A high key image can be defined today as an image having predominantly light tones with very little shadow areas. It is a good way to provide a light and airy feeling to a photograph, as opposed to a low key image which gives a very dark and moody feel. In this article, I will demonstrate one way to achieve a high key scenario using two lights and some reflection.
Photographer: Sean Armenta; Model: Julie Mintz
When I was booked to shoot folk singer/songwriter Julie Mintz, I was inspired by how her music made me feel. Beautiful, clean vocals atop a very minimalist guitar and instrumentation. I decided to do a white on white themed shoot to reflect that. She also happens to be blonde, which would only add to the overall look of the final images. I wanted to use a lighting scenario that would literally look like she was bathed in indirect light.
With the art direction set, I needed to think about what I would need to achieve that look. Lighting is much more than just the equipment itself. Of equal importance is where you shoot. Knowing I was going for a white on white theme, I chose to shoot in a studio that had an all white shooting space. This one had a built in cyclorama painted white, with white walls surrounding it. This would make it much easier to accomplish a high key look as opposed to shooting in a space that had dark colored walls. There’s no sense in making things harder on yourself, and I’m the type of person who prefers to use the least amount of equipment whenever possible. The amount of space you are working with is also an important consideration. It is almost always better to shoot in more space than you need, because it’s easier to create a smaller space within a larger one rather than crowding yourself and your crew. The studio we used was about 20-25 feet across and 15-20 feet long, more than enough to photograph a single subject.
Photographer: Sean Armenta; Model: Julie Mintz
I definitely wanted to shoot fairly wide open, again to give it an airy, dreamy feel. My approach to lighting is always dictated by how I envision the final images. This makes the decision making process with regards to camera, lighting, and composition much easier in the long run. For the most part, the biggest problem we run into when using studio strobes is being able to power them down enough to shoot wide open, especially since we are restricted to using a max shutter speed of 1/125th to 1/200th of a second (depending on what camera and strobes you are using). By simply using reflected light over a large area, you are significantly cutting down light output, allowing you to use your lenses at their widest apertures. I chose to use two strobes fitted with silver 42” umbrellas aimed at the cyc, essentially backlighting the entire set. To bring some light back towards Julie, I utilized two V-flats. (which are just two 4’x8’ panels of foam core taped at the long end to form a “v”. If you want to learn how to build one, you can watch my tutorial (below). These basically encapsulated her, bouncing light back in from the cyc, but they also served as flags for my lens to prevent the image from getting too hazy.
You have to take special care with your exposure in this situation, especially with blonde hair, as it will burn out a lot quicker than darker colored hair. You want to retain as much fine hair detail as possible. The V-flats in this instance were positioned quite close to Julie; just out of frame in fact. You are looking at anywhere between one to two stops difference between background and subject exposure.
These were shot on a classic 5D with an 85mm 1.8. Final exposure on camera was set to F4 at 1/125th at 100 ISO.
Lighting Equipment:
- Speedotron 2400cx
- Speedotron 202VF heads
- Westcott 42” silver umbrellas
Lighting Diagram:
