Lights

[cameraclicker]

A couple of recent posts have come from folks who said they were using their lighting kits, so I thought I would put up a bunch of bad photos of myself and try to touch on a few points about lighting.   Just because it was the order in which I took the shots, I’m going to start with off camera small flash, then move to continuous light, and finally to studio strobes.  For the actual portrait shots, I used a Canon Rebel T2i and the 18-55 mm kit lens that came with my Canon 30D.  The room photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mk III and 16-35 mm lens.  Light for the room photos came from a Bowens strobe which I turned off when taking the other photos, except the last room photo which shows two Bowens strobes, so I just used their light.  Ready?  Here we go:

 

This is me in ambient light, of which there is not much since the aluminum blinds behind the backdrop are closed.  This is a 2 second exposure at f/8 and ISO 800.  You can see the full sized images in the Flickr gallery if you click on a photo/link here.  The camera is on a tripod and I used a wireless remote with a 2 second timer to take all the portrait shots.  While we are here, notice the light that gets through the blinds comes through the part of my backdrop that is not doubled over.  This is not a big deal because when we get to a shutter speed that is typical with flash, that light will not register.

Let’s have a quick look at the room, there’s the T2i on a tripod, a stool for me to sit on, and as you can see, when a strobe is used, the backdrop looks solid.  The boxes on the floor hold 9 foot wide rolls of seamless so you can get an idea of scale.  The big silver thing is the first flash we will try out.  The Apollo comes from Wescott and includes the stand, a bracket to hold a flash and umbrella and a big octagonal softbox umbrella which has a very short shaft.  In the holder there is a Pocketwizard and a Canon 580 EX II flash.

 

So, if we take a photo with the Apollo as shown, we get a fairly harsh light, like this:

The first few of these are at ISO 800.  For this one I had the flash set to ETTL so the flash/camera are talking through the Pocketwizards to determine flash power.

Here is another room view with the front on the Apollo.  This is the way it would usually be used.

And here is the result of adding the front to the softbox.   No change to camera or flash from the previous photo, except the stand has been extended so the box is just below the ceiling.

Here I have moved the flash from ETTL to manual and it is at 1/8th power, which looks a bit brighter than when ETTL was controlling the power.

I should point out that by this photo I had figured out the camera was at ISO 800 and had set it to ISO 200.  And… I got tired of guessing at what settings I should use, so I got out my flash meter and took a reading.  It said this photo was under exposed a couple of stops.  It said f/4 and the camera was set at f/8 for all these shots.

So here we have things adjusted to make the meter happy, and I guess it’s OK, but I find it a little bright.   The flash is firing at full power.

I have decided to set the 580 EX II in the Apollo to 1/2 power, and to add a 430 EX II on another Pocketwizard with a stand and umbrella at the back, on the other side.  So, it looks like this:

With the 580 set to 1/2 power and the 430 set to 1/8th power, I get this:

Well… I thought that was pretty reasonable, so I moved on.  I took down the umbrella, and the softbox and put them away in their cases, and got out a couple of continuous light softboxes which have 85W daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs.  And just for giggles, I left the camera set for the previous photo, turned on one of the lights and took this:

It’s a great photo of the clip holding my pen in my pocket!  And, it shows how much power one of those 85W fluorescent bulbs has compared to a Canon flash.  Almost none!  Here is the same photo brightened 4 stops in Camera Raw, and with the Fill Flash slider as far right as it will go, 100%:

After making adjustments we have something reasonable.  Notice the light from outside is coming through the backdrop again…  We are still at f/8 but ISO has been increased from 200 to 1600 and the shutter speed has dropped from 1/160th down to 1/15th!  And the image is not overly bright!  If I move even a little, I will blur!  Oh, some other notes.  The blue at lower right is construction paper I used to make a lens hood.  This is not a lens I normally use and I don’t have a hood that fits it.  The light is aimed at the lens and the paper improves contrast by keeping light off the front element.  The light is slightly too far back in the room, my left eye does not have a catch light.  We can see the other light at upper right, a Rebel has a 95% viewfinder so things creep in around the edges that are not seen in the viewfinder.  More expensive cameras have 100% viewfinders.  Cropping will fix it.

With the second light on, it looks like this:

By moving the lights around a little I can get a more balanced portrait.  Neither light is directly on me.  The one at camera left (to my right) is a few inches in front of me and pointing slightly toward the camera.  The one behind me at camera right (my left) is pointing up and toward the wall.  The bright white stucco ceiling is both a boon and a curse, but it is great for high key photos.  Still using ISO 1600, f/8 and 1/15th:

A quick word about sharpening.  Compare the picture below with the one above.  Click on them to see the full sized (1024 px wide) versions.  The one below is the same photo, but it has been sharpened a little.  No other changes.

And now a peek at the room, the way it was setup for the last shot with these lights.  Those lights are still on!  Notice they are completely overpowered by the studio strobe.

Here is that shot, with the rear light dropped and turned more toward the wall.

Moving on to studio strobes.  These are Bowens 500R strobes but there are lots of different makes and models available.  ISO has been set back to 200.  I left the shutter at 1/15th because as long as it is under 1/160th the setting does not really matter because there is little ambient light.  This is a Bowens strobe in a softbox at camera left and another into an umbrella at camera right because I forgot to turn it off after taking the last room shot.  The strobe in the softbox is a bit too bright.

Here the strobe in the softbox has been turned down to half power and the other one has been turned off so all this light is coming from one strobe.

Now we have the softbox at camera left and a second strobe at 2 stops less power behind me at camera right

This is what the room looked like for the previous shot.  You can see the strobes firing because I moved the radio back to the room camera for this shot

 

So… That’s my little show.  I hope it was enlightening for some of you.

 

 

 

 

[jackd]

You should put a black curtain behind your backdrop, your window bleeds through in a lot of shots.

 

 

[cameraclicker]

You should put a black curtain behind your backdrop, your window bleeds through in a lot of shots.

Don’t need a curtain.  All the shots where light bleeds through are with a setup for those very low power continuous lights.  Those black  photos are with one of the continuous lights on, and the camera set for use with a flash or a strobe.  The photo is almost black, and that’s with a light on!

[Brownie]

Nice work, sir.

[Intuition]

totally not what I was picturing you to look like haha but good post i always enjoy side by side steps to see diff erences. also one handed typing due to a puppy on m y lap/arm

[cameraclicker]

totally not what I was picturing you to look like haha

I know!  No horns and tail!  Weird, eh!  Seriously, I don’t look the way I imagine I do, either.  And I don’t recognize the guy in the mirror at all if I shave my beard off.  I spent years talking to people on the phone and once in a while I would meet one of them.  No one ever looked the way I imagined they would.

Have you seen the Dove ad?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk     Seems lots of people don’t look the way they imagine.

Sketches are here:  http://www.google.ca/search?q=dove+real+beauty+sketches&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=H5sHUvLAGqis2QXvy4CoCw&ved=0CE4QsAQ&biw=1214&bih=928

 

 

 

 

[cameraclicker]

You should put a black curtain behind your backdrop, your window bleeds through in a lot of shots.

I wanted to come back to this for a moment and state a few things clearly:

When using flash, you can use the power of the flash as a separate control if power is adjustable.

You can move a light closer or further away to affect brightness on your subject.

Light falls off very quickly close to a light and falls off more slowly as you get further from a light so if you want more even light on your subject try moving the light further away.

A light source that is closer seems larger and provides softer light (more wrap around, less shadow) than a light that is further away.

You can make a light seem larger by putting a scrim in front of it or by bouncing it off a reflecting surface.

Usually shutter speed only controls ambient light while ISO and aperture affect both ambient and flash, so you can use this to balance ambient and flash.

High Speed Sync is a feature of some small flash systems.  Both Nikon and Canon speedlights offer it.  The flash fires several times instead of a single time.  This permits the flash to follow the opening between shutter curtains when the curtains are not fully open due to shutter speed being faster that the sync speed.

Since High Speed Sync fires several times, it does not freeze motion as well as a single flash at a slower shutter speed.

[Intuition]

I know!  No horns and tail!  Weird, eh!  Seriously, I don’t look the way I imagine I do, either.  And I don’t recognize the guy in the mirror at all if I shave my beard off.  I spent years talking to people on the phone and once in a while I would meet one of them.  No one ever looked the way I imagined they would.

Haha I didn’t imagine a horn and tail, I’ve always felt you to be honest here, not hateful or out to get anyone. I don’t think I”ve ever been accurate on how I visualize people to look like by their voices, internet wise or on the phone.

I haven’t seen that add/promotion before I found it pretty fascinating. I am sort of the opposite of the girls, I’m a pretty heavy set lady, who forgets that often haha. In my head I see myself completely different but on the more positive side. I never thought of myself as having very high self esteem, but apparently I’m better off then some.

and to continue the discussion on lighting:
for class we had to do a shoot involving both continuous lights and a strobe. I used a swinging tennis ball to give me a comet shape and it was by far one of the funnest shoots I had. It was just amusing and my first time showing motion, while stopping it too. Lighting painting was my second funnest (yes funnest isn’t a word, but who cares 😉 )

[jackd]

Don’t need a curtain.  All the shots where light bleeds through are with a setup for those very low power continuous lights.  Those black  photos are with one of the continuous lights on, and the camera set for use with a flash or a strobe.  The photo is almost black, and that’s with a light on!

Yes, but if you want to shoot anything low key and it’s a sunny day out, you’re going to run into issues.Even if it’s not sunny..I’m sure an overcast day would cause issues shooting low-key things.

 

[cameraclicker]

Yes, but if you want to shoot anything low key and it’s a sunny day out, you’re going to run into issues.Even if it’s not sunny..I’m sure an overcast day would cause issues shooting low-key things.

No, actually.  If I want to shoot really low key (bright subject, black background), I need a few gallons of mat black paint for the walls and ceiling, or I need a lot of black cloth to cover the walls and ceiling.  Light from outside is not relevant because the blinds are aluminum so they stop most light, the little bit that is left is just reflecting from one slat to the next and is almost inconsequential.  The shot in in this reply was taken at noon.  This morning was sunny, it is just becoming overcast now.  If I repeated this at mid-night, I would get exactly the same result.

This is what the room looks like for the portrait in this reply, I added a flag and tried to reduce reflection off of the wall so there are a couple of extra stands.  The softbox at right is not on, it is just holding up that end of  a black card to keep light off the ceiling.  The light with the umbrella is off, it is just taking up space.  The light above the circle is the kicker, it will fire.  The one, way at the back, on the left is not plugged in.   The picture of the room is taken using ambient light, at ISO 200, f/2.8 and 3.2 seconds… The room is seriously dark!

If we look at the room using the other camera, set to ISO 100, f/18 and 1/200th then this is what the camera sees:

Finally, if I power up the strobes and release the shutter with the same settings, ISO 100, f/18, 1/200th, I get this:

Even with a couple of flags, light bounces around enough to light the backdrop, which is 8 feet behind me!

[jackd]

If we look at the room using the other camera, set to ISO 100, f/18 and 1/200th then this is what the camera sees:

Who regularly shoots at f/18? While most lenses go at least to there, they usually aren’t the best there. low key photography doesn’t always mean a bright subject black background, the subject might by dark and in shadow as well, or there might be low light shape spillage onto the background. As long as you’ve blocked the outside light you can do it in a white room depending on the lights you’re using. strip lights, low powered lights, might not create much bounce at all.

[ebi]

No, actually. If I want to shoot really low key (bright subject, black background), I need a few gallons of mat black paint for the walls and ceiling, or I need a lot of black cloth to cover the walls and ceiling.

Actually, you could probably get away with a couple of V-Flats on either side, if it weren’t for the very low ceiling.

[ebi]

Who regularly shoots at f/18?

When you want to shoot with a lot of power so that you get some light on the background, but not a lot of depth. Take a look at the following link:

http://www.greglotus.com/story/s/beauty/

Most of the closer portrait images are shot with a very small but powerful light source. Typically, 2 Profoto 7A 2400 w/s packs, a bi-tube head with an extra small softbox, at a high angle. So it’s a soft light with very minimal spread. Sometimes it’s further back for more spread, but you get the general idea that if you keep the subject off the background, you can add just a little highlight to the background while still making it look like it’s not a million miles away. It’s still recognizable as something. You can have varying degrees of gray, all the way to black by just moving your subject further away from the white background. moving your light to follow (it’s typically on a roller) and adjusting power. Of course for this, you are going to need a pretty decent sized studio.

[cameraclicker]

Who regularly shoots at f/18?

We could also ask who regularly shoots portraits with 50 mm?    And, I don’t often try out the self portrait thing either.   But I have some time while upgrading my computer’s drives and I’m not going to get a model in for this.  It’s faster and easier with a model though.  This started out simply as a comparison of some lighting systems with a basic body and kit lens.  For the second set and the shot here, I moved from the kit 18-55 to the 50 mm f/1.8 II which is another lens almost anyone can afford.  At f/2.8 DOF is a little over a foot, good for a portrait but not so good for a self portrait if you are moving around.  By f/8 DOF is almost 4 feet so if you lean forward or back you are still in focus but the backdrop is getting soft.  At f/18 DOF is about 11 feet and the backdrop is fairly sharp.  The folks shooting stock will tell you diffraction starts to soften your photos at f/11 but this is a portrait, not a product shot and do we really need ultimate sharpness for a portrait?  Opinions vary but a few less wrinkles might be good.

The challenge for low key is to have light where you want it and to keep it away from where you don’t want it.  Having a space with a stucco ceiling painted high gloss white and walls painted with yellow semi-gloss makes a nice bright space, perfect for our original use, but too reflective for low key photos.  More space and flatter paint would definitely make low key easier to achieve.  I like the idea of V Flats.  The local art store sells a plastic honeycomb in large sheets, 4 x 6 or 4 x 8.  A couple of those and some gaffer’s tape would work well.  The ceiling is just under 8 feet so if two or three inches were cut off the eight foot length, they could be moved into position folded, then opened out just clearing the ceiling.  An extra piece cut a couple of feet wide could be clamped between two, just below the ceiling, would also help.  Snoots, grids and barn doors also help.

Anyway here’s the latest photo, back at f/8 with the lights brought down a bit.  The backdrop seems to have about the same amount of light on it as before.  Some of it comes from the kicker, even if it has a snoot on it.

So a simple solution was mentioned in another thread… Just get it close and adjust to taste in Photoshop.  Here’s the same photo finished up a bit.

It doesn’t matter how much you brighten this up, most of the background will stay black because it is just a black layer with me masked out.  If the background is very dark anyway, masking only takes a moment.

 

 

[cameraclicker]

If you’ve read through the thread this far, here’s a few more photos.  One of the room, with a few yards of black material strung across a few light stands, and three one-light photos with no reflector, a white reflector and a silver reflector, respectively.

This is the space.  The photo in the previous post used the same arrangement except the key light was brighter and a snoot was on the lamp at right rear pointing toward the stool to provide separation from the dark background.  In the photos below, power for the softbox was turned down and the lamp at the back was turned off.  The other side of that silver disc is white, it was just flipped over to the silver side for the last photo.

No reflector:

White reflector:

Silver reflector:

[Author]

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