One Light Setup

For Strobists: A Nissin Di622 through a 80x80cm softbox on camera right and very close to the subject coming from a low angle. As big reflector on camera left even closer, if possible. Triggered by using Canon Speedlight 580 II.

The direction of the softbox is the hardest part in the process of making this photograph. I set the softbox coming from right to left rather than from front to back. I did this to control the amount of light hitting the white background ten feet behind the subject. My aim was to create just a wee bit of separation between the subject and the background to not to merge the two.

I would have wanted to position the softbox farther away from the subject to achieve more even illumination on both sides of the subject's face. This I could not do without making more light to leak on the background and thus diluting the darkness I so much worked toward. Nor could I move the white wall to a greater distance without pulling the whole block down. Painting the wall with a shade of grey is not an option either, I'm afraid.

All this has to do with the inverse square law, explained here.