Steel Temple: a clamshell lighting AI photoshoot
Steel Temple is a set of close beauty-fashion portraits in clamshell light against a mid-gray wall. Sculptural silver ear-climbers rising toward the temples carry the graphic accent, and the skin keeps every pore.
Art direction: Alex But
- Camera
- Digital medium format
- Lens
- 100 mm
- Aperture
- f/5.6
- Shutter
- 1/160 s
- Light
- Clamshell: beauty dish + reflector
Best for
Six frames from this shoot
Five frames and one detail, made by haloshot from three phone photos of one person.
Frame 1 · Steel Temple 
Frame 2 · Steel Temple 
Frame 3 · Steel Temple 
Frame 4 · Steel Temple 
Frame 5 · Steel Temple 
Detail · Steel Temple
About the clamshell light look
Clamshell means two sources stacked on the lens axis: a white beauty dish with a sock above the camera, angled down, and a silver reflector under the chin bouncing light back up. Each eye gets two catchlights, and the shadow under the chin disappears. A strip softbox behind one side draws a thin line on the cheek and the metal. The 100 mm lens works at f/5.6 and 1/160 s on digital medium format.
Clothes, place and when to pick it
haloshot cuts the black shirt two ways: for women its collar folds into a sculptural wing on one side, with wide wool trousers, loafers and a hairline pin, and for men it buttons up under an oversized asymmetric collar, with straight trousers and derbies. Both wear the ear-climbers and two thin rings. The plain wall suits a headshot or speaker bio with your face.
How it works
Add three photos of yourself: face, half turn and full length. haloshot renders a free five-frame preview of Steel Temple with your face. Pick the frames you like and keep them in 4:5 HD.
How to set up clamshell lighting for a beauty portrait
Clamshell lighting stacks a soft key above the lens and a reflector below it, so light wraps the face evenly and each eye gets two catchlights.
- Place the subject a meter or more from a mid-gray painted wall and leave the wall unlit.
- Boom a white beauty dish with a diffusion sock right above the lens, angled down, with a silver reflector under the chin.
- Add a narrow strip softbox behind one side for a thin highlight along the cheek and jewelry.
- Shoot the 100 mm lens on digital medium format at f/5.6, 1/160 s from 1 to 1.5 m, tethered.
Have a stylist fit the ear-climbers and tuck hair behind the ears between frames.
Set notes by Alex But, art director · Updated
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Shoot Steel Temple with your face
Three photos in, five free preview frames out. Keep the best ones in HD.