Clipping happens in digital photography, as there is a finite number of tones from all white to all black. At a certain exposure, white will not get any whiter, regardless how much more light you add.
But first the result:
Four strobes at 300 Ws each lights this portrait. Two brolly boxes light the background, main is a 180 cm reflective umbrella and fill is from an 80x120 cm softbox. I did not measure the lights but recorded the settings: the background lights were max - 2.2 stops (~60 Ws), main was max - 5.5 stops (~7 Ws) and fill was max - 6.5 stops (~4 Ws).
I decided I wanted a deep DoF for this picture, so I set out to expose it around f/8. I then adjusted the background lights to clipping + 0.3 stop using the blinkies on the lcd, adjusted the main to give a proper exposure and the fill appropriately lower, all set using the lcd. After fiddling a bit with the lights, I ended with an exposure of f/9. I placed Nenad ~2.5 m from the background to have as little bleed from the background as possible. The width of the background (1.8 m) and the length of the studio (my living room - 7 m) are the limits I worked within.
The picture is cropped to 1:1 keeping the original height and cropping the sides. After converting to B&W I added some contrast. Apart from that, no post processing was applied.
The worst pitfall in a setup like this is the background bleeding unto the motive. This happens if the background throws so much light on the contours of the subject, that they also turn white. This is fine for creating a dreamy, romantic picture, but was not wanted here.
I am not so proud of the reflections in his glasses, there should be none. There are different techniques to avoid them, but obviously I don't master either of them satisfactory. More work, more to learn.
Apart from that, I'm quite satisfied with the lighting. I call it "Nordic Cool", because I think it is an example of the simple, yet carefully crafted design, typical of the nordic countries. And then I think it looks cool too.
Nenad claims that this is a rare occasion of his genuine smile being caught in a portrait. After having spent a lot of space on the left-hemisphere considerations above, I am proud that the right hemisphere of my brain also contributed to this portrait.
And I am of course thankful to Nenad for trusting me and patiently sitting for me.
