Different Looks for Head Shot

I did some head shots for Allen of Wayfarer Ministries yesterday. It was a simple set up but I'm going to show you how I was able to get a few different looks with some small quick changes.

I started with a 5x7 collapsible grey background, one 580ex ii in a 28" softbox high and to camera right for the main light and another 580ex ii behind Allen to camera left for a rim light. I shot with the 70-200. Here's what we got:



I then added one more 580ex ii zoomed out at 24mm directly behind Allen to make the background go white. It gave us a completely different look:



Next, I zoomed that background light into about 50mm and moved it closer to the backdrop. That gave us a 3rd look:



Finally, I zoomed that background light all the way in and switched lenses to the 16-35 and moved in really close to get a 4th look:



My main light and rim lights never moved or changed, the entire shoot was less than 10 minutes and we got some great options for Allen. Lighting doesn't have to be complicated, you just need to have a plan and an idea of what you are trying to accomplish.