The “Reverse V”: book lighting

Nixon Memorial Library, Placentia, CA

I recently had the chance to prep for a shoot that was a bit interesting—a pitch for a prospective documentary about none other than Richard Nixon. We shot at the Nixon Library in Placentia, CA, which is about an hour’s drive from my part of town. This was my second shoot with the director, Kevin, and it was a blast! I even got to bring along a few buddies, which made the whole process feel even more dialed-in. Kevin had sent me a couple of reference images ahead of time, which gave me a great sense of the look we were aiming for—a big, wide frame with tons of depth but still that natural, lived-in feel.

In my head, I was already picturing a large book light setup—one of my go-tos for a soft, beautiful light quality. So, I got to work in Shot Designer, drawing up a plan with a 1200d bouncing into an 8x8 ultra through a light grid. I’ve done this setup countless times, but the quality of light can still vary depending on how you pull it off. The trick to getting the perfect softness lies in the details of how you angle the bounce and the light, relative to the subject.

For example, if you aim the light straight at the bounce material, it’ll reflect directly back, like throwing a tennis ball at a wall and having it bounce straight at you. This approach can sometimes make the light feel a little too harsh, too “source-y,” with specular highlights that feel unnatural. So instead, I went with what I like to call the “Reverse V” setup. Picture this: instead of aiming the light dead-on at the bounce, you hit it from an angle, almost as if you were standing beside the wall and throwing the tennis ball off to the side so it glances off. The magic of this setup is that the subject gets illuminated by the feathered edge of the beam, so all the harsh highlights are diffused into this incredibly soft, dreamy light.

Of course, to pull this off, you need a powerful lamp to fill the diffusion—and thankfully, our gaffer, Lucas, brought out the big guns. The result was exactly what I had in mind, and we ended up with a beautifully soft, natural look that added tons of depth to each shot. Hopefully, this project gets funded and things move forward. He was an interesting guy, Mr. Nixon. Question, have any of your guys seen Radio Free Albemuth? Anyway, let me know what you think. And check out mywebsitefor more samples!