Two-Light Setup For Filled Hard Light Food Photography

[@areusirius2054]

damn Rachel you broke down a semesters worth of photography school in about 7 minutes. awesome

[@Twolovesstudio]

!!! What great feedback. Thanks so much. So glad you enjoyed it. If you'd like to see more videos like this one, please let me know.

[@granthibberd6069]

Awesome explanation!

[@violetatelier2289]

More! More! More content like this! :) Love the pictures showing the different stages of building the scene with light and modifiers.

[@Twolovesstudio]

You got it! Yes those shots were our test shots. They aren't very pretty but they get the point across. Sometimes the food is distracting, so getting back to the basics helps us understand. Thanks for the feedback and for watching.

[@sharonnge132]

Another amazing and helpful video Rachel! I love how creative you are with using what you have on hand to modify light.

[@Twolovesstudio]

Thanks so much and for watching. I get a lot of ideas from my hubby Matt :) If you'd like to see more videos like this - let me know.

[@nguyet-tamingofthespoon]

This was incredibly helpful! I've been chasing a summer-dappled-light image for months and just wasn't getting the look I wanted. But your comment about hard vs harsh light was a breakthrough moment for me. Even though I only have one strobe, I was able to apply all the principles you mentioned like focused key light (used my strobe in a softbox without any diffusion), fill light (used my giant 5-in-1 reflector + lots of white foam boards), and dappled light (used some fake branches placed down on the set + some bubble wrap) and got the lighting I wanted. Thank you!! I really hope you do more lighting tutorials. By the way, the image I created was of some watermelon mocktails that I just posted to my IG account if you want to take a look.

[@Twolovesstudio]

I just took a look! Lighting looks amazing and you did such a great job at bringing what you had available to you to troubleshoot the look you wanted. Thanks for the feedback :)

[@cyberiadevil]

Great vid, Rachel! I love hard light, but haven’t mastered it yet. This was very helpful.

[@Twolovesstudio]

Glad it was helpful! I think hard light can be tough because we often don't modify the shadows to make it feel more flattering so I hope the ideas in this video will help.

[@sofi4386]

Wow! Thanks Rachel this was very helpful , I love the way you explained it! And how creative you are 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏽♥️

[@Twolovesstudio]

You're so welcome! Thanks for the feedback and for watching. I get a lot of my ideas from my hubby :) Let me know if you want to see more videos like this.

[@sofi4386]

@@Twolovesstudio YES!!! I would love to see more videos like this one . Thank you Rachel 🙌🏽♥️

[@marie-philippemercierlambe480]

Thank you for this tutorial! I’ve been having a hard time figuring this type of light and your explanation makes it so clear!

[@Twolovesstudio]

Woohoo! I am super glad. Filled hard light is a great technique for food and it's quite easy to do once we get the basics under our belt. Let me know if you try it.

[@03swapnil]

I am amazed to see the possibilities with artificial light! This shot is beyond stunning! 😍

[@Twolovesstudio]

Wow, I am so glad! I primarily use artificial light with all of my photos now. Do you mostly use natural?

[@isis32]

This video was so helpful! Thank you for explaining on-axis fill lighting. I've been looking for ways to prevent double shadows when using a second light to tone down hard light, especially when working with gobos. This is exactly what I needed.

[@Twolovesstudio]

I am so glad that the explanation unlocked this for you! That's exciting. Happy shooting.

[@mariondubanchet430]

This video is so informative 🙌🏻! Thank you for this high-quality content, I hope that more videos in this style will arrive on your account! 😍😍

[@Twolovesstudio]

More to come!

[@shreyaanevatia6500]

Thanks for sharing this Rachel, it was incredibly helpful!

[@Twolovesstudio]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching. Let me know if you'd like to see more videos like this.

[@bessiebakesbackdrops]

AMAZING tutorial Rachel! I love the contrast and depth in this photo with your lighting setup.

[@Twolovesstudio]

Thanks Leslie! Let me know if you'd like to see more tutorials like this.

[@bessiebakesbackdrops]

Oh absolutely I would!

[@lizziegsack]

Amazing!! Thank you so much for breaking this down, this is genius!

[@Twolovesstudio]

You're very welcome! I am glad you enjoyed it. Let me know how using this lighting technique goes :)

[@juliehaines6066]

A great video! Thanks Rachel x

[@Twolovesstudio]

You're so welcome! Let me know if you'd like more videos like this one.

[@SpiceandLight]

Thanks Rachel - very informative! Loving that tupperware lid - never done that before!!

[@Twolovesstudio]

It's so good! It's amazing what we can use to modify light. Let me know if you give it a try.

[@GirishJoshi]

Thank you for this. Worth the watch 😊

[@Twolovesstudio]

You're welcome 😊 Thanks for watching.

[@RicardoCapriles]

Incredibly helpful! Already subscribed to your channel! thank you very much for sharing your light scheme!

[@Twolovesstudio]

Thanks for the sub! I am pumped you liked this lighting tutorial. Let me know if you use it!

[@KEHA14]

Brilliant. Thanks for laying it out so clearly

[@Twolovesstudio]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching :)

[@Twolovesstudio]

My pleasure! Glad it was helpful :)

[@koltureshack7993]

Super useful! I really appreciate these lighting breakdowns, would love to see more pleeeease :-) also hope motherhood is treating you well x

[@Twolovesstudio]

Hooray! I am so glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback :)

[@rodriguezluisa01]

😀thanks

[@Twolovesstudio]

You're welcome 😊

[@joeriveul]

I really loved this video and the one about soup styling. Any chance you will be doing a course on shooting with artificial light? I couldn’t find one on your site.

[@Twolovesstudio]

I am so glad you've been finding the content helpful :) At this time, I don't have a course on lighting but I would love to do one on creative lighting in the future. In the meantime, I hope to do more videos here too.

[@saltandserenity]

Great tutorial Rachel. I am wondering if you could also use one strobe and one continuous light for this setup? I don't have 2 strobes. Thanks

[@Twolovesstudio]

Thanks for watching Cindy! So glad you liked it. You can definitely use continuous and flash in the same setup. FOR CONTINUOUS + FLASH COMBO 1 - You will need to use the continuous light as your fill light (NOT the key light) and have it pointing at the ceiling like we do in this tutorial. 2 - You will need to make sure your flash settings (shutter speed) don't kill ambient light. So you will need to reduce your shutter speed to allow the camera to pick up the continuous light. Let me know how it goes! :)

[@janleblowitz9833]

This is awesome, thankyou. What options would you suggest to fill in the hard light if your ceiling isn't white, I have pine timber tongue & groove ceiling.

[@Twolovesstudio]

I am so glad you enjoyed it Jan! You can still do this setup with a timber ceiling but the light will be warmer and potentially add some colour issues. Depending on how deep the colour is and how tall your ceiling is, it's hard to say how much this will affect it. I would try it out first. But if you have any large white foam boards that you can attach to a lighting stand you may be able to try that. Or if you can hang a a white sheet or even use a large white diffuser. This might be a pain to setup however. If that's the case, we may need to think of an alternative setup. Let me know how you go.

[@janleblowitz9833]

@@Twolovesstudio thankyou, had a play today using a large white diffuser, worked a treat, will post on Instagram 🙂

[@Twolovesstudio]

Yay! So glad to hear it.@@janleblowitz9833

[@Ashleyoutwest]

Would love to know where you got the light stand clamps to hold up the foamcore!

[@Twolovesstudio]

These are great aren't they! They are Neewer Photo Clamps: amzn.to/3g4NtrY

[@kevinbraganza1]

Hi Rachel, thanks for this great video! I tried using the barn door with honey come grid as key light + fill light using a soft box and didn’t get the harsh light look. I started shooting at F13 initially and even after opening up to F9 and bumping up the ISO slightly the results were dull and underwhelming. Is there a reason for using a honey come grid + barn door set up versus a bare bulb or 7 inch reflector dish as most photographers including Joanie Simon and Lauren Short do? PS - I was using the AD400 pro at max flash power.

[@Twolovesstudio]

Hey Kevin, the reason we chose to use the barndoor/grid combo was to be able to control the key light and fill independently. To get the hardest light possible, the light is as far away from the scene as possible to make it appear as small as it can be from the perspective of the subject. However, when the light is that far away, the light spills and bounces all over the room, which fills the shadows in an uncontrolled way. By reducing the spill and bounce, we were able to get a darker density shadow without the fill light on. That way, we could dial the shadow density to exactly what I wanted. Hopefully, doing it this way illustrated the difference between the effects of the key and fill light more obviously. I’m sorry that this technique didn’t work for you in this case. I wonder why, as I’ve used it several times to get the look you see in the video. Perhaps it was the power balance between the key and the fill. Were you able to get a shadow with a defined edge when you only had your key light going? If you have more questions, my husband might jump in to help as he’s my “gaffer”!

[@qiai3482]

Hi Rachel, thanks for sharing the technique! May I ask what is the brand/model of the adapter you use to connect the barn door to profoto flash? Thanks!

[@Twolovesstudio]

It's an off-brand (I am unable to recall the brand and it doesn't specify on it unfortunately). But it's a Profoto to Bowens Mount Speed Ring Adapter if that helps.

[@qiai3482]

Thank you! @@Twolovesstudio

[@sophiedumont4763]

Thanks a lot Rachel. I have two questions, are you in a dark room to do it or you can be in front of a window ? You don't need to use color gel to add a warm light ? I have only one strobe (your key light) do you think I can manage something ? Or you recommand I use a cobra flash in the softbox? Thanks a lot !!!

[@Twolovesstudio]

Great questions. As we are using flash, the settings on our light kill any ambient light. This means that the only light in the photo is coming from the flash. If you shot with this same setup in a dark room, next to a window or outside, the only light would be coming from the flash. So the bts setup is the exact way I shot this, just in my studio room. You can always use a color gel if you'd like warm light, but depending on your look you can also add warm tones with color grading in post. There are other ways to achieve filled hard light, but to use this setup you will need 2 lights. If you use a softbox on your key liight you won't get hard light. So you may have to play around with your flash (hard light) and fill from a large surface like a white wall.

[@sophiedumont4763]

Thanks a lot @@Twolovesstudio , how does it kill the ambiant light ? I hope I will find it. If I'm next to a window, I should put the Key light in front of it, right ? I have this kind of light to make for a client tomorrow, and I never did it. But your video will save me I hope ! Thanks again

[@audr9179]

where is the backdrop from?

[@Twolovesstudio]

This backdrop was from Woodville Workshop's custom tile collection.

[@Kukainis]

what is the tripod you use for the camera ?

[@Twolovesstudio]

It's the Manfrotto Triaut 058B. You can check out my tripod guide on my blog here: twolovesstudio.com/blog/ultimate-guide-best-tripod-for-food-photography/