Nighttime Cinematic Headshots
My First Nighttime Cinematic Headshots
Written on the 30th of July, 2022
Back again with the cinematic headshot. But this time, I got to shoot at night, so I asked my friend Khaled AlBader to be the model for this photoshoot.
Nighttime cinematic headshots have two challenges, especially when using Speedlights. The first challenge is that the ambient light at night is so low that your subject will appear against a black background. If that's the look you are looking for, then go for it. However, cinematic headshots aim to create an interesting cinematic blurry background. The second challenge is focusing because Speedlight does not have modeling light to illuminate your subject in the dark, making the autofocus difficult for the camera.
I managed to solve the first challenge by mixing flash with ambient light. You can control ambient light by setting your ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed. In contrast, You can control Speedlights or strobes by setting your ISO, Aperture, and Flash Power. The only variable that can be set to mix ambient light with Speedlights is the shutter speed. The faster the shutter speed and less ambient light exposed, the slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light exposed. When I shot at a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, a wide aperture, and an ISO of 100, there was not enough ambient light in the image, and the background was rendered pure black. However, when I shot at a slower shutter speed of 1/15th of a second, I got those incredible colours in the background.
You may ask, isn't 1/15th of a second a bit slow of a shutter speed, especially with using a 200mm lens without a tripod, and the image is tack sharp? The answer is yes. However, I will try to simplify the answer as much as possible. If I am exposing for ambient light only and with a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second, the image will be blurry unless I use a tripod. However, remember that Speedlight freezes movement. That means that anything that my Speedlights hit will be frozen. The image will be blurry if the ambient light exposes my subject and the background. However, my model was not exposed to ambient light but only by my Speedlight, making sure that my model was tack sharp. Furthermore, you can notice the background has some motion blur because of the slow shutter speed. But in this context, it gives the background vibrant colours and a feel at night.
The second challenge can be solved using multiple methods. You can use manual focusing or shine a modeling light onto your subject and focus. Speedlights do not have modeling light, so I used an assistant to shine his mobile flashlight on the model. Then I would focus, remove the flashlight off my model and press the shutter release button.
The Gear I Used
