Simple Portable Lighting for Fantasy Portraits

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So, you enjoy taking portraits and feel pretty confident with your way around lights and a camera. But now you're faced with the daunting challenge of merging portraiture with fantasy (on a very limited budget), as well as catering to the whims of one of the most discerning photographic clients you'll ever encounter: a wide-eyed 6-year old.

Fear not! The process of creating and combining images is not as daunting as you might think. One of the most important elements of such a challenge is making sure that your lighting matches and looks natural. Otherwise, your run the risk of having your end result look contrived and lackluster.

This lesson takes a look at some simple-yet-effective techniques that will assist in creating fun fantasy portraits.

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

Topics Covered:

The Concept
Creating the Set Beforehand
Bringing in the Talent
Matching the Light and Angles
Merging the Two Images

Lighting Equipment

The Concept
Rather than produce a straightforward child portrait for this lesson, I decided to consult my son, Aidan, on what kind of picture he'd like to have of himself for his room. After some brainstorming, we both agreed that it would be fun to create an image where it looked like he was riding one of his toy dinosaurs. So that's what we decided to do.

In deciding on the gear I wanted to use for this shoot, I knew that I wanted it to be simple to set up, powerful enough to freeze action, easy to transport if necessary, and to not be dependent on an AC power source in case my 6-year old-director felt the need to lead us into the wild. (Fortunately, in this case, he didn't.)

So, I decided to use a Dual Flash Adjustable Silver Umbrella Kit, which would allow me to use two shoe mount flashes and to be able to mount two corresponding wireless receivers to them. And for a slightly softer, more wrap-around quality of light, I decided to swap out the silver 45" umbrella with a 60" shoot-through umbrella.

Here, you can see one way in which the two shoe mount flashes and wireless receivers attach to the hardware. [figure 1]

If your particular wireless receivers are so tall that they obstruct the path of the umbrella shaft, as mine did here, you can easily remove the cold shoes from the bracket and mount the wireless receivers upside down without compromising the stability of the setup. [figure 2]


Figure 1	Figure 2

Creating the Set Beforehand
I decided to get the set ready before bringing Aidan into the studio. After all, it's important to factor in that a 6 year-old like Aidan may only have so much patience for a project like this before he become interested in doing something else.

Wanting to keep the shots clean and consistent with respect to lighting, I decided to photograph both Aidan and the toy dinosaur in the studio on a white background. I decided to first start with Aidan, so I set up a 9-foot roll of white seamless paper, supported by a First Studio BackDrop Support Kit. Once I had the umbrella kit configured and positioned, I set up a LitePanel Kit to serve as a bounce fill. And finally, I placed a sawhorse on the seamless background with my coat draped over it to serve as a stand-in dinosaur ride. [figure 3]

Figure 3

Bringing in the Talent
After syncing up and testing the umbrella kit, I had Aidan come in to the set with his dinosaurs. We set them all on a rolling side table, and after some deliberation, decided that the triceratops would be the best ride-able dinosaur of the bunch. [figure 4]

I determined the general angle with which I wanted to shoot and had Aidan saddle up. [figure 5]


Figure 4	Figure 5

I thought it might be helpful to rig a "horn prop" that Aidan could grasp while pretending to ride the triceratops, so I simply mounted a LiteDisc Holder to a LiteStand and angled it in front of Aidan's saddle. [figures 6 & 7]


Figure 6	Figure 7

Figure 8

After a little coaching, Aidan rode his wild - albeit imaginary - triceratops with considerable verve and conviction. And as he did, I took a series of shots with the LiteDisc Holder in place. [figures 8 & 9]

Figure 9

In reviewing the images in the back of the camera, I was pleased with the soft, wrap-around quality of light from the umbrella and the subtle bounce fill from the LitePanel Kit, and thought that it would tie in well with the same basic lighting setup I'd use when photographing the triceratops.

Figure 10

While the LiteDisc Holder was a nice "horn prop" to have, I wanted to have some shots with Aidan not holding it in case the perspective didn't match up exactly. So, after a few more shots with Aidan riding with his hands free, we captured one we both ended up liking best. [figures 10 & 11]

Figure 11

Matching the Light and Angles
With Aidan's shots complete, it was now time to shoot the triceratops. I wanted to the seamless paper sweep to make up the top part of the background, but also wanted to have a noticeable horizon line in the background. So, I brought i another sawhorse, placed both on the seamless background and set a new sheet of white foam core on top. This foam core/sweep combination was easy to set up and worked well to create this subtle horizon-line effect. [figures 12 and 13]


Figure 12	Figure 13

I reviewed the final shot of Aidan and did my best to match the camera angles and light quality. I repositioned the Umbrella and LitePanel kit slightly and took a series of close-up shots of the toy triceratops. This one ended up being our favorite in terms of the positioning and lighting. [figure 14]

Figure 14

Merging the Two Images
Once we had the shots of Aidan and the triceratops in the can, we were done in the studio. I took a few minutes to strike the set and then later, I uploaded the images to my computer.

I opened up our two favorite versions of Aidan and the triceratops in Photoshop and then merged the two together.

Figure 15

After showing Aidan the final result, I asked him what he thought. He told me he liked this version, but wondered if we could make it "a little more scary."

I liked his direction, so I saved a second copy of the image, made a black and white conversion, and rendered a slight sepia tone for a somewhat archival look. I then darkened the edges and added a little grain to the shot, which lent a more gritty, foreboding look to the shot. At this point, we both agreed the shot was done. [figure 16]

Figure 16

By matching the lighting in both shots, it made combining the two very easy. Had each of the shots been taken under different lighting conditions, the results would not have come out nearly as seamless as this one did.

So remember to experiment with your lighting, remember to check out the digital imaging steps of this lesson at WebPhotoSchool.com, and have fun in the process!

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Written and photographed by Ben Clay, contributing lesson writer for WebPhotoSchool.com and Photoflex.com.

Setup shots by James Helms.

Directed and modeled by Aidan Clay.