The goal was to create a summery picture. But it was December, and we shot inside the studio. Here’s how we did it.
Equipment
1x normal reflector with color foil (1/4 CTO) on a 500Ws monoblock2x Striplight with color foils (cyan and green) on 500Ws monoblocks1 reflector (foam core board)
The Setup
I looked at a lot of pictures and I have to say: sun-drenched models against a perfect blue sky aren’t that common. But, there’s nothing like a challenge. What I did notice was the light in the bathroom after a shower: it often has a color gradient, and the sunlight coming in is extremely hard. It’s something you can recreate relatively easily in the studio. The background effect was created with two transverse striplights: the sunlight is simulated by a hard-hitting normal reflector. A reflector plate made of styrofoam brings some light back into the shadows, which brings some more definition to your model’s hair. To give the model a beachy feel, we spritzed her with water from a well-washed perfume atomizer. The more that you pump, the larger the droplets will be.
The Individual Light Sources
The main light The reflector The background
Color Mixing With Light
To illustrate the effects of color mixing more clearly, I have used blue and yellow slides. In the photo, the gels were cyan and green. No overlap
Downloads
For the pictures in the article, we used the light simulation Set.A.Light 3D. You can download the lighting setup and try everything for yourself. If you’ve never worked with Set.a.Light before, you should give it a try! There is also a free demo version on the website, which you can use to open our set.
