Choosing the Right Location
For this assignment, our client was Storrs Winery in Santa Cruz, California. Their goal was to create a series of photographs showcasing their winemaker, Nathan, in the environment of the winery. We chose one of the wine cellars for the portrait series. The warm color of the oak wine barrels provided a great backdrop for the portraits.

We asked the winemaker to bring in two wine barrels to place in the foreground for the portraits. [figures 1 & 2]

Lighting the Scene
Next, we set about lighting the scene. We used the Starlite QL tungsten continuous light for this assignment. The units are very portable and are designed to be used in Photoflex vented soft boxes. [figure 3]

Once we mounted the Starlite head to a LiteStand and inserted the lamp (bulb), we then attached a small SilverDome soft box to it, which is vented and made to be used with continuous hot lights. [figure 4]

After the soft box is attached, you can either open the vents all the way, or “tent” them to prevent light spill. [figures 5 & 6]

The photo at the left shows the main light set-up without a reflector. [figure 7]

We placed the light source so it would light our subject, but also spill onto the barrels in the foreground and background. The two images below show this main light from different angles. [figures 8 & 9]

Once Nathan was ready for the portrait, we had him stand behind the front barrels and made slight adjustments to the light. We positioned the soft box above the subject’s head and about 30 degrees to one side. This produced a shadow under Nathan’s chin and shortened his shadow, preventing it from becoming a distracting element on the wine barrels in the background. [figure 10]

As Nathan sampled some wine from a barrel and poured it into a glass, we took our first shot. [figure 11]

Not bad for just one light! The soft box helped to produce a very natural-looking light without being too high in contrast.

Next, we decided to add a reflector for a fill light. Reflectors are good at bouncing light into the shadow areas of your subject. In this case, we added a 39x39" LitePanel with a white fabric attached and positioned it to the left of Nathan. [figure 12]

Here are a few other vantage points of the scene with the subject and reflector added. [figures 13, 14 & 15]

Once we had the LitePanel positioned where we wanted it, we took another shot. [figure 16]

As you can see from the result, the White LitePanel helped to lighten the shadow areas of our subject.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the scene with and without a LitePanel fill. [figure 17]

Since it’s easy to change the fabric of the LitePanels, it‘s worth trying different fabric surfaces to see what works best for you. Below are some further examples in a vertical frame. [figure 18]

Adding a Second Light
Since space was limited in this room, we decided to use the second Starlite aimed into a 45-inch white umbrella. This spread the light evenly across the wine barrels behind the subject. The idea was to make the barrels in the background have some dimension and detail. [figure 19]

We attached an umbrella to a Starlite head, and since the light from the umbrella hitting the wine barrels was a little strong, we decided to diffuse the light somewhat by placing a 39x39" reflector panel in front of it. This produced a nice even background light at the f-stop needed to match our main light. [figures 20 & 21]

The two images below show the difference the second light makes to the wine barrels. The image on the left was lit only with the Starlite in the small soft box. The image on the right was lit with both Starlite units. Notice how the wine barrels look more three-dimensional due to the second light. [figures 22 & 23]

For these next shots, the placement of the subject remained the same, but we decided to move the main light to the opposite side of the subject in order to utilize the fill from the second light on the shadow side of the subject. As you’ll soon see, the placement of the main light on the opposite side from the first series also gives this new series a slightly different look and feeling. [figure 24]

Meter Your Subject After Adding Lights
When you move your main light and add a second light, it’s important to take another light reading. In the two images below, you’ll notice that the light falling on the subject gives the same meter reading with the second light off and on. [figure 25]

The image below on the left shows the portrait with just the one main light. The image on the right shows the portrait with both the main and background/fill lights used. Notice how we not only lit the wine barrels behind the subject, but we also added a fill light to the shadow side of his face. [figure 26]

Changing Perspective with Lens Selection
Once your lighting is established, it’s easy to create a series of portraits simply by changing the focal length of the lens you’re using. The images below show a variety of looks created by changing the focal length of the zoom lens and slightly modifying the subject’s pose.

Without changing the lighting, we created a second series of portraits by having the subject sit and get closer to the top of the foreground barrels. This allowed us to have the subject rest on the barrel for the new series of poses. [figure 27]

As you can see from the results below, you can create very different looks simply by changing the focal length of the zoom lens and having your subject make minor posing adjustments. [figure 28]

NOTE: Keep in mind that the focal lengths listed here relate to the Olympus E-3 digital camera and lenses, which are equivalent to half that of 35mm film. For example, the result shot taken at 50mm would be equivalent to 100mm in 35mm film.

Using Selective Focus
You can also draw your viewer’s attention by using selective focus. In the image below, we had the winemaker place the wine glass forward so that we could focus on the glass rather than his face. [figure 29]

To focus more on the winemaker, we simply brought the focus forward to the subject’s face. As you can see, these two images tell very different stories. [figure 30]