you should develop a strong sense of composition to be able to break the rules

©munish khanna

These picture was shot towards the evenning. Two lights were used. One large softbox is lighting up the model and the other hard light is placed outside behind the door with the coloured stained glasses. so, the light comming from the glass is not natural light.The door had to be kept partly open so that the main light falls on the slave unit of the light behind the door. Alternatively, an external slave unit can be connected to the synchronization cord and placed closer to the main light.

A singe large softbox from the right a little higher, on the boom stand. There is no reflector on the other side. If a reflector was used it would have filled up the darker tones. It is not always necessary to fill up.

Shot in the doorway, a single large softbox is illuminating the model from the left. Another small softbox is placed in the other room facing the model to illuminate the hair. This light is actually creating short lighting in the second picture.

Shot at twilight, the models were illuminated using one prolinchrom 23 studio light powered by a small generator. A small softbox was used as I wanted the light to be a little hard. The light should be set in a way so as to keep an exposure which slightly underexposes the background.

Two large softboxes are illuminating the model from both sides. The lights are slightly higher than the eye level. The highlights on the cheeks / sides of the face is due to weak / soft backlighting.

It is not always important to use a contrasty background. Since the background is also black, the pink bindi, sleeves and the eyes are highlighted at best.

Shot in the studio, a typical old time wedding tent was hired from a local tent shop to give a different and interesting background

The light is comming from right side top. The model, Latika is on transparent acrylic sheet. Another light from the left could have made the leg appear less dark, but could have killed the detail on the white frill. Moreover, the darker tones along the background as well are giving more depth to the picture.

A modified butterfly lighting. The lighting is straight from the camera-subject axis. There is one softbox above the camera and another below. This tends to give a very flat lighting. If not weaker, the lighting from below the subject should not be stronger than the light from above. i.e if there is a shadow, it should be under the nose and not upward, as that will impart a very unnatural look. The exact position and strength of the lights needs to be worked out in reference to the features of the model.

It is very important in these kind of shots not to use a wide angle. 120mm lens was used on Nikon D100. (effectively 180mm) And also it is important to focus on the face especially the eyes, as with the long lenses the depth of field is very shallow and it drops very fast. Using a wide angle would have led to distortion.

The model is short lighted from the left. This highlights the detail (texture) on the saree while giving good modeling to the body. Light is not filled back from the right showing a play of light and shade. In this kind of shot use of wide angle lens is not advised as that will lead to distortion. Even now the feet which are closer to the lens are appearing somewhat larger, which is also natural, but not looking bad as they are directing the viewers eyes all the way up towards the face. The angle of the feet is actually flowing the eye view upwards.

The actual illumination in this shot is not from the laltern but a studio light with a snoot. A cokin sepia filter was added to the lens to give the warm effect and also the illusion that the subject is being lighted up by the light source vissible in the frame. Exposure was compensated by about 2 stops as filter blocks some light. When using studio lights it is important to keep everything as natural as possible.

No Photoshop. The model was actually throwing up the water melon and this was one of the several shots taken to get the natural expression and the right position of the water melon. However, position could have been adjusted later on to suite the composition.

The makeup was FTV type and the red outfit adds to the contrast against the black background and green.

Some backlighting was added to give seperation.

A long lens (210mm) was used on 35mm film format camera. I was quite low on the brick road. Notice the out of focus area on lower left corner. It appears the aproaching car is quite close but it is apearing so because of the long lens.

A typical example of slow synchronization of flash. The camera is set on aperture priority mode with the flash mode set at “slow”. It will not really make a difference in this case if it is synchronized with the rear curtain or the front. The model is illuminated with the flash and the background, where the flash light cannot reach is illuminated with it’s own light. The background is the light source itself. Nikon SB28 was used on F70 camera with a tele lens. Tripod was used. The model gets a little yellow / warm cast because of the street lighting. It is important that the model should not move to avoid a blur image.

		FASHION - LIGHTING & CONCEPTS EXPLAINED








		©munish khanna These picture was shot towards the evenning. Two lights were used. One large softbox is lighting up the model and the other hard light is placed outside behind the door with the coloured stained glasses. so, the light comming from the glass is not natural light.The door had to be kept partly open so that the main light falls on the slave unit of the light behind the door. Alternatively, an external slave unit can be connected to the synchronization cord and placed closer to the main light.


				A singe large softbox from the right a little higher, on the boom stand. There is no reflector on the other side. If a reflector was used it would have filled up the darker tones. It is not always necessary to fill up.


		Shot in the doorway, a single large softbox is illuminating the model from the left. Another small softbox is placed in the other room facing the model to illuminate the hair. This light is actually creating short lighting in the second picture.

		©munish khanna
		Shot at twilight, the models were illuminated using one prolinchrom 23 studio light powered by a small generator. A small softbox was used as I wanted the light to be a little hard. The light should be set in a way so as to keep an exposure which slightly underexposes the background.
		©munish khanna

		Two large softboxes are illuminating the model from both sides. The lights are slightly higher than the eye level. The highlights on the cheeks / sides of the face is due to weak / soft backlighting. It is not always important to use a contrasty background. Since the background is also black, the pink bindi, sleeves and the eyes are highlighted at best.

				Shot in the studio, a typical old time wedding tent was hired from a local tent shop to give a different and interesting background

		The light is comming from right side top. The model, Latika is on transparent acrylic sheet. Another light from the left could have made the leg appear less dark, but could have killed the detail on the white frill. Moreover, the darker tones along the background as well are giving more depth to the picture.

		A modified butterfly lighting. The lighting is straight from the camera-subject axis. There is one softbox above the camera and another below. This tends to give a very flat lighting. If not weaker, the lighting from below the subject should not be stronger than the light from above. i.e if there is a shadow, it should be under the nose and not upward, as that will impart a very unnatural look. The exact position and strength of the lights needs to be worked out in reference to the features of the model.
				It is very important in these kind of shots not to use a wide angle. 120mm lens was used on Nikon D100. (effectively 180mm) And also it is important to focus on the face especially the eyes, as with the long lenses the depth of field is very shallow and it drops very fast. Using a wide angle would have led to distortion.

		The model is short lighted from the left. This highlights the detail (texture) on the saree while giving good modeling to the body. Light is not filled back from the right showing a play of light and shade. In this kind of shot use of wide angle lens is not advised as that will lead to distortion. Even now the feet which are closer to the lens are appearing somewhat larger, which is also natural, but not looking bad as they are directing the viewers eyes all the way up towards the face. The angle of the feet is actually flowing the eye view upwards.		shonali red saree

		This picture of Chandini is a sandwitch of two photographs. One of the model and the other one of a regular door wire mesh, intentionally shot underexposed so that the negative is relatively transparent. When printed, transparent negative will have a subtle effect on the print compared to the other negative with proper exposure.
		Shot in the studio corner, between the doors, using a hard directional light, one side of the face is rendered completely dark except for a hint of eye. B&W Illford film was used. I was at a height with 210mm long lens. Later the black and white print was solarised in the dark room. As the image starts to appear on the paper while it is in the developer, a light is switched on for a very brief period. (Just a flash or the starting flicker of the tube light). This exposes the paper and the image starts to turn grey. While this is happening the paper is shifted to the fixer, which stops the further reaction of the light on the paper. One has to observe the image very carefully as a delay may make the image too dark or too much towards black.


		The actual illumination in this shot is not from the laltern but a studio light with a snoot. A cokin sepia filter was added to the lens to give the warm effect and also the illusion that the subject is being lighted up by the light source vissible in the frame. Exposure was compensated by about 2 stops as filter blocks some light. When using studio lights it is important to keep everything as natural as possible.
		water melon shot		No Photoshop. The model was actually throwing up the water melon and this was one of the several shots taken to get the natural expression and the right position of the water melon. However, position could have been adjusted later on to suite the composition. The makeup was FTV type and the red outfit adds to the contrast against the black background and green. Some backlighting was added to give seperation.

		A long lens (210mm) was used on 35mm film format camera. I was quite low on the brick road. Notice the out of focus area on lower left corner. It appears the aproaching car is quite close but it is apearing so because of the long lens.


		A typical example of slow synchronization of flash. The camera is set on aperture priority mode with the flash mode set at “slow”. It will not really make a difference in this case if it is synchronized with the rear curtain or the front. The model is illuminated with the flash and the background, where the flash light cannot reach is illuminated with it’s own light. The background is the light source itself. Nikon SB28 was used on F70 camera with a tele lens. Tripod was used. The model gets a little yellow / warm cast because of the street lighting. It is important that the model should not move to avoid a blur image.

				Hard studio light with a snoot is directed at the model in a way that it is higher and on one side. The position of the light is adjusted in a way that the shadow of the nose combines with the darker edge of the cheek /face to form a traingular highlight. Now you see the highlight and if the shadow of the nose does not combine with the darker edge then it will prominantly appear as the shadow of the nose. The light should not be too high so as to cover the eye / eyes completely in shadow. It is good to have some eye contact.


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