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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Light Lessons

A master of technique walks us through a series of situations and explains how to craft illumination

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Image 4
The exposure was 50% candlelight and 50% flash light. The gray balance was in between the two color temperatures (about 4000 K). The candles appeared warm, and the flash light already turned a little blue. No color filters were required. Try different time (aperture) variations.

The bare bulbs below the acrylic had to be at a very low intensity. They shouldn’t overpower the candles. I used two Grafit A2s at the lowest possible settings (15 joules each).

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Camera Format: Medium-format with digital back Resolution/ISO: 22 MP/ISO 100 Focal Length: 120mm Shutter Speed: 1⁄4 sec. ƒ-stop: ƒ/5.61⁄2

1) Pulso G lamp bases (bare bulb, no accessories attached) 2) White acrylic plate on 40cm Foba tubes (white paper covers the floor below); about 200 lit candles 3) Para 220 FB (defocused) as fill-in light 4) Softlight Reflector P with diffuser and honeycomb grids hidden behind the acrylic to light the background unevenly (center-weighted) 5) Cardboard walls to avoid air circulation that would blow out the candles 6) White background 7) Camera M) Model

Image 5
A strictly diffused lighting. The bare-bulb flash heads were directed away from the model to avoid any direct light on her. Use the white walls of your studio to bounce the light back. Whenever your walls are dark or colored, they should be covered with white paper, polystyrene or cloth.

Diffused lights are generally low in color saturation. Choose the object or the outfit accordingly. To avoid further reduction of saturation and brilliance, protect the lens carefully from scattered light.

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Camera Format: Large-format/slide Resolution/ISO: 4x5-inch/ISO 100 Focal Length: 360mm Shutter Speed: 1⁄30 sec. ƒ-stop: ƒ/8

1) Pulso G lamp bases without any accessories; at the same power 2) White walls 3) White background paper 4) Camera M) Model