This article is from 2nd issue of OTS E-Magazine  Pages 64/65

LIGHTING
By: Chris Ford - Smokey Creek Images OTS ID: 20132

You want that one or do you want this lighting one?

It sure is nice to have several thousand dollars worth of lighting to be able to use on a shoot but sometimes that isn’t practical or feasible. Sometimes there are budget constraints, time limitations, or ordinances that won’t let you set up a full complement of lighting for a shoot. How do you make do when you can’t have it all? Natural light is great but it doesn’t give the best results unless you can control it. Minimalist lighting is all about using what is already available and making it work for you. A scrim and a reflector are sometimes all that is needed to create and image with depth. If you buy you can expect to spend around $150 for both or you can make them for less than $50 using PVC, Mylar and rip-stop nylon. Either way you decide to go you need to have them there.

I shot this image at the DOD event hosted by the Binders last year. There was a crowd of photographers in front of Sasha (OTS ID: 23812) so there was no way to set up a set of lights for shooting without either getting in someone’s way or getting them knocked down by the crowd. I didn’t need a scrim because the tree she was in was giving good diffused lighting but I couldn’t separate her from the background with adding additional light.

 For the reasons stated above a speed light or strobe wasn’t an option but I could use a reflector. I asked a fellow a photographer to hold a reflector pointed back up a Sasha from the ground reflecting sunlight that was falling in front of her and then I walked off behind everyone in front of her and used a telephoto lens to get the shot over all the other photographers’ heads. The reflector gave me almost a 5:1 ration with the background and gave direction to the light since it was hitting her from the side.
So while a reflector and scrim aren’t a replacement for good off camera lighting they do offer an alternative for creating a lighting scenario that would be impossible using natural light alone.

Every photographer should have them available any time they shoot and there is no excuse about the cost of a homemade set. So get your light off your camera and go create some great images to post here on OTS.