I'm curious how to get this look ?

[Anthony Thomas]

I'm sure a strobe was used to achieve this look.
How would I achieve this look in motion with hot lights / constant lighting?
It looks like a big single source (strobe in big umbrella)?
The falloff on the side of her face and the white wall behind her makes me think the strobe was throwing a lot of light.
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.
thank you.
Anthony T.

 

[Michael Romano]

Best guess? HMI with a chimera, you might even try a grid on the front. Looks like a 400w Joker might even do the trick.

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Best guess? HMI with a chimera, you might even try a grid on the front. Looks like a 400w Joker might even do the trick.

Wow -That'd be a relief if I could get away with a 400 joker. I was imagining that it would take at least a couple joker 800's or 1200 HMI's either bounced into maybe a 10X10 frame of something (like bleached mus) or shooting through a 10X10 of some grid cloth.

 

[Liam Hall]

Looks to me like an 8ft Octobox 45 degrees camera right and about 8-10ft high. Stick whatever you like in it - tungsten, HMI, whatever. Oh, and don't forget to turn your camera on its side...

 

[Michael Romano]

I though the whole thing looked smaller... Maybe I'm off on it.

 

[Mike P.]

Grey walls... Or is that just stupid?

 

[Florian Stadler]

Looks like a larger round softbox (4-8') on camera right focused in front of the subject, leaving the subject in the penumbra of the light.

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Grey walls... Or is that just stupid?

It's a white cyc , but the light fall off has rendered it gray.

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Looks like a larger round softbox (4-8') on camera right focused in front of the subject, leaving the subject in the penumbra of the light.

Alright so I found out that the photo was actually taken with a cheap 39" silver umbrella/strobe combo... so it's not actually as big of a source as it seems.
Is there an inexpensive way to get an HMI in an umbrella to get that look? I know that Briese LA does this but they also cost $ and require a operator to come out with the rig (and that's just not in our budget).
Is there a "poor mans" silver umbrella / HMI combo ? I have access to a 1.2K HMI so I'm half way there : ) Or perhaps I can just bounce the HMI into a big silver relfector ?
thanks for chiming in everyone.

 

[Liam Hall]

A Lowel tota light will do exactly that. I'd still use an 8ft octobox though - as I prefer the control.

 

[Mike P.]

It's a white cyc , but the light fall off has rendered it gray.

Yeah, that's my point. If it were gray you could blast whatever type of light at the subject and it'll always fall off into a gray... or no?

 

[Liam Hall]

Yeah, that's my point. If it were gray you could blast whatever type of light at the subject and it'll always fall off into a gray... or no?

Gray is underexposed white. White is overexposed gray...

 

[Mike P.]

Gray is underexposed white. White is overexposed gray...

Right, so the hard light that is hitting the model would look the same, and the light hitting the immediate ground would appear "brighter" grey (white) since the light would obviously be brighter closer to the light. In other words, if you use a white background, you'd have to lower the exposure for it to look gray (as it does) which would require a brighter flash (strobe) to create decent exposure on the subject.

I think I'm just having a hard time understanding why AT came to the conclusion that the picture probably used a strobe.

 

[Richard Foster]

I think it was assumed to be a strobe because most photographers would shoot models with strobes for motion freezing. As to umbrella or softbox, either would work. Liam is right about camera right 45 and high. He's also right about the totalight. Or a 1K Mole nooklight. I have used the nooklights into an umbrella to create this look with a bogen clamp like this. Very simple and convenient. Like this one here.

http://www.lightingandgrip.com/Manfrotto-Swivel-Umbrella-Adapter-026/M/B0000AE64T.htm

And it is a white sweep falling off to gray. Hope this helps.

 

[Justin Marx]

You could do this with an arri 1k, tilted up to a 4x8 foamcore (white side) and taper off and fall off you like with a flag or 3 with the way the shadow is on the floor I wouldn't think a soft box with a smalk source would cut it, but I could be wrong?

 

[Anthony Thomas]

Right, so the hard light that is hitting the model would look the same, and the light hitting the immediate ground would appear "brighter" grey (white) since the light would obviously be brighter closer to the light. In other words, if you use a white background, you'd have to lower the exposure for it to look gray (as it does) which would require a brighter flash (strobe) to create decent exposure on the subject.

I think I'm just having a hard time understanding why AT came to the conclusion that the picture probably used a strobe.

Initially I was only assuming it was a strobe (looked like one to me) . In my experience, in absence of natural available light most still photographers use strobes and not hot lights.
I was able to verify that it was indeed a strobe shot into a 39" silver umbrella.