lots of different porn shooting styles using bounced light, and in general most (porn) shooters pay almost no attention to lighting, only to getting "the shot". with the advent of cheap, good quality digicams anyone can believe that they are a "photographer". truth is pix of naked girls will always sell (a little bit) but where the rubber meets the road is if the shooter can actually sell his photography to mainstream clients, and only 1 in 100 porn shooters could do that IMO.
the most common porn shoot is what i call the "dental office" over lit scene shot with way too much light which necessitates high DOF so you get all sorts of extraneous visual clutter in the image.
you know shooting a crotch shot and lighting it like it is a hubcap. no fucking mystery or beauty, not elevating to the feminine spirit and not making anyone's dick hard.
this use of too much light makes the scenes very flat, without emotion, because in reality people don't fuck much in dental office lighting. this is the lighting most "content producers" shoot in, and the reason most of the content guys can't pay the rent---the shit does not give anyone a hardon and stopped converting about 1997.
you need a minimum use of directed bounced light to create the "moody" look of erotica.
you should blur out extraneous images (model skin defects, stretch marks, tacky furniture, etc) using minimum DOF and bounced light to try to simulate the look of ambiant or moody "fucking" light if you want highest conversions.
this does not require tricky hardware, lighting is physics, and if you have a sense of aesthetics you can create good work. if you don't have an aesthetics sense all the high end lighting hardware won't do you much good. i usually use 2 calumet umbrellas and vary position and spacing and do flash testing at various f/stops to remove or blur distracting stuff using the light to direct the viewer's eyes to the important parts of the image---you must always do this if you are shooting on location because there will always be some tacky pier one night stand in the room, etc., but if you DO shoot this way you can create captivating shots in any environment that will sell today and 10 years from now. if you don't do this your good work will have a short shelf live and become "dated" because it will suffer the vagaries of "fashion" because you will include all the extraneous stuff in the shot that will "date" the shot.
i'm talking about a shooting philosophy or style, not about hardware, because the truth is, lots of hardware can accomplish what i'm talking about. basically you must bounce the light if you want the people to be attractive, and using reflectors and natural light or umbrellas and artificial light, etc. you can color or modify the light a bit with gold or silver reflectors but it is unnecessary to get too gimmicky for good conversions. you should use the light to create emotion and sell the product, and develop your own unique style do it. you should understand the difference between a good shot and a mediocre shot and never let a mediocre shot see the light of day, that is the mark of the pro. quantity does not = quality. getting the girl naked is not enough today.
my speedotron powerpacks have been all over the world and we're converted to work either 110 or 220 volts. i favor shooting in a "subdued" lighting set.
plus if you shoot in subdued light the model's pupils will open up which gives a very beautiful glamour look when she looks into the lens. IMO you should always shoot smut in low light just for this purpose, it gives a high fashion, elegant look to porn, and makes hardcore look beautiful and less exploitative. now go look at a victoria secret catalog to get the idea.
