Exploring Light, Discovering Style: A Lighting Tutorial

Concept: Carefully consider your color palette when mixing light sources.
Tools: Daylight Fluorescent+Softbox+Natural Reflector

Action: This scenario was a perfect opportunity to work with one of my favorite new lighting instruments, the Westcott Spiderlite TD5 in a matching Westcott 36" x 48" softbox. Although the Spiderlite may be fitted with Edison-based AC-powered strobes or 3200K tungsten globes, I chose the third option and installed a full set of Westcott's daylight-balanced fluorescent lamps.

These units are approximately 5500K and are therefore somewhat warmer-feeling than the skylight which was spilling in through the well-shaded windows.

After a few moments of head-scratching and mustache-twirling, I decided on my final color palette. This is an important point for beginners and advanced practitioners alike; it is up to the photographer to understand and control the relationships between the color temperatures of the principle light sources and the color balance setting chosen for the camera.

In this case, I wanted the skylight to stay slightly cool or bluish, so I set the camera's color temperature to 5000K. I then elected to warm up the 5500K light from the Spiderlite to emulate the cozy feel of the tungsten-lit interior.

To accomplish this, I covered the Softbox's front diffuser with a large sheet of ½ CTO gelatin filter. This gel warms any light source by about 1000 degrees Kelvin and makes the light from these 5500K fluorescent lights behave as if they were an invitingly-warm 4500K.

After carefully placing the softbox slightly beyond the model, attentive assistant Paul tucked himself behind a column where he handheld a prototype Westcott "Natural Reflector" pop-open muslin for just a gentle touch of fill.

Asking Kelly to simply "find the light" gave her face a beautiful short-light illumination and this image is the striking result.

Remember this well; when the camera's Kelvin setting is numerically lower than the Kelvin temperature of a light source, the image will be cooler. When it's higher, the image will be warmer...

Gear Used: