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I do most of my fashion shots at home and due to lack of space I'm forced to do them in a narrow white corridor.

I only have a single light for now and I'm trying to get pictures where there are no shadows from head to toes on me. Any suggestions?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't have an answer for you, but I sure can relate. See photo.stackexchange.com/questions/11506/… :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 2:13
  • \$\begingroup\$ Full length body shot, no shadows, and a single flash, ouch. At least its a white hallway. \$\endgroup\$
    – rfusca
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 3:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ No shadows at all? Shadows define form.. \$\endgroup\$
    – Evan Krall
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 16:01

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Most effective way of getting no shadows with a single light would be be with ring light around your lens. I'm assuming it's a speedlight, in which case you could add a DIY Ring Flash Kit to your light for this purpose.

Or, you could turn the part of corridor behind your back into a huge ring flash by pointing flash on-axis in opposite direction of the subject. That takes noticeably more flash power though.

My personal preference would be to have some slight shadow by a large light source to make the subject more spatial. To get a large light source, the flash has to be bounced from into wall where you'd normally place a softbox. Use a snoot, barn-door, black card etc. to make sure no direct flash hits the subject. A zoomable flash head lets you control size of the "softbox".

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  • \$\begingroup\$ it has to be ring light around your lens not necessarily, think of a light tent. The only thing you need to prevent shadows is to have light coming from all directions, which shouldn't be too hard in a narrow white corridor... \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 10:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Matt Grum thanks for pointing that out, updated my answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Imre
    Commented May 25, 2011 at 19:58
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It would have been really great if you could specify the type of lighting you were using. Would have simplified the job a little more. But assuming that your using a flash gun with a umbrella you could just shoot with it with the stand a little to the camera left or right depending on the situation. You could also the and use a reflector but it would be kinda useless in case of a full body shot. With a flash gun and umbrella it is possible to get a full body shot. I've tried it and it works. A little shadow is unavoidable but sometimes when used well really adds to the shot. Also keep your subject from being close to the background. That way the shadows on the BG can be reduces it for eliminated. Also with this you will achieve a slightly blurry BG.

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  • Utilize butterfly lighting from above and mix it with ambient light. Not sure if it's possible. You didn't state in your post.
  • Or lookup some various setups with one light.
  • If you have anymore space try adding some ambient tungsten lighting as your fill or to add some color/dimension to your photos.
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If it's a narrow white corridor then it's worth trying a sto-fen.
Flash could be on-camera.

In the confined space, the light will go everywhere and come off the white walls.

... Also off the ceiling and floor, so it depends what colour they are.

... Still, might work nicely.

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