How Lindsay Adler Elevates Drama with Lighting

February 22, 2016

By Lindsay Adler

Lindsay Adler is a conceptual fashion and portrait photographer. She recently released her Creative Studio Lighting Guide and will also be speaking at WPPI: a PLUS class, “Fashion & Beauty Essentials” (March 4, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.) and a Platform class, “Simple Creative Studio Lighting Techniques” (March 9, 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.).

Rainbow Kaleidoscope
I was extremely inspired by this model’s white gown, by designer Leanne Marshall, and the way it delicately encircled her as she sat on the floor. I decided it would look beautiful photographed like a rainbow kaleidoscope. To achieve this vision, I used three Profoto D1 Air 500W/s monolights and a Profoto Air Remote as my remote trigger.

All Photos and diagrams © Lindsay Adler.

I started by placing a beauty dish with a grid to light her face and torso, which created focus and glowing light on my subject without allowing the main light to spill everywhere. Because I would be adding gels, I didn’t want to overpower the scene with light. Gels show up better in shadow areas, so the beauty dish grid allowed me to concentrate the main light and therefore make the gels appear more pronounced and richer in color.

Two barn doors were attached with gels to the front with gaffers tape. I placed the magenta gel on the far left of the model to act as a rim light, background light and to fill in the shadows. The white dress then picked up the beautiful magenta colors throughout the left side, and the shadows had a rich pink tone. I added a teal-blue gel to the right side of the frame, pointed back at the subject. Those colors would fill in the shadow areas on the dress, giving it bluish tones on the right side.

To really see the colors encircle her, I stood on a small stepladder. Using a SpiderPro Hand Strap, I could hold the camera nearly directly above the subject. A low angle would not have been as dynamic with the shape and colors showcased here. Combining the high angle, the gels and elegant pose of the model, I was able to transform the dress and scene into something engaging and colorful.

Gear & Settings:
-Canon 5D Mark III
-Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
-f/11 at 1/200 sec
-ISO 100
– Three Profoto D1 Air 500W/s monolights, Profoto Air Remote, gels (magenta, teal-blue), SpiderPro Hand Strap

Stormy Raven
The mood I wanted for this raven gown, by Xiaolin, would require a dark and stormy sky, with more dramatic light on the model’s face. I started by testing all natural light with my assistant as the stand-in model.

First I exposed for the ambient light on the face, but the background went completely over-exposed. Next, I underexposed the ambient light by several stops, shooting at f/16. I started to love the texture in the clouds and mysterious glow in the sky, but because my subject’s face went completely dark, I brought in the Profoto B1, which gives me more powerful output. In addition, I set up a Profoto beauty dish with a grid, for more focused and flattering light on my subject’s face. It went to the right of the frame to a slightly short position, allowing the shadows on the face to fall toward the camera for more drama. With a small aperture, I turned my strobe to full power and brought it very close to my subject. If I didn’t want to shoot at a small aperture, I could have used Neutral Density filters to cut down on ambient light and open up to wider apertures.

Keep in mind that you will need to utilize the aperture to dramatically underexpose ambient light without exceeding your camera’s sync speed (typically 1/200 sec on most DSLRs). Profoto’s B1 with Air Remote TTL will allow you the capability to use high-speed sync capabilities to shoot at faster shutter speeds if desired.

Gear & Settings:
– Canon 5D Mark III
-Canon 24-70mm f/2.8
– 30mm
-f/3.2 at 1/160 sec
-ISO 100
-Profoto B1, beauty dish, Softlight Reflector grid

Flurry Flour Dance
For this collaboration with a dancer, I wanted to create something dreamlike, elegant and full of energy. I decided to cover my dancing subject in powder, and to have the image appear as if it was exploding from her body and movements.

We used two bags of regular flour, which is slightly denser and wouldn’t itch like other powders (like corn starch). We had her texture her face, arms and headband with the flour so that she would be even more high key against the dark background, and we doused her tulle skirt, which would help give that beautiful haze around her when she danced. If you try this, be sure to shoot in a well-ventilated space, since flour is flammable. We wanted her to be able to move freely in the scene, so we tucked the background backward using boards and sandbags to give us a crisp edge on the floor.

This shot was illuminated with a single light: I used my Profoto D1 Air 500W/s monolight and air remote as the single strobe, with a Westcott 47-inch Zeppelin (with double diffusion) as my modifier. With the wider scene to illuminate I needed more than my usual beauty dish—I felt, however, that a large softbox wouldn’t give me the crisp edges and light fall off that I needed. The Zeppelin gave me the wide spread of light I required, but also faster fall off in the shadows, and adding the double diffusion makes the light behave like a deep Octabox.

I placed the light to the right of the scene, far enough away to sculpt the subject and her skirt, and a white piece of foam core (4 x 8 feet) to the left to kick back some light into the shadows. I also feathered the Zeppelin across the scene, pointing it more toward the left of the frame instead of straight back, which illuminated the dancer but somewhat reduced light reaching
the background.

Gear & Settings:
-Canon 5D Mark III
-Canon 24-105mm f/4, focal length: 50mm
-f/4 at 1/200 sec
-ISO: 640
-Profoto D1 Air 500W/s monolight, Air Remote, Westcott 47-inch Zeppelin (with double diffusion) – Seamless Eleanor background, 4 x 8-foot foam core, Delkin Snug It Pro case, Tether Tools tether cable
-Adobe Lightroom CC