Rain Outside, Model Tests Inside: A Shoot at Location A Studios
Karol needed photographs for her modelling portfolio. I had a new light to try. We brought both projects to Location A Studios in Toronto one rainy day in May.
The studio had big windows, but outside was doing very little to help. Rain, a grey sky and the neighbouring building meant there was less daylight to work with than the windows might suggest. The NEEWER FS60B had arrived at a useful moment. There was just one small complication: I didn’t have a modifier for it yet.
Fortunately, the studio came with a rather large one: a white cyclorama.
Letting the studio do some of the lighting
I bounced the FS60B off the cyclorama and the ceiling instead of pointing it directly at Karol. That gave me a larger surface sending light back towards her, with a softer transition between light and shadow.
The useful part was being able to change the light by changing where I aimed the lamp. The ceiling and the cyclorama sent it back from different directions, and I could combine that reflected light with what was coming through the windows.
I bought a modifier later. For this shoot, a good part of my lighting kit was already built into the room.
Model tests, then something more relaxed
We kept the first looks simple: black clothes, a plain background and room for Karol to move. With so little else in the frame, a turn of the shoulders or a different expression makes a noticeable difference.
You can see it in the photographs below: folded arms and a direct gaze, a look back over the shoulder, then a smile in the frame with shorts. The background barely changes, but Karol does.
Then came the white shirt, jeans and blue chair. Those photographs feel more relaxed, and give her portfolio something beyond the straightforward standing portraits.
We also filmed a posing demonstration. An experienced model can move through a surprising number of variations in a short time. The changes themselves can be small: a hand moves, the shoulders turn, the expression shifts. If you’re practising posing, that’s a useful place to start. You don’t need a completely new pose for every frame.
The window light and the Black Pro-Mist
I used a Tiffen Black Pro-Mist 1/4 throughout the session. Its effect is easier to see in the photographs by the windows: look at the soft glow around the bright areas.
The reflected light and the filter were doing two separate jobs. Bouncing the lamp made the light falling on the model softer. The filter added glow around the highlights in the image. A soft light source alone won’t give you the same effect.
Karol’s window portraits are a good place to look at that combination. There’s more of the studio in these frames — plants, the wooden ledge and the bright window behind her. In the closer portrait, you can see how that glow sits alongside the detail in her face and hair.
All the finished photographs here were made with the filter. There isn’t a matching set without it, so these show how I used it during the shoot, rather than a before-and-after test.
A few photographs with Dana
We also made a smaller series with Dana. I’ve included three quite different photographs: pink trousers and a pale blue shirt against the cyclorama, a frame among the plants by the window, and a kneeling portrait in a white blouse and black trousers.
The last one is much quieter. There’s a lot of space around her, and the pose is simple. I like having that alongside the more playful frames — another option from the same room, light and filter.
Watch the light test from this shoot
You can see the FS60B at work in my review below. The photoshoot section starts at 1:55, with the rainy-day conditions and the light in use. If you’re wondering how these photographs were lit, that’s where to jump in.
NEEWER supplied the FS60B free of charge for the review.
If you’re planning model tests or updating a portfolio, tell me what the photographs need to show and where you’ll use them. We can build the session around that. Get in touch about your shoot.
