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Back to basics today, but still managed to get a couple of Pringles tubes in the frame :)
In truth I'm still exploring how to use the reflectors on the lights and this seemed a good idea, just blast the background with light.
Trying to get detail in the overall scene so the setup can be seen, has overexposed it a bit, but I hope it serves the purpose.
The baking tray in the centre contains a few drops of olive oil (I recommend water instead, see comment on pic below). As all the light is coming off the background, it leaves the front edge of the pools of liquid in shadow on the camera side, an effect I use quite often.
The lights are just a pair of 20W CFL bulbs placed inside Pringles tube reflectors. The openings in the tubes are cut in an H shape turned sideways, then the flaps bent out to create extra reflection and light blockers at the same time. Not sure it shows here, but there is no light coming directly from the lamps onto the baking tray in the centre, it is all bouncing back from the background.
Looking at this setup shot, the angle of the glass has me thinking I had drunk the contents :)
As it happens, it's just water with food colouring added, so the only effect would have been a red tongue anyway.
The glass is mounted on a scrap of black foamcore, with a piece of black card wedged against the stem to prevent it sliding down the slope, plus a rubber band on the opposite side to stop it from falling over.
Lighting is provided by a pair of 20W CFL lamps fitted into Pringles tubes, which have a sheet of white printer paper rolled up and placed inside. The paper gives a softer more evenly spread light than the foil interior, to give a better exposed white background.
I did get a bit of light falling away in the corners, though easy to correct in photoshop, not ideal.
Still playing with this, so a better way of lighting might appear tomorrow ;-)
Thanks to LearnMyShot for the back lighting ideas! They have an awesome tutorial which inspired this shot. Check it out: www.flickr.com/photos/learnmyshot/4318729569/
Setup for my "Good Luck" pic which can be seen below.
The Chinese symbol was put on white paper and attached upside down on a white board. On the table below, a tray of water to reflect it. Single flash (Vivitar 2800) with a red filter was used to illuminate the symbol.
Now the observant will notice my mistake, I remembered to have the projected image the wrong way up, but I forgot to reverse it horizontally, easily flipped in photoshop thankfully :-)
Final image below.
Setup for this photograph (opens new Flickr window).
If you find this plan difficult to see clearly please see the full size version.
Learn how to light at Strobist
Its been a long time coming. Fixing, adding, subtracting, shifting.... its the process of creating the perfect setup to meet my needs. This setup offers open desk space, and functionality. Comments are welcomed =).
I really need to find a bigger water tray, as this was really pushing the limits of how big an item I can shoot in it. The little wooden boat is only 5inches/120mm long, but a really tight fit.
This view of the setup also shows better the lovely blue colour which is from the blue sheet of card behind. This is placed against black, so when the water was disturbed by blowing air through a drinking straw, the ripples produced darker shadows, combined with lighter highlights from the flashes glancing off them. There is method in my madness :)
Lighting was from a trio of Neewer SF-01 mini slave flashes. One on each side angled toward the backdrop but allowing some light through tracing paper screens to fall onto the boat. These were activated by Blazzeo SLT-4 radio triggers.
The third flash was located behind and below the tray, pointing back onto the base of the backdrop and activated by its optical sensor.
This was fun to play with and I quite like the images produced, one of which is below.
This is now becoming my favoured setup for a white background in the lightbox.
Three Neewer Mini Slave Flash units, one each side and the third from above, all fired with radio triggers. The lightbox is fitted with tracing paper diffusion panels on the sides and white printer paper in the top panel to give a softer overhead light.
The seamless backdrop is from a roll of fax paper, which has really good reflective qualities, the non-coated side being used, as it doesnt mark up like the coated side and gives a smoother finish.
The desk lamp at top left plays no part in the lighting, it is just to aid focussing and overpowered by the light from the flashes.
If you have come straight to this setup, the result can be found here:
My macro setup:
- Manfrotto 055 xprob tripod
- Manfrotto 327rc2 ball head (replaced the 488rc2 I used before)
- Manfrotto 454 macro rail
- Manfrotto 200pl-14 quick release plate between the ballhead and the macro rails
- Manfrotto 323 quick release plate between macro rails and the camera.
Strobist info:
- 430EX with shoot through umbrella @ 1/2 camera right
- 430EX with shoot through umbrella @ 1/4 camera left
- Cybersync triggers
I have posted a small review/comparision of the 327rc2 here: www.victorvandijk.com/?p=50
This was how I built the lighting setup for my recent podcast shots.
1) First, I shot the background light, got it the way I wanted, then turned it off and worked on the kicker.
2) I worked on moving the kicker light to get the right side highlight I wanted. Then turned it off and moved onto my front keylight.
3) Now, i worked on how the front light would look.
Then, after i had each light individually setup... it was time to fire them all off at the same time in concert. Tada.... one final setup. It's like concentrating on each light on it's own was easier and able to see what it was doing. Then fire them all off and wham. You got it!
Lighting setup for some of the convertible shots1 , and 2. You can see my exciting turbo diesel Fiesta parked behind the BMW Z4. Mind you, my boot's bigger, and I bet I get better mileage. Don't get quite as much attention from the girls though.
Blog: www.photosmudger.com/
So... this is my setup for capturing these suckers. See.. it's quite simple no?
Ok... water on like a little trickle, you can be the judge for that. I took the images handheld... but for this shot, I had to stick my cam on the tripod. I had the lens sorta sitting on on the sink for a lil bit of support while I focused and shot the image. I used the built in flash, didn't really harm the image in my mind. Like I said... this is quite simple. I used to think it was so absolutely complicated and didn't want to try it... then after trying this I'm like this is just jujubee.
If anyone tries I want to see how goes :)
The full setup shot for the Women and Golf Studio shoot. Notes should explain everything, and there's a detail of the backlights here.
Blog: www.photosmudger.com/
Setup shot for shooting the Porsche photo in my very small home tabletop studio.
Sometimes I don't know if I'm taking photographs or doing Yoga exercises...
Check the notes for detailed comments.
The final result is here:
Setup shot for these shots - mine, and the published one.
Notes should explain everything.
Blog: www.photosmudger.com/
3 light setup- 2 aimed at the rear and one in a hybrid/umbrella softbox. All triggered by Pocket Wizard. Strobes all at full power
A simple light setup to test my new equipment that I purchased.
2 Vivitar 285HV flashes.
2 Translucent umbrellas.
2 Skyport triggers
2 Impact light stands
Large reflector up front and some stone wash curtain material found at Spotlight.
What a pose. Don't you just love photographing your own kids.
Lighting setup for flower bouquets (the one in this shot is not the same as the ones posted here and here)
SB28 camera left @ 1/2 power fired by PWII
SB800 camera right @ 1/2 power fired by PWII
SB600 (behind SB28 in this shot) @ full power to light backdrop fired by PWII
Gave this setup/shot a go after reading DH's post here - although such a small subject wasn't going to be a problem however!
Here is the setup I used for these nickels and this loonie. I took the picture in case i needed (or wanted) to set up the thing again
The light starts at the lamp, reflects off the glass of the frame onto the coin and illuminates the coin straight down.
The camera takes the picture through the glass straight down.
The black thermal tube is to avoid reflections from the sewing machine box off the glass in the frame into the camera.
Here is a pic of my recent lego setup.
Thought I would share how I do it.
430EX2 on light stand triggered with RF-602.
On the 430EX2 is a black A4 bit of card rolled up to make a snoot.
Image here www.flickr.com/photos/louisedavis/6866068593/in/photostream
Only one light for this one.
580ex @ 1/4 power in softbox
triggered by pocket wizards
This kind of set up can lead to unwanted light bouncing around and interfering with the shot. The black card everywhere was to try and eliminate this.
I usually take the setup shot after I've finished taking pictures. However, this shot demonstrated the spill of light, and it would have been a help to see this during the take!
Here is the setup I use to get almost all of my diecast photos and the pictures of my cameras. If you've seen either of these two items in my photostream, you'll recognize which ones were taken with this setup.
1. Photo stand what I built
2. Clipboard
3. Empty instant tea jars
4. Prop for background
5. Subject
6. Background for subject
7. Camera
8. Sturdy tripod
A little explanation for all the numbered items. The photo stand is something I built and has become a permanent addition to my photography needs. However, this setup can be done anywhere you have a flat surface of about 2' x 2' in area. The clipboard is just something I use to shield the light from above because it has the required width I need to cover over my background, which is usually 8.5 x 11 inches of computer paper or photo paper. The empty instant tea jars are excellent for holding up the cover because they have the required height to clear my subjects and they have a good surface on top with which to balance my light shield; which in this case is a black clipboard, but a piece of heavy cardboard will work just as well. The jars also work well because they don't cause shadowing from my lightsource.
Number 4 is something I use to hold up my backdrop behind my subject at the required angle, and can be anything. In this particular case, it's a 18-70mm zoom lens! The subject of this setup is another one of my old cameras, but it could just as easily be a 1:64 scale diecast vehicle - or anything that will fit inside a width of 8.5 inches or 11 inches if I turn the paper around for a bigger subject. When I do require more width, I use another piece of identical paper to stand in the back behind the front piece and clone out the line where they overlap.
The backdrop, number 6, can be anything you like, but I use either a sheet of clean bright white printer paper or glossy photo paper. The reason I sometimes use the glossy photo paper is because it leaves a good reflection under my diecast cars. I also have a sheet of photo paper that I have printed a gradient blue to white solid pattern, and one gradient gray to white solid pattern, and by positioning them in such a way, I can highlight diecast vehicles with light colored paint better. (You can use just about any color you like.) It makes a darker background and lighter base and foreground, which really makes some cars stand out.
The last two items are my camera and tripod. For this demonstration picture, I used one of my old 35mm rangefinder cameras, but usually I use my Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D digital SLR because I can get instant results and digital photography is cheap to develop. (Free!) But, once you have figured out your average settings, a film camera will work just as well.
Lastly is the tripod. It helps if it's fairly sturdy because I stand with my feet on either side of it while holding two sheets of blank white legal size printer paper. (Or any size of some reflecting material - tinfoil wrapped around cardboard, for example.) I position them on the left and right of the lens and move them around constantly so that the light they reflect from above ends up lighting my subjects in a uniform manner after the long 20-30 second exposures I normally use. I'll twist and turn them left and right, then up and down so that the background paper showing to the left, right and above my object gets lit as well. I try to expose it in such a manner that my subject is well lit, but the white background is evenly lit, without any shadows. The glass jars ensure that no ambient light is blocked. I just have to make sure that as I'm waving the two sheets of paper, I don't ever cover the front of the lens during the exposure.
One other note about this setup I use. I expose my pictures in the 15-30 second range, with the aperture stopped down as small as it will go. The more I can stop it down, the more depth of field I can achieve and have more of my subject in focus. For tiny cars filmed up close and longways, you need every bit of clarity you can get! A long exposure is needed to light my subjects well enough through such a tiny lens opening. If your lens doesn't stop down to f/36 like mine does, your exposure lengths will probably not have to be quite as long as mine. Digital photograph is great because it allows you the freedom to experiment as much as you need to and you only have to keep the one shot that turns out perfect! And by using an ISO in only the 100-200 range, I keep most of the noise and grain out of my pictures.
Below you can see what the shot looked like that is pictured in the above setup.
If you have any further questions, or I have been unclear about a certain area of this setup, don't hesitate to ask! I hope this helps you take interesting pictures of your diecast vehicles or whatever your hobby is! It helps me immensely in what I do and saves me tons of money over not having to buy expensive lighting equipment.
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