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Modeling in General: Advice on...
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Lighting for photography?
Hisham
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Al Qahirah, Egypt / لعربية
Member Since: July 23, 2004
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 03:38 AM UTC
Hi there guys. Could some of the experienced modellers who show these clear photos with no flash flare or dark spots etc... could they write a short explanation of how they set up the lighting to get these clear photos? Thanks guys.
USArmy2534
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Indiana, United States
Member Since: January 28, 2004
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 05:40 AM UTC
I will tell you this: NOTHING that I have found is better than a bright sunny day taking pictures - ie, using natural light. Sometimes, especially on "windows" you will get a glare. The best way to counter this is wait for a small cloud to cover the sun, but so you still have natural light. However, glare can be a good thing. The real things have glare just like a model does.

If you have to shoot indoors, set up multiple lights on either end of the model. How do I explain this? When you go to the theater, how many spotlights are on the actor/actress? A lot of time a couple will be used. This is to cancel out shadows. So I would say use at least two lights on either side, and one in front and one in back. If you don't have that many lights, its okay, it still works with two. However, too many lights is overkill. Make sure the lights aren't too low. This is for two reasons. One is that they might get in the camera. Two...well...look at the shadow you cast at six o'clock as compared to, say, one in the afternoon. The shadow cast is smaller the higher up you go. But if you go too high (and by high, I mean vertical degrees and not vertical distance), the light thats cast looks like one big light instead of a couple of shadow-cancelling lights.

One thing many people with digital cameras forget to do, myself included, is white balance before taking your pictures. How you select the white balance function varies by camera, so read your manual on how to do it. I'm not even 100% sure what white balance is, but basically it gives a more true white instead of, say, yellow white or blue white.

If you use a regular camera, use new film and get it developed sooner rather than later.
TempExp
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Utah, United States
Member Since: March 16, 2003
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 06:32 AM UTC
To add to Jeff's excellent post...

If you're going to use a flash, you may want to bounce it. Some smaller point and shoot cameras don't have much a way to do that, but if you're using a camera with an external flash, chances are you can rotate it to bounce it off a wall or a ceiling. You can even puta diffuser over the flash.

Doing this softens the light and spreads it out, taking away some of those harsh shadows you get.
Henk
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Member Since: August 07, 2004
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 07:10 AM UTC
I agree that natural (outside ) light is best. Just make sure that it's overcast rather than bright sunlight as the sunlight will cast heavy shadows. White Balance : this relates to the way your camera receives and interpets the light. Every lightsource has a different temperature. Every film reacts different to these lightsources. A film should always be matched to the lightsources which you will use to make sure that the colors are true. Most over the counter films are daylight film, I.E. they will take good pictures in natural light, but will struggle with lightbulbs or fluorescend lights. You can get film that is matched for artificial light, but you'll probably have to go to a photo shop to get these. If you use a digital camera (which is a very good idea.) you can change the white balance in the camera rather than by changing the film. The camera is normaly balanced for normal, natural light. If you want to take pictures (indoors) with artificial lights you should adjust the white balance. the reason for this is that you need to show the camera what true white looks like under the lighting conditions that you are to use. The way to change the white balance differs from camera to camera, but in general you have to get a piece of white paper, under the lightsource that you will be using, and point the camera at the paper to take a reading. When this reading is locked into the camera it will show colors ( and white) as they would look in natural light rather than with an orangy/yellow hue as they would appear without the adjustment.

Are you using a camera with a macro setting? You really need that to get good detail shots.

Regards
Henk
Stahlhelm
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Oregon, United States
Member Since: April 03, 2004
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 07:21 AM UTC
Here's my 'photo studio'......I shoot pics on the upstairs deck usually in the morning before the sun has marched across the sky and lit-up this side of the house. The surrounding overhead gables and white-painted structure provides soft reflected light which aids the removal of unsightly shadows. It's way low-tech but thus far the results have been just fine. Since this picture was taken the house has been painted so the surrounding white reflective surfaces are even brighter but surprisingly it has not affected imaging results.

Cody
AJLaFleche
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Massachusetts, United States
Member Since: May 05, 2002
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 11:14 AM UTC
To be the fly in the ointment...I never shoot pictures of models in daylight. Ever.
All my model photos are shot on my work bench with a light grey dropcloth as the background and three moveable lights. I adjust the lights to eliminate all the unwanted shdows. Total cost was probably $40-50 plus the backdrop at a fabric store. I'll also sjot at least one image with the flash by getting about 6-8 feet from the model and zooming in to fill the viewfinder.
Click on "My Pictures" below to see the results.
flitzer
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England - North West, United Kingdom
Member Since: November 13, 2003
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Posted: Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 02:34 PM UTC
I go for outdoors too.
And like Saudi, Egypt won't have a sunshine shortage..lol.
In the shade with all that ambient light ...is ideal, similar to Stahlhelm's set up.
Depending on which compass point your area faces, I've found early morning is best.

Cheers
Peter
:-)
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