We took a few more pics using the clam-shell lighting setup. I wanted to see the difference with and without the bottom reflector or light. I forgot to take a BTS shot, but if you want to visualize how it was set up… you can put your fingers and thumb together as if you were playing Pac-man ready to gobble up the dot in front of you. Your top 4 fingers would be the main light overhead, your bottom thumb would be the reflector or light on the floor. This clamshell “pac-man” is then ready to chomp at your subject =p

Ok… enough of the weak analogy.. here are the pics. The first pic on the left I turned off the bottom softbox; this produced dramatic shadows that may work for certain shots, but for this one, it fails to highlight the face.. which is what I’m trying to capture. In contrast, the picture on the right had the bottom softbox turned on… and with that you can see how the whole face just lights up. You’ll notice the neck shadows are not as prominent any more. I really like how this style makes your subject’s face pop.

Also worth noting, for this setup, I used another speedlight as an edge light behind the subject. This casts a nice outline adding more separation from her and the background. With the 3rd pic… well, I just liked how it turned out so I wanted to post it =). Anyways… I’m learning something new everyday. Hope you guys are too!

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