Stained Glass Angel

On July 27th, I had a session with the lovely Natalie to test my new stained glass set design.  The set design was inspired by old church windows and chapel rooms in castles.   

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 rectangular soft box with grid 1 54-inch umbrella with diffusion 1 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott FJ400 2 C-stands Sandbags Bell reflector plus grid Backdrop stand Grey backdrop 4 two-foot Aperture light bars 2 smoke genies’ Orange silicone gel	Table Bench 4 plexiglass sheets Window wrap 8 2x4 foot insulation panels Gaff tape Aluminum foil 2 Candelabra Electric candles

The set up

First, let's discuss how I made the stained glass panels.  I covered pieces of plexiglass with stained glass printed window cling wrap.  I then gaff taped two insulation panels together, like a book.  I then taped the plexiglass sheets to the panels to create a triangle.  I used white insulation panels to help reflect the light out through the panel.  I then placed a 2-foot light bar at the bottom and a piece of aluminum foil on top.  The aluminum foil bounced the light back down the structure, helping to even out the light across the plexiglass and make it glow.

For the actual set, I started by putting up a grey backdrop and draping it over a table and bench to create layers.  I then placed two stained glass panels on top of the table, ensuring that I could not see the white insulation panels.  I then placed two stained glass panels on the floor to create an alcove type space.  At the bottom of each stained glass panel structure, I placed a two-foot Aperture light bar set to 2500K to create a warm glow similar to sunset or sunrise.   I then place candles around the scene to frame the subject and give it a chapel like feeling. 

For my starting light set up placed a strobe with a rectangular soft box with a grid to camera left at about a 45-degree angle.  This light would be the main light.  I then placed the FJ400 with an umbrella, diffusion sock, and an orange gel to the camera's right to fill the shadows.  I placed an orange gel on the FJ400 to add warmth to the image and help mimic candlelight.

Camera Settings

This session mixed continuous and strobe lighting; thus, I had to carefully balance my settings throughout the shoot to ensure the light from the strobes did not overpower the light bars or candles.  For this shoot, my ISO varied from ISO 100 to 1200, with most images being taken at ISO 200.  I took one image each at ISO 800 and ISO 1200 while working with only continuous light sources.  I kept my aperture at F4.0.  My shutter speed varied from 1/50s to 1/200s, with most shots taken at 1/200s and 1/125s.  My focal length ranged from 24mm to 56mm, with most images taken at 24mm and 35mm.

The Photos

I love how the photos from this session turned out, and I am delighted with the results of using light bars to light the stained glass panels.

My favorite image from the set is the one below.  This was taken close to the end of the session after one of the lightbar batteries died, so I was down to three panels. I rearranged them by moving the two on the ground closer together and placing one on the bench behind the model.  I also switched out to a bell reflector with a 40-degree grid on it to create a spotlight of light.  This helped me control the light spill and ensure the light from the panels and candles were still captured by the camera sensor and not overpowered by the strobe.  For this image I started with the standard edits, then added a radial gradient over the model’s face.  Then added an orange color grade to the shadows to give a more light by candlelight feeling.  Then, I added a vignette.  In Photoshop, I darkened the backdrop closer to black and added glow to all the candles.  I then did some touchups using frequency separation and dodge and burn techniques.  From there, I called the image done.

 

ISO 400, Aperture 4.0, Shutter 1/100s, Focal Length 33mm

This next image is very warm in color compared to my typical work, but I feel it provides a better representation of sunset coming through the windows and candlelight lighting the space.  Additionally, this image was taken using only continuous light.  The lighting on the face was supplied by the modeling lamp on the strobe.  In post I did basic edits then added two radial gradients on the model, the first covered her whole body the second was just focused on her face to bring them out of shadow.  I added a blue (shadow) / orange (highlight) color grade to the image, then finished with a vignette before transferring the image to Photoshop.  In Photoshop, I applied a neural filter.  I darkened the grey backdrop and then added glow to all the candles.

 

ISO 800, Aperture 4.0, Shutter 1/80s, Focal Length 25mm

This final image shows the whole set with the model sitting on the bench surrounded by stained glass panels.  You can also see some haze and smoke in this image as I was working with the smoke genie to add some low-lying fog to the image.  Unfortunately, the smoke machines were not cooperating with me, and it didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.  (I like working with dry ice better to get that low-lying fog/cloud look.) I did not do a lot to this image, beyond the basic adjustments.  I added a radial gradient to the model’s face to brighten it a tad and add a vignette to the image.  Then in the photo shop I darkened the backdrop a touch and added soft glows to all the candles.  I also removed the edges of the smoke machine from the corners of the image.

 

ISO 200, Aperture 4.0, Shutter 1/200s, Focal Length 37mm

Final Thoughts:

I’m very happy with how this set turned out. I’m also impressed with how well the light bars worked to light the panels.  I rented the lightbars from Lens Rentals, as I cannot see spending the two-thousand dollars to get four two-foot Aperture light bars, that I won’t use that much, when I could spend that on new strobes and soft boxes that I’m more likely to use.  The light bars were great and were a lot brighter than I expected but not worth the investment for me.  I’ll just rent them if I need them.  I’m also happy with how all the lights balanced as it can be tricky mixing continuous light and flash.  I’m also happy with the Westcott silicon gels, that go directly on the strobe.  I hope they come out with some more colors, as they make adding color while using soft boxes and umbrellas very easy.  I am looking forward to using this set more in the future.

You can see all the final images from the session here: Stained Glass Angel.

 

Credits:

Model: Natalie of Archaic Costumes & Designs (@nat_archaic)

Dress: Archaic Costumes & Designs (@nat_archaic)

Wings from Book a Looker (@bookalooker)

Set Design: Heather (IG: @munchkin_photos_by_heather)