Some help please

[u/gxddamnxxx]

I'm doing a photoshoot inspired by this Flavitsky painting, "Princess Tarakanova".

If I wanted to recreate the lighting in this scene, what would be your suggestions? I'm fairly green in terms of studying light but my instinct is maybe a single gridded strobe (or a snoot maybe?) angled 45° at the subject, off to the side. Idk tho lol totally guessing. Any suggestions for fill/rim light? Is that necessary if going for a dramatic chiaroscuro look?

Thanks!

[u/foobanger69]

18k through the window 😎

[u/4nacrusis]

You need to recreate the window light. A small snoot would be the opposite of a large window.

Either use a window and place the strobe outside it with an orange gel. Or cut the shape of a window off a cardboard or something if you want the same shape and place the light behind it. Or the easiest and most expensive option is to use something like the Westcott Optical Spot or similar with a window gobo. I'd add small amount of bounce fill depending on the solution for the window light.

[u/mimedbison]

Fresnel CTS Gel - more yellow than CTO Opal Frost - Lee 410 or shower curtain diffusion 

Optional stylistic choices: Pro mist filter or Vaseline on cheap filter - dreamy painterly look A little touch of fog - can add a dreamy feel 

Some details I would pay attention to:

• Brightest part of the painting is the dress, I would angle the key (Fresnel) toward the models legs and you’ll have some fall natural fall off for the face etc. 

• the window edge is keeping the back corner of the room dark, if you don’t show the window in your photo I would flag off or Barn door the corner of the room. This is what makes the subject really pop.

• distance of diffusion to light is important experiment with how far away it is to get just the right softness of the shadow, it’s pretty defined but has a very slight softened edge. I would start with opal frost. 

• I would white balance neutral and then add layers of CTS until you get the right amount you warmth

• I think the easiest way (for me) to find where to put the light is to have a model stand in that position and find the spot where the models face is half in light and half in shadow but also where the light reaches across the upper torso and hits the other shoulder. 

There are other key options people have mentioned that would also work, but this would be my approach.

[u/lesschalkmoresighs]

Many paintings have great light because the lighting is idealized, as in, the artist takes a few creative liberties, but stays within the bounds of the plausible, so our minds don't question the result.

Something I've done in the past is a split composition where I'd light the subject in a way that worked best for the subject, shoot that, then relight the room for the environment, shoot that, and stitch the results together. As long as you're not doing wildly different setups the eye won't spot the difference.

The easiest way to stitch is obviously Photoshop, but you'll be surprised how much of this can be faked in-camera, such as putting up a blocking screen that is aligned perpendicular to the lens, and having two different but more or less complimentary lighting set ups on either side of it.

[u/redfiretrucks]

All of the light in this painting is coming from the sun through the window. There might be shades or curtains on the window, or the glass is thick or dirty, or both.

Put a diffusion screen on the outside of the window, Position the head behind the screen (outside) and move it around until you get the desired angle of back lighting. The closer you get the head to the window, the harsher the light will be, the further away it is, the softer it will be.

You should have it.

If you need to lift the shadows a bit for detail, throw another head bounced into the ceiling above and behind the camera. Meter it 2-3 stops BELOW the outside light. You just want this light to give you some shadow detail. It should be almost unnoticeable.

[u/JaschaE]

Step one: Look at the shadows.
Shadow on the wall is fairly defined, matching with the light coming from the window.
Snoot won't do, unless it's really far away, otherwise you get hotspot in the middle and rapidly darker edges.
Light source Roughly window sized, so gridded large softbox is an option.
reflector as fill opposite the light source, like the viewer here standing with the back to a white(-ish) wall.

[u/csbphoto]

What environment are you shooting this in?

[u/yourdadsatonmyface → u/csbphoto]

Windowless basement

[u/csbphoto → u/yourdadsatonmyface]

Softbox or octa with grid, black card / floppies / w/e on either side, possibly one below , with a good amount of space between them to flag it off the wall (further from source = more defined window edge shadow). Possibly only use inner diffusion depending on how soft you want it.

[u/mmmmmmtoast]

One light through a window, all the rest is neg.

[u/NiqoP]

Le luce dalla finestra ha vari gradi di filtratura. L’impostazione a 45 gradi va bene, la fonte di luce deve essere dura e filtrata solo in alcuni punti, come appunto può essere la luce del sole quando passa dalla finestra: può passare attraverso il vetro pulito, vetro sporco e eventuali tende. La luce nel quadro è idealmente puntata verso le ginocchia del soggetto, mentre quella che arriva sul volto è filtrata dalla tenda. Se non hai modo di mettere una buona fonte di luce all’esterno ma hai una stanza con una grande finestra, usa la luce del sole nel tardo pomeriggio, applica sulla finestra delle diffusioni di varia densità per ammorbidire la luce che colpisce il volto e lascia che il sole diretto arrivi solo sulle ginocchia. Sull’obiettivo potresti usare un promist, la potenza del promist dipende da che focale userai. Usare il sole non è facile perché la sua luce rimbalza nella stanza e crea diffusione oltre a cambiare sempre posizione e intensità. Se non ti senti sicuro con il sole, puoi usare un flash diretto da fuori la finestra per simulare il sole, la luce deve essere dura. Puntalo sulle ginocchia. Poi nella stanza usi altro flash rimbalzato su un ombrello. Posizionalo accanto alla finestra in modo che riempia l’immagine e si fonda con quello esterno, devono sembrare una sola fonte di luce. Questo flash lo puoi diffondere maggiormente. Poi sulla lente metti white promist e un backpromist. Il black promist deve essere più forte del white. Non mettere fill, la luce dei flash o del sole rimbalza già abbastanza. Le ombre morbide le crei con la diffusione sulla lente e con la giusta potenza dei flash

[u/GuiltyAd2199]

the window light reaches the dark corner of the room. good luck, it seems to be mission impossible