Minimalist High-Key Concept for Fashion and Nude Shoots
The Idea
A minimalist setting with a model in a “white cube” shifts all the focus on their emotions and poses.
The visual concept I’ll outline in this article should lend the images a floaty allure and amalgamate this with a classic 80ies/90ies magazine color palette.
Camera and Film
In order to get authentic colour reproduction similar to vintage print magazines, I picked Fujifilm Provia 100F slide film. Slide film was number one for professional photographers before the advent of digital, so this means recreating the look with the correct medium.
As the type of camera significantly impacts the work on set and therefore also the results, the Hasselblad 500 C/M with the Zeiss Planar 10mm f/3.5 or similar medium format cameras are great for such a shoot. They make the workflow slower and more focused while the 120 format provides excellent fidelity.
The Hasselblad 500 C/M - a great studio camera.
The use of slide film requires precise exposure metering so pre-planning the lighting setup is important.
Lighting Setup
The subject is placed 2 to 3m in front of a white paper background, that extends almost up to the camera.
As a key light, a big Octabox is placed on the right of the subject accompanied by a smaller Octabox on the left.
The lighting ratio for this look is 2:1. This means that the key light is one EV brighter than the fill light, providing twice as much illumination.
In order to get an even, white background, two strip lights with a grid are set up to mitigate stray light. The light output of these background lights combined is set to match the output of the main light plus 1/3 of stop.
The lighting diagram.
Image Review
The lighting is even but with enough contrast to create some tension.
The head shot makes the 2:1 contrast ratio more obvious. There is a one stop difference in lighting on her face compared to her back.
The vignette on the background provides more focus on the subject and was created by placing the background lights correctly.
Thanks to the size and placement of the main Octabox on Katerina’s right side, her hands holding the jacket in front of her face don’t create harsh shadows.
Closing Remarks
The key element of this setup is the 2:1 lighting ratio. For 99% of all applications, I would not go below this “magic ration”, as images can start to look boring and uninspired.
You can also use a dark background without any additional lights but keep the 2:1 ratio for creating a completely different look.
