Mixing Hot Lights and Natural Light

This image was shot quite a while ago, but it shows some lighting choices that can make a shot more interesting. The setting is a large industrial building that was being renovated, and the model and I went in during a lag in the work. I knew I wanted to use that large window to add the feeling of overwhelming back light. The key was to let it overexpose, but not to the point of totally blowing out the frames.

The model was in the foreground, and I chose some tungsten lights to add the fill. I let the background light be 1.5 stops over the exposure based up0n a reading at the bright part of the floor. Polaroids were used to confirm settings. I also placed two fill boards to soften the contrast and add texture to the column she was leaning on. Both were white fill boards on stands and one is directly next to my camera (left) and the other is at an oblique angle to the column. The light, a 1000 watt Tota, is on camera right, bouncing into a large silver umbrella and is placed slightly behind the models position adding that feeling of backlight you see to the right on the dress. Hair light was a natural effect from the bright windows above the view of the camera. The camera fill board was also collecting light from the Tota. (Note: important to have very good lens shades, or a Gobo to block the umbrella lighting from hitting the lens directly.)

Camera: Mamiya RB with 50MM wide lens at f4. Film was T-max 400 and the scan was done on a good flatbed. Post processing in Photoshop included burning the wall on the right, and carefully working the texture in the dress and lace. I decided on the sepia look as it warmed the image up nicely and added a feeling of 'antique', to match the style of the dress and the retro look of the lighting and environment.