Need Lighting Help

racergirl26b · November 3, 2009

I jsut bought a lighting kit and am trying to figure out how to do the lighting in my in home studio. I am having trouble trying to figure out where to place the lights. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
Shay

Art Scott · November 3, 2009

How about a complete description of what you have in the Kit...everything please.

cmason · November 3, 2009

racergirl26b wrote:

I jsut bought a lighting kit and am trying to figure out how to do the lighting in my in home studio. I am having trouble trying to figure out where to place the lights. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
Shay

Highly recommend starting here: Master Lighting Guide by Chrtistopher Grey

JohnBiggs · November 4, 2009

There are all kinds of lighting styles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-point_lighting

There is one. There are also tons of youtube vids on lighting. So many free resources.

JohnBiggs · November 4, 2009

A quick google found this too..

http://www.professionalphotography101.com/portrait_lighting/lighting_names.html

racergirl26b · November 7, 2009

It's a Vu-Pro Complete Pro Package #5 - Fluorescent Lighting. It has 2 lflourescent lights.

PupWeb · November 12, 2009

Jean Francois Okane Tutorial video
He does a great job to get you started with lighting. See link below:

http://www.layersmagazine.com/author/jean-francois-okane

I think he's a friend of SmugMug b/c I see a SmugMug strap on one of his cameras.

-David

BradfordBenn · November 12, 2009

Stand in for practice?
When I was taking theatrical lighting classes many moons ago, one of the things that I used to do while setting and focusing the lights was put a inflatable dinosaur, named Shadow, in the place I was working on. First because it was funny, the main reason though was so that I could see the shadows that would come from the lights. I could get an idea of the color impact etc...

Perhaps doing something similar using a willing static model. The reason I used the dinosaur was that it was a constant for me, I knew what it looked like in sunlight, in blue light, with a shadow... etc. It was a great learning tool. So do the same taking some pictures that allow for you to make modifications and see the changes. One of the big things though is to make sure you know how each shot was configured, not just EXIF info but also where and how the lights were configured.

The fact that Shadow was inflatable made him very portable and easy to travel with.

PupWeb · November 13, 2009

Awsome idea!

BradfordBenn wrote:

When I was taking theatrical lighting classes many moons ago, one of the things that I used to do while setting and focusing the lights was put a inflatable dinosaur, named Shadow, .....

This is a great idea Brad! A lot of times your models are nervous about the shoot, specially when you have lights set up. I can see how this whimsical dinosaur can do a lot to relax your subjects for the shoot.

Do you have any photos of this dinosaur named Shadow so maybe we could get a similar prop?

cmason · November 13, 2009

Meet Manny, my companion in exploring portrait lighting. He is patient, takes direction, will wear anything, and doesn't complain. He does frown alot, but then, he doesn't get paid and must stay in a storage bin when he isn't in front of the camera.

Found him in a local dept store supply shop. There are hundreds of places on line, just Google away.

BradfordBenn · November 13, 2009

Mine was actually a kids toy, very similar to this link http://store.dinosaurcorporation.com/inflatabletrex.html. I would use it before anyone showed up to test ahead of time so I looked like I was calm and polished when everyone else showed up.

cr8ingwaves · November 15, 2009

Love the dinosaur idea.
I just recently started focusing on lighting and have been using my bullmastiff. he will sit and stay much longer than my children.

Need Lighting Help

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