Learning Studio Lighting - Photographer Lights With Umbrellas
<u>The advantages:</u> They are inexpensive, making them a great entry point for anyone on a shoestring budget. They are lightweight and easily portable. You can see exactly what you are going to get in terms of light and shadows.
I was convinced one of the reasons for Millionaire's massive success was because it was the first game show to add lighting techniques usually reserved for a horror flick.
To control the indoor shot photographers have long turned to two forms of supplemental lighting. They are: always on lights (continuous) or strobes (flashes that are closely controlled). This article is about the first form of light: Continuous.
One blinding light source like the sun outside can not only be irritating, it makes you look ugly in pictures. Quality pictures of faces are always diffused light unless the face is Freddy Krueger.
If you're shooting inside, most professional photographers go to the effort of creating diffused light, not directional. Lighting manufactures have invented lots of simple gadgets to make professional photographic lights mimic this cloud effect. Silver and black umbrellas, diffusion cloths and gels, reflectors and bouncers. Professional lighting equipment is fun if you have the budget for it.
<u>The disadvantages</u>: Many of the older style units require bulbs that are very hot to work under. To get the proper color balance required expensive bulbs that had very short working lives, just a few hours in most cases. Often times the bulbs take several minutes to warm up to the correct color temperature.
If you're not real picky, dark, shadowy, spooky effects are easy to create. It helps to have professional lighting equipment but today's cameras are so adept in low light situations that a standard 25 watt light bulb stuck in a cheap lamp without the shade can be used to good effect.
(Don't get it too close to the poster board with your lights though, because fire is truly an issue. Lights get hot! Be careful when you handle them. I always tried to turn my lights off for at least ten minutes before touching the fixtures.)
On an overcast day, the light is diffused and soft. Almost no shadows are seen except perhaps some faint ones with fuzzy edges. This is why most video producers would prefer to shoot outdoors when it's cloudy. Diffused light simply looks better is almost all situations.
If you have a big product to shoot or you must shoot on a bright sunny day, buy some heavy duty white sheets. Figure out a way to build a light tent around your subject and then let the sun shine through the sheets. When photographing the cover of the "Hang 'Em High catalog, the shoot was scheduled outdoors on a very bright sunny day. The lighting was harsh and caused many shadows. I immediately sent my assistant out to buy some white sheets.
I was convinced one of the reasons for Millionaire's massive success was because it was the first game show to add lighting techniques usually reserved for a horror flick.
To control the indoor shot photographers have long turned to two forms of supplemental lighting. They are: always on lights (continuous) or strobes (flashes that are closely controlled). This article is about the first form of light: Continuous.
One blinding light source like the sun outside can not only be irritating, it makes you look ugly in pictures. Quality pictures of faces are always diffused light unless the face is Freddy Krueger.
If you're shooting inside, most professional photographers go to the effort of creating diffused light, not directional. Lighting manufactures have invented lots of simple gadgets to make professional photographic lights mimic this cloud effect. Silver and black umbrellas, diffusion cloths and gels, reflectors and bouncers. Professional lighting equipment is fun if you have the budget for it.
<u>The disadvantages</u>: Many of the older style units require bulbs that are very hot to work under. To get the proper color balance required expensive bulbs that had very short working lives, just a few hours in most cases. Often times the bulbs take several minutes to warm up to the correct color temperature.
If you're not real picky, dark, shadowy, spooky effects are easy to create. It helps to have professional lighting equipment but today's cameras are so adept in low light situations that a standard 25 watt light bulb stuck in a cheap lamp without the shade can be used to good effect.
(Don't get it too close to the poster board with your lights though, because fire is truly an issue. Lights get hot! Be careful when you handle them. I always tried to turn my lights off for at least ten minutes before touching the fixtures.)
On an overcast day, the light is diffused and soft. Almost no shadows are seen except perhaps some faint ones with fuzzy edges. This is why most video producers would prefer to shoot outdoors when it's cloudy. Diffused light simply looks better is almost all situations.
If you have a big product to shoot or you must shoot on a bright sunny day, buy some heavy duty white sheets. Figure out a way to build a light tent around your subject and then let the sun shine through the sheets. When photographing the cover of the "Hang 'Em High catalog, the shoot was scheduled outdoors on a very bright sunny day. The lighting was harsh and caused many shadows. I immediately sent my assistant out to buy some white sheets.
