Laboratory Portrait

Just because a shoot is on location doesn't mean it has to be outdoors. In his second lesson, entry-level photographer Jaron Schneider takes you into a biology lab for his take on a portrait of a scientist.

The ambient light indoors can be a real nightmare for any photographer, which is why Jaron went armed with both shoemount flash and battery strobe so he could dictate how the scene would be lit and not leave it up to the hands of fate. If you are just starting out with flash photography, this lesson will help show you what each light does to a scene and how to get the best out of your equipment.

(Click on any image below for an enlarged view.)

Topics Covered:

• Formulation vs Reality
• Ambient Light
• Built-In Flash
• Controlling the Light- TritonFlash™
• Getting a Different Feel
• Final Results

Camera/Media:

• Canon 60D
• Canon Lens 18-55 f/3.5-5.6

Lighting Equipment:

• LiteStand: extra small
• LiteStand: medium
• StarFire™ and FlashFire™ Wireless Flash System
• TritonFlash™ Lithium Strobe Kit

Photography is most certainly not my profession (in fact I'm quite the novice), but it is something that I really enjoy and a hobby in which I am continually trying to improve my skills. In my previous lesson, I had taken a portable light out for one of my first serious shoots and achieved some pretty nice results.

However, I was still tethered to my safety blanket- natural light. The real test was if I could create a compelling portrait indoors without the help of the sun. I decided to give it a shot, and I chose to photograph my friend and former college room mate Isaac Strong, who is now a graduate student at UC San Francisco. He works in a lab, and I thought that an environmental portrait would be really neat.

Figure 1

Main Light In my mind as I drove up to San Francisco, I was picturing the stereotypical laboratory scene- white lab coats, goggles, and test tubes. What I was unprepared for was what research labs really look like. [figure 1] Isaac is a biologist, not a chemist, so the test tubes and beakers were out. On top of that, they don't normally work with harmful reagents or chemicals, so the goggles are pretty unnecessary. Luckily, the common denominator of a scientist is a lab coat, so I was sure to get that.

I still had the image I wanted to get burned into my mind, so I didn't let the starkly different scene than I had imagined distract me from my goal.

To light the scene, I brought along the Photoflex® TritonFlash™ battery powered strobe because when packing, I wasn't sure how much power I was going to need or how much space I was going to have. Of my choices- studio strobe, shoemount flash, and battery strobe- I opted for the power and mobility of the battery strobe. It would give me the best of both the portable speedlight and powerful studio strobe worlds.

When I started setting up, I was immediately grateful that I brought the battery strobe instead of the studio strobe. Though there were probably electrical outlets aplenty, they were either all taken or hidden beneath books, files, or biology equipment. Not having to worry about a socket was a great relief.

Ambient Light
Before I set up any of my lights, I wanted to take a shot using only the ambient light in the room, and another using only the built-in flash on my Canon 60D for comparative purposes.

For my test shot using only ambient light, I manually set my camera to the following:

• Aperture f/4.0
• Shutter Speed 1/15 second
• ISO 100
• Focal Length 27.0 mm
• White Balance 4300 degrees Kelvin

Much of the colors are dulled, Isaac is in shadow and the whole scene is sort of "muddy". By "muddy", I mean that nothing is really standing out. Also, Isaac moved and because I dragged my shutter, he blurred. All in all, not the best result and definitely not something I was proud of.

Built-In Flash
To get an exposure with my built-in, I set my camera to "Program" (so my camera could operate TTL) and popped open my flash. [figure 2]

The camera was set to the following:

• Aperture f/4.0
• Shutter Speed 1/15 second
• ISO 100
• Focal Length 27.0 mm
• White Balance 5700 degrees Kelvin

Though Isaac is, without a doubt, exposed here, the light on him is flat and unattractive. You can also notice a dark shadow under his right forearm that casts on his chest and arm below. The flash also diminished the natural color in his skin and made him look considerably more pale than he really is.

If I were shooting for a high school yearbook, this might have been acceptable. However, I knew I could do better.

Controlling the Light- TritonFlash™ To get better quality, controlled light, first I took the TritonFlash™ Kit and mounted it on an extra small LiteStand (which is the LiteReach™ without the ShoeMount hardware). [figure 3] I chose to use the extra small LiteStand, which is normally used as a floor stand, instead of a normal-sized LiteStand because the amount of space was limited. Taking the extra small LiteStand and mounting it on the counter would give me the same height as a regular stand on the floor, but I would have a better angle to light Isaac's face. [figures 4 & 5]

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

With this one light mounted on the counter set to 1/64 power, I took another shot (but this time I took complete control of my settings and changed from "Program" to "Manual".

• Aperture f/5.6
• Shutter Speed 1/160 second
• ISO 100
• Focal Length 27.0 mm
• White Balance 6200 degrees Kelvin

You'll notice immediately how much softer the light is on Isaac. His skin tones are much nicer and the overall quality of light has been considerably improved.

However, though it is a lot better than our last result, much of him is still a bit dark. By adding a second light, I would be able to illuminate him better.

Figure 8

To get the light I was looking for, I put together a second TritonFlash™ kit and, because there was a bit more room behind Isaac than there was in line with him like with my first light, I mounted it onto a medium LiteStand. [figures 8, 9, and 10] Rather than take out a second battery, I just plugged the second TritonFlash™ head into the first battery. The really cool thing about the TritonFlash™ is that two heads can be plugged into one battery without any loss of power, unlike most battery strobes that will have their power cut in half.

Figure 9

Figure 10

With two lights set up, which I've illustrated in a diagram in figure 10, I was ready to try another exposure. I made no changes to any of my camera's settings, set the new light for 1/64 power and retained the same power setting on the first TritonFlash™ . [figure 11]

Figure 11

Getting a Different Feel
I was very happy with this result. I managed to create natural-looking light indoors, which was my goal from the start.

Because I knew I had reached my goal, I decided to try and get creative.

I pulled out a StarFire™ flash from my gear bag as well as a blue gel and some duct tape. When I think about laboratory pictures, I think cool tones. The blue gel would give me that tech-y, science-y accent light.

I cut the blue gel into a little strip and taped it to the face of the StarFire™ flash. [figures 13 & 14]

Figure 13

Figure 14

Figure 15

With my three lights in position, as illustrated in my diagram in figure 15, I was ready to give this shot a try. Again, my camera settings went unchanged. I was just accenting my original shot. The StarFire™ was set to about half power while the two TritonFlash™ units were both set to 1/64 power. Figure 16 shows all three lights on the scene, while figure 17 is my final.

Final Results

Honestly, I was satisfied with both my two light and my three light setups. Each has its own feel and possible uses. Moreover, I was elated that I managed to take a portrait successfully without my security-blanket-sun!

Though we tend to say this at the end of every lesson, we really mean it when we tell you to "go out and have fun with it!" I'm no pro, but I don't let that stop me from trying my hand with lighting. I've got a lot to learn, but I won't get any better by sitting on my couch. Get out there and experiment with light- Practice makes perfect!


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Written and photographed by Jaron Schneider, entry level lesson writer for PhotoflexLightingSchool.com™.
Modeled by Isaac Strong.
Edited by Ben Clay.
To learn more about Photoflex® equipment, go to [url=http:// www.photoflex.com] www.photoflex.com[/url] or [url=http:// www.photoflexlightingschool.com]www.photoflexlightingschool.com[/url]

Very creative