Almost a year ago I was watching all three seasons of American Horror Story. I had a lot of fun and I liked the aesthetics, especially the first season. The promotional posters showed walls with frayed old wallpaper and a soft, intimate light that I really liked. I was in Montevideo doing some lighting workshops and one week I had to teach the Strobist workshop. I was lucky enough to be able to get access to the building that the Junta Departamental de Montevideo was recycling and when I saw the facilities I wanted to do something similar to the series. The wardrobe was lent to me by Valentina del Llano and everything worked very well.
lighting scheme I
Modelo Cinthia Amorin
The posters in the series had fairly simple lighting, although it varied in each photograph. Except for the portrait of the maid as a young woman, it was a soft, enveloping light, with a subtly gradient background. The conditions and costumes were not the same on the day of the class, but I tried to do something that had a dark, yet bright feel to it.
American Horror Story
American Horror Story
The main shot was resolved with a small window that concentrated the light on the model’s face and generated a gradient towards the feet, as well as a somewhat shiny reflection on the satin wallpaper. On the right side of the image the contrast was very high, so I placed a secondary light to reduce the excessive contrast. I used a Lastolite 5-in-1 reflector on its white face and bounced light from a second flash onto it.
Fomex and other brands have developed a Bowens adapter for Fomex and other brands have developed a Bowens adapter for reportage flashes which was very useful to fit the window on the adapter and be able to shoot with a pair of Yongnuo 560 flashes.
Fomex adapter
In the image above the Fomex adapter has a Bowens honeycomb grid parabola attached, but the bayonet is the same so it will fit any Bowens accessory. The flash model in the photograph is a Yongnuo 560, and I have found both this model and the 430 to be very effective. They are manual flashes, without any automatism and in three years they have never failed me. Finally, a Pocket Wizard transceiver receives the radio signal from another transceiver attached to the camera and Godox batteries allowed the four-photo session to be completed without any battery drain problems.
Yongnuo 430
Godox Propac PB 820
© Federico Decuadro
Another photograph was taken next to a door with a gauze curtain. In this case, the curtain itself acted as a diffuser, taking harshness away from the flash on the other side of the door. In this case, the contrast on the left side was also excessive, so once again I used the Lastolite 5-in-1 reflector and a second fill flash to reduce the contrast.
Lighting scheme II
! In two hours we took 4 pictures in the middle of construction debris and without light in the rooms ! A rechargeable led tablet allowed us to focus on the model in the dark ! In the midst of the difficulties of the renovation work, the Yongnuo, the Strobist technique and the help of the students were effective.
Lighting scheme I
Lighting scheme II
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