheduled. Of course his model bailed (they tend to do that), so we spent some time playing with lights and having a generally productive time. Dano wanted to learn some high-key stuff, so drawing from my experience there, I helped him execute a few basic set-ups and get a better grasp on using big studio lights.

After we had spent some time working with big, bright light; I took my turn. This is a two light set-up with a black vinyl sweep for the background. I am actually pretty happy with the results and hope to do quite a bit more stuff like this in teh near(ish)future.

I have an idea for an extended project utilizing a look something like these photos. While I appreciate Katie and Dano sitting for me, this was really more about lighting practice than anything. If nothing else it was enjoyable to break out of the bright-white background thing and try lightning on the down-low…