If you are looking for the next level of lighting for your portraits, you have come to the right place!
Using multiple flashes with gels is a fantastic way to create incredibly lit images that really stand out. You will need quite a bit of equipment to make this happen but there are some other options that you can try.
I used three flashes to create this portrait. Only one of the flashes had a coloured gel.
Equipment needed
There is no getting away from it – you will need quite a bit of equipment to create this type of image. Along with a camera and lens, I used 4 Nikon flashes (also referred to as speedlights), some stands for the lights, a small softbox, a snoot and coloured gels. Let’s look at each piece of equipment.
Camera
I used the Nikon D850. It is an amazing camera for portraits with it’s 45.7 megapixel sensor. The images from this camera are amazing. I didn’t need a high frame rate of a camera like my D4S or the D6 or a cropped sensor like the D500.
Lenses
For most of the images, I used the Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 as it is a great focal length for portraits that doesn’t put me too far away from my subject but also gives me flexibility. I also used the Nikon 70-200 F2.8 FL lens to compress the image a bit more but it meant that I was a bit further away from my subject.
Flashes/Speedlights
I used 3 Nikon SB 5000 speedlights for my 3 lights. They aren’t powerful enough to compete with direct sunlight outside but they are fantastic little lights when working indoors. If I was to do this outdoors I would look at using some more powerful strobes like the Profoto B1X or B10X.
In addition to the 3 SB 5000 speedlights, I used a Nikon SB 910 as my Master speedlight on my camera. I could have used another SB5000 but I have an older SB910 and it works well. Using another speedlight enabled me to fire the 3 speedlights wirelessly and to change their settings right from where I stood. I could have used my Nikon SU-800 but sometimes it doesn’t work when I don’t have a direct line of sight to the speedlight I am trying to fire. With one of the speedlights behind my subject, I was worried that I would have some difficulty so I opted for the SB 910.
Light modifiers
You can use the speedlights on their own but you have a lot less control over the final image. One way to have more control is to use light modifiers. A light modifier is anything that changes the light that comes from your flash. They are great for controlling the quality, shape and spill (or lack of spill) of your light.
I used a small softbox on my main light that lit my subject because I light the quality of that light. I also used a snoot on a second fill light. Snoots are great for narrowing light into a more concentrated beam and preventing light from spilling to other parts of the image.
A medium sized softbox with a Nikon SB 5000 speedlight.
Other Options
I realize that not everyone has 3-4 speedlights at their disposal. If you have the opportunity to borrow or rent them, then I would recommend it as they do make everything much more seamless. However, you could use some continuous light sources. Ideally, they would be light sources where you can adjust the brightness of them individually because you want to be able to control the amount of light in different parts of the scene.
You may also want to try to use some type of light modifier to control the quality of the light and the amount of spill of light.
The set up
Let’s take a look at where I put all of this equipment. The drawing below was the plan I had before the shoot. The plan was to have the main light to the left of my subject with a medium softbox and a yellow gel over the flash. The fill light was to the right of my subject and would have a snoot on the flash to direct a narrow beam of light at my subject. Finally, the third light would be pointed at the back wall. I want the light from this flash to spread out so I set the zoom setting of the flash to its widest setting.
This is a situation where you want everything in manual. Your flashes need to be set to manual flash output. Your camera needs to be set to manual exposure so you set the shutter speed and aperture. You can still use autofocus for your camera.
When it comes to capturing images with flash, TTL can be a great thing but it also means that you can get a slight variation of power from shot to shot. Putting the flashes in manual power means I get a consistent amount of light each time. The three flashes are also in Remote mode. I made sure that I set each of the flashes to the same channel (in my case 3).
I have the fourth flash (speedlight) that is mounted on the camera. This meant that I could set the power of each speedlight directly from where I am standing. It was great because I didn’t have to go to the flash to make changes.
My D850 is also in manual exposure mode because I don’t want the camera reading the amount of light in the room and trying to get the correct exposure. I set my camera to ISO 100, F2.8 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/200 (****check this). I want all the light to come from the flashes so I captured my first exposure with all of the flashes turned off to ensure that my image is completely black.
Most importantly, I made sure that the white balance of my camera was manually set to 2500 Kelvin. This would ensure that any light that came from the flashes was blue.
Capturing the image
When using multiple flashes, the best thing you can do is test out the flashes one at a time. Work to get the exposure of that one flash correct then turn it off and test the next one. Your model needs to stay in the same spot the whole time.
I started with the main light which had a softbox on it. In addition to that, I also put a yellow gel (plastic cellophane) over the flash head so that I could change the colour of the light to be yellow instead of blue. I experimented with the number of times I would fold over the yellow gel to get the yellow tone I was looking for. The light has to travel through the gel so the more layers of folder over gel, the more power I need from the flash.
Once I was happy with the main flash, I turned it off and tested out the flash that was pointed towards the wall. I set the zoom on this flash to its widest setting so the light would spread out on the wall as much as possible. Because I didn’t put a gel on this flash and my camera’s white balance is set to 2500 kelvin, the light from this flash is blue in the image.
Lastly, I turned off the flash on the back wall and turned on the flash to the right of my subject. This flash had a snoot to control the beam of light and didn’t have a gel. Once again, because my camera is set to 2500 kelvin, the light is recorded as blue. Once I got the exposure and direction of light right, I was ready to combine all three lights.
With all three lights turned on, they combine to make my portrait. As long as my subject stays the same distance away from the lights (as they are in manual power) and I don’t change my ISO, shutter speed and aperture, I can continue to capture as many images as I want. As I mentioned, I used the Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 for most of the shots. However, I did use the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 as well and because I didn’t change my camera settings, the images were exposed correctly. All I needed to do was to ask my model to try different poses fire away.
Once you start using multiple light sources in your portraits, you will see the difference that it makes to your images. Coloured gels add that extra layer to your images and are well worth the effort.
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