low key lighting

Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 266 Location: South Australia

hey folks,

i'd really like to try taking a few low key shots using my sb800. I've had a bit of a play with mixed results. Can anyone give me some advice on how to get the right effect? Suggested flash settings?
Most of my attempts seem to end up with the background still quite visible. I've tried using a snoot and shooting with the light almost side on to the subject etc.

Cheers
Benen

Joined: 13 Jan 2007 Posts: 245 Location: Maryland

For low key, use dark clothing, props, backgrounds, scenes. Deeper shadows can increase the mood, if desired.

Quote:

Most of my attempts seem to end up with the background still quite visible.

Then you simply have too much light on it then, right? Start removing that light, and I guarantee it'll go darker.

How to remove it?
Now your main light might not be directly hitting the background, but obviously, it's still being lit. Probably unwanted reflected light, or spill from main, or unseen secondary light (yeah, there is such a thing...)

-Turn off or eliminate all ambient light sources, or raise your shutter to eliminate them, but still keeping it within sync range.

-I'd set my flash to the lowest possible setting and go from there. The more light you blast the subject with, the more to bounce around and reflect all over. Especially in a small room.

-Use an fstop around say... 5.6 or less if you want, to avoid having to use too much flash power. I don't know what an sb800 is, but are you using it in manual mode?

-Move the subject and lights farther away from the background, and make sure your light sources are not spilling onto the background. Snooting is a great idea, but if your far enough away from the background, it will go dark.

-And keep your light source rather close to the subject(s) if you can. Like 4ft. This will help darken the background, due to the inverse square law (light fall off) effect.

*Lots of folks think that moving a light source closer to the subject will brighten the background, (ok it will a little) but it will brighten the subject much more than the background, and when you adjust for the increased brightness on the subject (increase aperture), the background will be darker than before, because you are now underexposing the background, relative to the subject. Good ole inverse square law.

Without seeing your results, i'd say main thing is get some distance between the background and your subject/light source.

You could easily shoot under a porch in full midday sun outside using a softbox or flash, yet still achieve a low key image with black/dark background. Just a matter of understanding and balancing the controls available to you.

hth,
Jacque

Joined: 15 Apr 2005 Posts: 266 Location: South Australia

wow! thanks for the in depth response! much appreciated :)
ok the walls in our house are all quite light, neutral but light. There is definitely not any unseen light but I just realised that one problem might be that I am firing my flash wirelessly, and to do so the on camera flash also fired which is no doubt lighting the background somewhat. This flash is not noticable in regular photographs because it fires no where near as much light as the shoe mount. I guess i'll have to get a sync cable.

Thanks again for your response :)
Benen

Joined: 13 Jan 2007 Posts: 245 Location: Maryland

benen wrote:

I just realised that one problem might be that I am firing my flash wirelessly, and to do so the on camera flash also fired which is no doubt lighting the background somewhat. This flash is not noticable in regular photographs because it fires no where near as much light as the shoe mount. I guess i'll have to get a sync cable.
Benen

Test this by shooting a picture of the background in total darkness using JUST the on camera flash at the setting used to trigger your slave (and the same fstop and shutter speed you would normally use with your lights of course). If the background shows much, then you have your answer.

Instead of a sync cable, you might want to invest in a wireless slave trigger. I can vouch for this seller on Ebay. I've been using his slaves for a few yrs now, and know of several others too, with no problems. Wireless Slave Trigger Here

Still, if your on camera flash is far enough away, it won't show!

Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 174 Location: Baltimore, MD

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