[Need Advice] Recreating this look

[Elan Gunos]

I am trying to approximate this look as best as I can—see attachments. Had a few questions. How would you light this? And what color background did they start with? I can most likely extend the background and add the vignette in post. Thanks!

And as a curve ball, because of time and budget, is it possible to achieve this look with 2 x tota lowell lights?https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/248529-REG/Lowel_Tota_light_Two_Light_Kit.html
I can probably get a bunch of bounce cards, flags, etc.

 

[Todd T]

I would guess that it is a white background at least 6 feet behind them. I would use the two totas aimed at a large bounce that is to the left and above the camera for the diffused key-light effect shown in your examples. That should be enough light for a medium or tight shot, not sure how much drop off there would be in a wide shot like the second example.

 

[Kenneth C Merrill]

You will be hard-pressed to achieve that look with 2x total lights, as the subject and the background need to be lit separately and substantially in order to achieve the broad, soft look.

Venturing a guess, I would light it as follows:

Key light - Arri 2K tungsten filling an 8x8 silk frame, about 8 feet from the subject on the camera left side at about a 45 degree offset.
Kickers for the background - You could probably do another 2K on each side, maybe even 1K's, but back them off to about 12 feet to get the even spread on the background.

 

[D Fuller]

I am trying to approximate this look as best as I can—see attachments. Had a few questions. How would you light this? And what color background did they start with? I can most likely extend the background and add the vignette in post. Thanks!

And as a curve ball, because of time and budget, is it possible to achieve this look with 2 x tota lowell lights?https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/248529-REG/Lowel_Tota_light_Two_Light_Kit.html
I can probably get a bunch of bounce cards, flags, etc.

No, you won’t be able to do that with two tota lights. It will take two tota lights to make the large soft key and two to light the background. If those were my only instruments, I’d hinge a 4x8 sheet of foamcore and make a book light using two totas. (That way, you can add a layer of diffusion if it shows any double shadowing or isn’t soft enough.) Then I’d hide the other two totas behind the talent and the counter —together, angled away from each other, through diffusion to light the background. It’s not going to be flat enough really, so you’d have to have to fix it up in post, but it will be brighter behind the talent, falling off toward the edges rather than dark in the middle.

If you have to shoot with two totas, you better shoot on an a7s. It’s a big area to light wit two totas once they’re softened enough.

If it were my job, I’d much rather find a cheap rental on some kinos. They’d do a much better job.

EDIT: or do what Kenneth suggests. It’ll work, and tungsten lights are pretty cheap to rent.

 

[Kenneth C Merrill]

The only problem with using 2K's like I suggested is that if you're not shooting in a studio, you might have issues tripping the breakers on the location. If you're shooting on location and not a studio, I would try finding some Litepanel Astras. You could probably get away with 2x Astras through the silk for key and then 2x Astras for the background.

 

[Neil Abeynayake]

Good advice given on previous posts.

Looks like these were photographed or shot at a studio with a cyclorama wall. Find a good studio that offer this kind of a setup. Usually they offer ceiling mounted daylight balanced lighting. Add a key and a fill. Make sure to meter the ratios. Hire a good makeup artist. And finally, use a polarizer to eliminate unwanted reflections and glare on those eye glasses. You could also use just the eye glass frame only to make things simpler.

Good luck.

 

[John David Pope]

It is a long shot, but you could try contacting the business who the ad was for and see if you can eventually obtain the contact info for the photographer who shot the images.

What experience I have with achieving that sort of look taught me that it takes much bigger sources than one might imagine to get it right. One particularly difficult aspect is getting even illumination on such a large area. Often that is accomplished through large overhead soft lights known as "space lights", as seen in the image below. You then light the subjects with a large soft source, something like at minimum a 6x6' soft source. Maybe a ARRI Skypanel used in book-light manner. Bounced into a large griff or bead-board and then diffused further with a big silk. While the subjects have a relatively definitive shadow from the key light, there is still a great amount of general light, or base illumination, present. That is likely being produced by aforementioned space lights or some similar large overhead soft light.

Not to discourage, but that sort of look is difficult with low-power "kit" lights such as Lowell Tota lights. But maybe not impossible. If you are going to use Tota lights, I would put 1k bulbs in them.

 

[Elan Gunos]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and recommendations, I definitely appreciate them. I was able to convince them to rent a couple of LED lights, i.e., Westscott Flexlights 1x2 bi-color, and an icelight. In the end, I was able to remove the table, film closer to the subjects while reducing the need to light a larger area.