I wanted a muted / low contrast look primarily lit through diffused backlight. I’ve been shooting several editorials against a stark white background, but I wanted to try a look where the background not only had no shadows, but was the key light.
To do this I used a DIY cotton cloth scrim. The scrim was made with a large, 60”x60” piece of white cotton fabric. A hanging pocket was added to one side and elastic loops on the other sides to secure the scrim to a bracket, light stand or a background stand post. The scrim was mounted vertically for this shoot using a very well used Savage Port-A-Light backdrop stand. Next, a Paul C Buff Einstein with a Paul C Buff 60” octabox was placed directly behind the scrim approximately 1’ away. Here is the setup
My model, Camryn with LModelz Model Management stood about 6” away from but directly in front of the scrim.
My camera, a Nikon D810 was set at 1/160, ISO 160, f/6.3. I metered the light to this aperture. Unfortunately, the shots were a darker / moodier than I wanted. Opening the shadows & increasing exposure in post processing would work, but I wanted to get it right in camera.
Here is an example of an image using only the scrim / backlight to light my model.
Therefore, I added a second light, an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 with a 27” interior white beauty dish with the front diffuser sock. I know, I know I shouldn’t mix lights but this was just a test and the modifiers were already mounted on the lights. Here is the setup to light my model’s face.
The Elinchrom was set to the lowest power setting which metered at f/3.5 on my model. I did not change the settings on my camera or the power of the backlight.
I’m happy with the results. Most of the test was simply shooting Camryn from different angles and perspectives. I also had her move at different angles to the light to see the effect. An additional benefit is the light wraps around the model which naturally softens the skin & creates pronounced highlights that have a shiny effect.
I’ll likely do a full editorial using this setup. The results
