Photography News Issue 67

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Photography News | Issue 67 | photographynews.co.uk

Lights, camera, fashion! Fashion photographer Andy Hoang reveals why simple lighting set-ups and powerful, easy-to-use gear is at the heart of what he does…

“Great lighting iskey toa successful shoot,” says AndyHoang, “and that goes for whatever you’re shooting, so understanding how to get it right is vital. It all comes down to practice, experience, taking the right approach and using the right gear.” Although the fashion clothes he shoots can be intricate and complex, it’s better to keep things simple when it comes to lighting, explains Hoang. “Flash shouldn’t look overdone, and shouldn’t even be noticeable if it takes away from what you’re trying to show. Simple set-ups are often the best solution. Having balanced lightingwith a little touch of shadow and contrast is what elevates an image,” says Hoang. “For me,” he continues, “using Profoto gear really helps achieve

great-quality light in a short amount of time. If a client shows me reference images in regards to lighting, then I’m confident I can achieve it quickly and accurately with Profoto’s heads and its vast selection of light shaping tools." Andy often uses the Profoto ProHead Plus heads, saying that “the 2400 watts of the 8As really mean I can light large areas and shoot all day with ease”. He also uses Profoto’s highly mobile and powerful B1X heads for his location work. When it comes to picking modifiers for commercial shoots, Hoang places more of an emphasis on the soft light from octa boxes and strips. However, for fashion editorial with “more creative freedom”, Hoang will tend to use hard light via barn doors, snoots

or just the general reflectors for the flash units. But when shooting with flash, says Hoang, you can use what’s aroundyou,too,andwhenshooting in sets with white walls, he often uses these to his advantage, avoiding pointing the lighting directly on to the models, which would be too harsh and “firing directly into the walls, which act as a huge reflector”. He explains: “Add translucent scrims between the light and model, and it softens even more. In some cases, I’d then include large black polyboards to lock in the light and stop spill, but also create nice shadow detail on the subject.” For lighting inspiration, he often looks online as well as in fashion magazines. “There’s a great Instagram page called

@famousbtsmagazine, which features lighting set-ups for top commercial shoots, so you can use that as a reference for what you’d like to achieve. And practice is important,” he continues, “even if it’s just testing as you’ll learn an incredible amount, not just in terms of lighting, but how to direct, composition and interact with other creatives.” “I’ve made mistakes and will probably keep making them, but don’t be afraid of failures as they teach us valuable lessons. Lighting doesn’t have to be complicated, you can do a lot with one light and a great modifier – you’d be surprised how many commercial shoots only use one or two lights, so anything is possible with research and practice to make it as a working photographer,” concludes Hoang.

About Hoang:

Finding photography in his mid-20s, Hoang started out shooting for an events and nightlife photography company, but echoing his early years’ interest in fashion magazines and documentaries, he migrated to shooting fashion full time. Deeply versed in all things lighting related, he also ran the Bristol branch for Calumet for five years. Now he shoots fashion editorials and commercial images between Bristol, London and beyond. Andyhoang.com

Shooting from the top

In this first set-up, on a Sisters of Nature shoot, themodels laid on the ground and were shot from above. The styling took inspiration from people’s relationship with the wilderness andMother Earth to create a fashion driven series of portraits. “With this shot,” says Hoang, “I used a three light set-up: two Profoto ProHeads aimed into a white wall and bouncing back through a translucent scrim to give incredibly soft and even light. From the left centre, a beauty dish on a boomat a higher power setting gave a littlemore punch and contrast. With this look, I shot at f/11 to f/16 to achieve sharpness across the board and show off the great garments that were being featured.” Following shooting fromabove, Hoang used a similar set-up to capture full body shots, while adding in aWhite Deep Umbrella XL to fill in additional shadows.