Hi there,
Todays shoot was similar to yesterdays. We kept a side light behind Oisin on camera right and we kept one key light, the big soft box in front of Oisin. The big change is that we introduced a spill kill with a honeycomb and placed it in front of the soft box and only about 7 inches from Oisin’s face.
It took a while to get the angle right, too high and I missed out on seeing the catchlight in the eye, too low and it missed lighting the face, It is worth the time to get it right because the result is great. I love how the hard and soft lights combine to create this sheen on Oisin’s face. I placed a black reflector underneath and on both sides of Oisin to enhance the shadow underneath the chin and also help make the image pop a little more.
I used a really low depth of field, F2.2 as I just wanted the eye in focus and the hair out of focus.
Having the spill kill with the honeycomb so close to Oisin means you need to be very precise to get the entire face covered in hard light. It also means that if Oisin moves a little then the light is slightly darker and brighter on his face than before so no two shots look completely identical. You can see that more clearly on the black and white version below.
The two images below show just the honeycomb light being used and then just the soft box light. As you can see, using these lights separately works really well and creates a different look. I prefer when they are combined shown in the image above.
This image has just the spill kill light on with the soft light turned off.
This image only has the soft box light on. It is good to see what each light brings to the images shown above.
I turned off the hard light for Saoirse image. And I increased the power on the softbox a little. I brought back a white reflector for underneath her chin. I also reduced the aperture to F1.8. I knew if I asked Saoirse to hold her head, she would stay still and I would get both eyes in focus. The bokeh effect is lovely too.
Saoirse is photographed with just the soft light and a white reflector
Set up for Oisin shoot. there was a black reflector under his chin. the spill kill was 12 inches from his face while the softbox was two foot behind that.