Oh the things I get talked into!

Two day commercial for a national brand shower product.

I never did get a good wide shot of the set-up. Just too much gear, too much to shoot,  with too little time to remember to do my best at a wide production photo.
  • Million dollar brand new model home
  • Shower scenes for a brand name shower product
  • Shooting all day with an actress in the shower
  • Steam & heat & hot water
  • 6 way Pole Cat grid structure overhead
  • Multiple plexiglass mirrors on gimbals as hard bounces to backlight the water
  • White plastic boxed in reflectors (corrugated sign material) on gimbals to act as soft backlight for the actress
  • No front light at all (beyond what ambient light ten lights (nearly 6,000 watts) in a bathroom already gives off)
  • We used Source Four ellipsoidals to illuminate all mirror and bounce reflectors so we could shutter the light down to the edges of the bounce to help limit the ambient light.
  • We used top hats (snoots) and donuts as well as to help limit the ambient light spill
  • We used 5deg, 14deg, and 19deg lens tubes in the Source Fours
  • Obviously no electric or lights anywhere near where a wet actress in bare feet could touch something
  • GFCI’s and double GFCI’s on everything (including all video and monitor power!)


Lessons learned today:

An 18″x18″ white plastic boxed surface can actually be a soft bounced source if you pound enough light on it! (In this case two 750w Source Four’s with 14 degree lenses from less than 10′ away) Yes, I was corrected.  It worked great!

A quarter apple with a soaking wet actress standing on it can stop up a shower drain and fill the shower with water

My Softube for a 400w Joker HMI can be used with a Source Four ellipsoidal. We used a mirror so the 750w S4 with a 5 degree lens could point up into the mirror (and then light the inside of the Softube) instead of the hot S4 being horizontal near the ceiling. The Softube was the backlight for the actress. The Softube’s focus capabilities helped control light spill on the tile behind the actress.

After 8+ hours in a shower I bet the actress didn’t need a shower back at her hotel!