
Indoor Scenes | Dramatic Lighting Shot with Flash or Constant Lights
Dramatic lighting can immediately up the cool factor of an indoor scene, and there are certain scenarios that really lend themselves to great, dramatically lit images. Barrooms, hotel lobbies, or even hotel rooms often provide excellent backdrops for creating rich, moody moments. The key is remembering and knowing how to use light modification to reduce bad ambient light and remove distracting backgrounds.
Our approach to using flash or constant lights for dramatic lighting includes the following:
- Underexpose for the scene
- Add light with control (such as a grid or snoot)
- Match light temperature in the scene with additional lighting
- Match light direction in the scene
- Keep mixed lighting separated
- Frame subject to contrast against background
- Use highlight alert in camera
Exposure goals for dramatic lighting shot with flash or constant lights:
- Limited dynamic range
- Bias: preserve highlights
- Allow shadows to clip
- Temperature: 4000-5000K
Pye Jirsa
Founding Partner of Lin and Jirsa Photography and SLR Lounge.
Follow my updates on Facebook and my latest work on Instagram both under username @pyejirsa.
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Question: Instead of shooting your flash through a scrim, could you also use a gridded octabox/gridded beauty dish (I have them from Profoto)