Former Fstoppers writer and Columbus, Ohio based portrait and fashion photographer, Nick Fancher has recently been working on a series he calls Studio Anywhere in which he photographs models in their own homes. Nick's an avid strobist; meticulously lighting every shoot with a small army of speed lights. He has kindly agreed to give us a sneak peek into his lighting setups from two images in the series.
We already briefly mentioned this project in a post about Andy Newman's Why We Create video series. You can check that out here.
"I always travel light — everything I need can fit in my Pelican 1510 case, minus a light stand and umbrella. The only light modifiers I use are an umbrella and grid. In both of the shoots [below], all I used was one or two speed lights and a grid. I am really drawn to the hard shadows and sharp fall-off. Plus it allows you to easily transform something like a plain white wall into a moody environment. You can see how that type of lighting fits well with the Studio Anywhere concept."
The first image, shot against a plain white wall in the model's house makes use of a relatively simple two light setup with a red gel on the light illuminating the wall and a grid on the key light.
Below is a diagram of his setup:
The second image also has a relatively easy setup. In order to compensate for the heavy backlighting of the window Nick put a gridded light right next to the model giving dramatic shadows.
Below is a diagram of his setup:
If you like what you saw be sure to check out the rest of the Studio Anywhere series, Nick's other work on his website and Facebook.
For even more lighting techniques, check out Nick's speedlight lighting book: The Run and Gun Lighting Resource.
The second image also has a relatively easy setup. In order to compensate for the heavy backlighting of the window Nick put a gridded light right next to the model giving dramatic shadows. http://num.to/9379-7894-4349
I think amazon has a patent on the second set up
lol