![](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/photo-session\/clayton\/Clayton_20-12_0228.jpg\")
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As a kind of \u201cinaugural\u201d photo session in my new studio space<\/a>, I asked my photographer friend, @ClaytonReynolds<\/a>, if he\u2019d be willing come in to be photographed. I liked the way Clayton’s confidence and natural charm comes through in these photos. We used 3 different setups for 3 different looks. From the simplest of setups — just window-light, to a more complex setup using a spotlight with a gobo.\u00a0There are two pull-back shots if you’re curious about the lighting configuration.<\/p>\n This photo above is a favorite way to quickly get soft, nuanced lighting in the studio. The big gridded 1×6 Profoto stripbox is such a flexible light modifier in how it can be swiveled and rotated to change the way the light falls on both subject and the background. Here is a description of how I use this huge softbox: Studio photography \u2013 Posing & Lighting<\/a><\/p>\n For those of you local to me here in NJ, keep in mind that I do offer my studio out as a rental studio space: NJ photography studio rental<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Main light: Profoto D1 studio flash, with the gridded Profoto\u00a01\u2019x6\u2019\u00a0gridded strip-box<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0(B&H<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n Accent light to camera left: Profoto A1x flash for Sony<\/a> \u00a0(B&H<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\/ Amazon<\/em><\/a>) with a turquoise gel,\u00a0mounted onto a\u00a0gridded Profoto RFi 1\u00d73 softbox<\/a>. The Profoto A1 was mounted to the softbox with the Profoto OCF adapter\u00a0<\/a> (B&H<\/em><\/a> \/ Amazon<\/em><\/a>)<\/em>. The soft grid helps control the way the light spills. More on adding a gel like that to add some flavor: Using gelled flash in the studio<\/a><\/p>\n More about the Profoto OCF adapter: Off-camera flash with the Profoto A1, A1x, A10 flashes<\/a><\/p>\n The background is just a white studio wall.<\/p>\n This still remains fascinating after all these years of shooting with off-camera flash or studio lighting. This is what your eyes see … but in under-exposing the available light – either to an extent, or completely – you allow the off-camera lighting \/ studio lighting to define what the camera sees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another sequence from the photo session with Clayton. The lighting here was simplicity itself \u2014 window light in my studio. I like the way the sunlight spilled into the studio, and reflected off the floor … and then all the indirect light falling on Clayton, with the different shades of color from left to right across his face. Note the warmer tones on his left side \/ camera right. It is this nuanced lighting that I would still love to emulate with flash photography — where we can recreate the idea of different smaller light sources affecting our subject.<\/p>\n The canvas backdrop is by @oliphantstudio<\/a> and is my favorite to use for the nuanced tones.<\/p>\n The lens used is one of my all-time favorite lenses – the Sony 85mm f\/1.4 GM<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0(B&H<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n With this setup, we explored a more dramatic look. The light modifier that made the difference here is the (fairly rare by now) Profoto Spot Small<\/a>\u00a0— a focusable light to which you can add a gobo to shape the light pattern.<\/p>\n I am not sure if I prefer the color or B&W version. I’m always partial to color because we see in color, yet the B&W version has an added air of mystery. What do you think?<\/p>\n Main light — a Profoto D1 into that Profoto Spot Small<\/strong><\/a> … and I think I have figured out how to best use it. Instead of a sharp well-defined border between light & shade, it works better slightly defocused so the transition into shadow is less stark.<\/p>\n Other examples where I used the Profoto Spot Small<\/p>\n The fill light is the big Profoto 5-ft RFi Octa Softbox<\/a>\u00a0(B&H<\/em><\/a> \/ Amazon<\/em><\/a>) as gentle fill light from behind me, swiveled slightly away to reduce the light even more.<\/p>\n And there is a gridded Profoto RFi 1\u00d73 softbox<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>) as a rim light in the back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Studio portraits – different setups for different looks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,511,136],"tags":[797,470,402,910],"yst_prominent_words":[1116,13425,12609,10978,1115,1021,1913,13424,12610,2192,12514,13418,13417,13423,13419,12565,13421,10977,10976,13426],"class_list":{"0":"post-50008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portraits","8":"category-profoto","9":"category-studio-photography","10":"tag-dramatic-studio-lighting","11":"tag-new-jersey-photo-studio","12":"tag-studio-lighting","13":"tag-studio-lighting-with-profoto","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50008"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50078,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50008\/revisions\/50078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50008"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=50008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/photo-session\/clayton\/Clayton_20-12_0237.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCamera settings & photo gear used<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nCamera settings & photo gear used<\/h2>\n
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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t![](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/photo-session\/clayton\/Clayton_20-12_0136.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/images\/photo-session\/clayton\/Clayton_20-12_0191.jpg\")
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