Photographing older women?

divamum · September 8, 2011

Howdy folks! Fun headshot session just came in for a gal who's starting a 2nd career in voice-overs and acting in her 60s! She sounds a blast and I'm really looking forward to this one, but tips on lighting mature skin in the most flattering way?

Obviously, I can't go the "wrinkles are character!" sidelighting route.... I don't want to make her look ridiculous by over-youthening her, but she will need to look as fabulous as possible and hopefully a bit younger than she is. Any tried'n'true pointers - including what NOT to do - would be great.

Thanks in advance!!

Tim Kamppinen · September 8, 2011

Large, soft main light from not too extreme of an angle, with a fairly strong fill light to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. A clamshell setup could actually look great, but probably avoid it if she's at all overweight because the flat light will make her face appear wider. I do this with a 60" softlighter overhead and a silver reflector at mid-chest height to fill in the shadows. I really like the light I get from this. People just seem to "glow" when you light them like this (again, assuming their size and shape are suited for it) and it really smooths out skin imperfections a lot.

KatHat · September 8, 2011

Here is an example of the clam shell set up. Overexpose a little bit and it wipes all the wrinkles away

The hair lights / kickers are optional. You can just use the main light and the reflector underneath the chin.

angevin1 · September 8, 2011

divamum wrote: »

Howdy folks! Fun headshot session just came in for a gal who's starting a 2nd career in voice-overs and acting in her 60s! She sounds a blast and I'm really looking forward to this one, but tips on lighting mature skin in the most flattering way?

Obviously, I can't go the "wrinkles are character!" sidelighting route.... I don't want to make her look ridiculous by over-youthening her, but she will need to look as fabulous as possible and hopefully a bit younger than she is. Any tried'n'true pointers - including what NOT to do - would be great.

Thanks in advance!!

Diva, You could do as I have shown over in Charles's thread; Pullbacks. It may seem silly. but have her lay on the floor and you on a ladder. Let gravity help for once! (It's on Page 4)

angevin1 · September 8, 2011

KatHat wrote: »

Here is an example of the clam shell set up. Overexpose a little bit and it wipes all the wrinkles away The hair lights / kickers are optional. You can just use the main light and the reflector underneath the chin.

If they're gonna look like that when I get to Sixty, count me in!:D

divamum · September 8, 2011

Thanks guys! I'm a huge fan of clamshell setups and actually use variants of them a lot - glad to see it may be helpful in this situation too. I sometimes set them off a few degrees to the side a bit as well; not sure if that means it still qualifies as "clamshell", but it does make for some nice light

Keep the suggestions coming - thanks!

PS I've picked up a cheap all-manual yongnuo to use as a 3rd flash, triggered by its built-in optical slave since I run my Canon flashes on ETTL via an ste2. Sure hope it works, as it would be nice to have a 3-light setup.... I had mainly envisaged using it as a bg light for a high key setup, but if I can get the level dialled in right it would work well for a kicker as well.... We'll see!

dogwood · September 9, 2011

Natural window light with fill. It's easy, it's flattering, and you'll fill guilty because it's so simple. Just did a headshot session with a 40-something professional with all natural light and she was thrilled with the results. Use a f 1.2 lens and you'll love the results.

Zanotti · September 9, 2011

divamum wrote: »

Thanks guys! I'm a huge fan of clamshell setups and actually use variants of them a lot - glad to see it may be helpful in this situation too. I sometimes set them off a few degrees to the side a bit as well; not sure if that means it still qualifies as "clamshell", but it does make for some nice light

Keep the suggestions coming - thanks!

PS I've picked up a cheap all-manual yongnuo to use as a 3rd flash, triggered by its built-in optical slave since I run my Canon flashes on ETTL via an ste2. Sure hope it works, as it would be nice to have a 3-light setup.... I had mainly envisaged using it as a bg light for a high key setup, but if I can get the level dialled in right it would work well for a kicker as well.... We'll see!

I am afraid the pre flash on the STE mode will trigger the optical slave. It will look like the slave is going off, but its a split second before so won't show up on the shot.

This is terribly difficult to figure out, as when you test fire all flashes fire - dont ask me how I know......

The solution is manual mode and everything fires at the same time.

divamum · September 9, 2011

Thanks Dogwood! (You know you're one of my heroes, right? I absolutely LOOOOVVEE your work, and your BTS videos have been an education!) I luurrve natural light (always my preference for "soft" shooting when available) - just hope we flippin' HAVE some by next week! (It's been raining nonstop monsoons here for the last week and the light levels are ridiculously low). I'm hoping that if it is this icky on Tuesday I can emulate window light by banking the two strip boxes I have. As for the 1.2 lens... I FREAKIN' WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Zan - this is the YN 468 - allegedly the s2 mode on the built-in slave compensates for preflashes... or am I hoping for too much?

My problem going all-manual is that my second Canon flash is a 420ex which has no manual mode - it's a terrific flash in ETTL and makes a great slave .... but auto mode only. That's one of the reasons that for $65 I figured I'd try to the Chinese speedlight, so that I'm on the way to two manual-capable flashes (430ex+YN) and at some point can buy radio triggers to use instead of the STE2.

If the optical slave will work with the STE2+2 Canon flash slaves, then the YN can act either as a background light, or - dialled way down - some kind of fill/hairlight. I often find myself gravitating towards 1-light+reflector setups so it's not a huge big deal, but now that I have the two strip boxes it would be fantastic to have a 3rd light to use. I'll let you know if this thing will play nice with the Canon gear!

Zanotti · September 9, 2011

divamum wrote: »

Thanks Dogwood! (You know you're one of my heroes, right? I absolutely LOOOOVVEE your work, and your BTS videos have been an education!) I luurrve natural light (always my preference for "soft" shooting when available) - just hope we flippin' HAVE some by next week! (It's been raining nonstop monsoons here for the last week and the light levels are ridiculously low). I'm hoping that if it is this icky on Tuesday I can emulate window light by banking the two strip boxes I have. As for the 1.2 lens... I FREAKIN' WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Zan - this is the YN 468 - allegedly the s2 mode on the built-in slave compensates for preflashes... or am I hoping for too much? My problem going all-manual is that my second Canon flash is a 420ex which has no manual mode - it's a terrific flash in ETTL and makes a great slave .... but auto mode only. That's one of the reasons that for $65 I figured I'd try to the Chinese speedlight, so that I'm on the way to two manual-capable flashes (430ex+YN) and at some point can buy radio triggers to use instead of the STE2.

If the optical slave will work with the STE2+2 Canon flash slaves, then the YN can act either as a background light, or - dialled way down - some kind of fill/hairlight. I often find myself gravitating towards 1-light+reflector setups so it's not a huge big deal, but now that I have the two strip boxes it would be fantastic to have a 3rd light to use. I'll let you know if this thing will play nice with the Canon gear!

You do know the guru of all things Speedlighting, Syl Arena?

http://speedliting.com/forum/forum.php

http://speedliting.com/

They will know if you flash works like you want it to!

Plus, you'll just try it and we will all know!

zoomer · September 9, 2011

dogwood wrote: »

Natural window light with fill. It's easy, it's flattering, and you'll fill guilty because it's so simple. Just did a headshot session with a 40-something professional with all natural light and she was thrilled with the results. Use a f 1.2 lens and you'll love the results.

That sounds so good....do you have any examples you feel like posting.

Soft soft light ....and lots of it..... from a flattering angle, thin depth of field....sounds like the recipe to me.

divamum · September 9, 2011

Zanotti wrote: »

Plus, you'll just try it and we will all know!

bwahahah - guinea pig...

I figured for $65 I couldn't really go too wrong - here's hoping!

Overexpose a little bit and it wipes all the wrinkles away

YES! Excellent point. Your shots are lovely, KatHat (should've mentioned that upthread - sorry - am typing in crazy haste these days and I think stuff that sometimes doesn't make it out my fingers into my post!!)

divamum · September 9, 2011

Correction: I apparently ordered a YN 560. Still has two slave modes. Not sure how I got the numbers switched around in my head other than TOO MUCH RESEARCH!!

Arrives tomorrow, so we'll see.....

divamum · September 9, 2011

Well, phooey. It actually arrived today (go Amazon - overnight, for price of 2-day) but, exactly as you predicted, Z, it can't quite synch up with the Canon flashes. I can see it go off, but not consistently and it's obviously not at the same time as the shutter since the shot shows no evidence of the flash pop I could see with the naked eye. More frustratingly, it would sometimes pop when in synch1 mode, and sometimes in synch2 and once or twice "got it right", but that's way too inconsistent for my needs.

It's actually a surprisingly nice piece of gear in terms of heft and handling, but it won't do what I need it to at the moment. Now have to decide whether to hang on to it until I get some radio triggers so I can use it and the 430ex in manual mode, or just send it back. Hmmm....

dogwood · September 10, 2011

zoomer wrote: »

That sounds so good....do you have any examples you feel like posting.

Soft soft light ....and lots of it..... from a flattering angle, thin depth of field....sounds like the recipe to me.

Headshot natural light samples

First two are window light and fill, next two are outdoors, final two are window light and fill.

dogwood · September 10, 2011

divamum wrote: »

Thanks Dogwood! (You know you're one of my heroes, right? I absolutely LOOOOVVEE your work, and your BTS videos have been an education!) I luurrve natural light (always my preference for "soft" shooting when available) - just hope we flippin' HAVE some by next week! (It's been raining nonstop monsoons here for the last week and the light levels are ridiculously low). I'm hoping that if it is this icky on Tuesday I can emulate window light by banking the two strip boxes I have. As for the 1.2 lens... I FREAKIN' WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aahh, thanks. Ironically, I live in the rain capital of the country (the pacific northwest) and we have 90-degree temps and sun right now. Payback for October through May when it rains here. Hey, you can rent f1.2 lenses for around $30. Rent one and you'll be hooked though. That's what happened to me anyway.

tomnovy · September 10, 2011

Beautiful light. Perfect catch light.

Photographing older women?

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