Today's assignment was shot with a Nikon D3 body, Nikon 24-70/f2.8 lens, SB-900 for main, SB-800 for fill, and two SB-600 flashes for hair and background. Power settings for all flashes were set manually. The SB-900 and SB-800 were triggered with PocketWizards. The SB-600s were triggered with Nikon SU-4 slave shoes.
All photographs were shot at ISO 800, 1/125, and f/8. Main and fill flashes used umbrellas set up 60 degrees off the lens axis, six feet from the model. Clicking on any image brings up a larger version in a gallery.
Photo 1: Main light only at f/8.
Photo 2: Fill light only at f/5.6.
Photo 3: Main and fill at 2:1.
Photo 4: Fill light only at f/4.
Photo 5: Main and fill at 4:1.
Photo 6: Fill light only at f/2.8.
Photo 7: Main and fill at 8:1.
Photo 8: Main and fill at 4:1 with hair light.
Photo 8: Main and fill at 4:1 with hair and background lights.Afterthoughts: Reviewing images on a large monitor showed inconsistent lighting on the shadow side of the model's face. The fill by itself metered at f/4. But adding the main light seemed to boost the fill side by half a stop or more. Maybe the main light was bouncing into the umbrella of the fill light? Maybe Nikon's Speedlights have inconsistent output?
The model's precise position/pose was critical for the hair light to work right. Photo 8 shows the hair light landing just right at the top edge of her hair. Photo 9 shows the hair light blowing out a big spot on the model's hair. We used a mark on the ground, but we weren't careful enough with position and pose so the hair light fell on the wrong spot.
Shaping the background light took many tries to get approximately right. The SB-600's rectangular head projected a rectangle-shaped blob on the background. The flash body had to be tipped sideways and the head angle upward "just so" in order for the model to be silhouetted semi-decently. Next time, I'll try using a snoot.
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