Between editing shots from weddings and meetings with potential new clients for the witer, I've been making a point of getting in to the studio for some purely experimental shoots. I recently came across the work of Dan Winters which made me realize I have a lot to learn about light and fine control.
I've had some scrims lying around the studio gathering some dust and I decided to put them to use. The results you see make use of a single studio light. I started using a fill light, but I really wanted to just see the results of one light controlled with a pair of scrims. The scrims were placed a few feet in front of the light (a small softbox) one after the other, parallel with the plane of the subject's face. This not only diffused the light a bit but made it somewhat more directional as the small holes of the scrim material on two parallel planes let mostly perpendicular light through (I realize I should add a sketch to explain this).
One of the first things I've realized looking at these shots is that I should try placing the light source above me along with the scrims. This is tricky to achieve, but I really want to try and shoot more in line with the axis if the light and face so I can get a more "head on" look. Jonathan's shot is dramatic I find, but almost a profile shot.
The background was a bit of a mess as we need to replace our black backdrop in the studio ASAP, so please try to ignore it (I barely can). Still, it is just visible in the shots and I really wasn't looking to work with it anyway. Or is that just a sad excuse?
Now that I've had a little success with this little technique I've got the guts to call out more friends and pull them into the studio as guinea pigs. Well, would guinea pigs complain if they get some slightly usable shots out of the affair?
I should probably stock the place with some wine to be sure.
