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Thread: Continuous Lights & Metering

  1. #21

    Join Date
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    Re: Continuous Lights & Metering

    If you are just doing tabletop smaller object photography, using more than one light complicates things greatly... (One light more tends to overpower the other and is harder to get good lighting ratios...)

    The basic lighting rule is; Key/Fill/Effect, which one light is dominant that provides and brings out the form of the object (Key), then spots of contrast that are too dark (and can exceed the film's range are balanced (Fill), and if some other lighting modifier is considered, like a light with a color gel, a background with a pattern, accents etc (effect)...

    With a single light, you would choose a light angle that brings out the form of the subject well, but since the light is close, you can fill the holes with different reflector cards from hard/bright (foil), white, grey (for slight low level) even black (so reflective areas "see" something dark to reflect)...

    I have a lot of pro lighting gear, but will use a cheap reflector clip-on painters light on an inexpensive microphone boom stand with just a LED or CFL bulb (for B/W) as a small set key light, and use reflectors for the rest... Easy and does not overpower the subject... And does not get hot...

    Steve K

  2. #22
    Pieter's Avatar
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    Jul 2018
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    939

    Re: Continuous Lights & Metering

    Quote Originally Posted by jurgenestanislao View Post
    Hi,

    I mostly shoot table top still life and use continuous LED lights (Godox etc).

    I've seen lots of works, mostly in advertising, where a single sheet (and scene) is exposed multiple times—correct me if wrong but some photographers call it 'pop' photography.

    Nonetheless, how to best emulate this with modern continuous lights, asking for tips and/or techniques mostly, as I would like to better control my lighting (and spills) and better sculpt my subjects.

    If I may add, turning on all my lights to completely light a scene and take one exposure (which might work in digital photography) tends to come out differently in film especially as some areas might come out too bright etc and burn out. Hence wanting to adapt so-called 'pop' photography or lighting techniques with modern continuous lights (dimmable).

    Any help is much appreciated.

    Jurgen

    Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
    Back to the original request, it would help if you post a sample of the technique you are trying to emulate...there is no reason you shouldn't be able to do the same with continuous light if you are shooting table-top.

  3. #23

    Re: Continuous Lights & Metering

    Quote Originally Posted by LabRat View Post
    If you are just doing tabletop smaller object photography, using more than one light complicates things greatly... (One light more tends to overpower the other and is harder to get good lighting ratios...)

    The basic lighting rule is; Key/Fill/Effect, which one light is dominant that provides and brings out the form of the object (Key), then spots of contrast that are too dark (and can exceed the film's range are balanced (Fill), and if some other lighting modifier is considered, like a light with a color gel, a background with a pattern, accents etc (effect)...

    With a single light, you would choose a light angle that brings out the form of the subject well, but since the light is close, you can fill the holes with different reflector cards from hard/bright (foil), white, grey (for slight low level) even black (so reflective areas "see" something dark to reflect)...

    I have a lot of pro lighting gear, but will use a cheap reflector clip-on painters light on an inexpensive microphone boom stand with just a LED or CFL bulb (for B/W) as a small set key light, and use reflectors for the rest... Easy and does not overpower the subject... And does not get hot...

    Steve K
    Thanks, and would definitely come out natural. Still getting a hang of being more intentional with lighting so I'm experimenting—this is all with a goal of printing platinotypes.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

  4. #24
    C. D. Keth's Avatar
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    Apr 2006
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    2,089

    Re: Continuous Lights & Metering

    Quote Originally Posted by LabRat View Post
    If you are just doing tabletop smaller object photography, using more than one light complicates things greatly... (One light more tends to overpower the other and is harder to get good lighting ratios...)

    The basic lighting rule is; Key/Fill/Effect, which one light is dominant that provides and brings out the form of the object (Key), then spots of contrast that are too dark (and can exceed the film's range are balanced (Fill), and if some other lighting modifier is considered, like a light with a color gel, a background with a pattern, accents etc (effect)...

    With a single light, you would choose a light angle that brings out the form of the subject well, but since the light is close, you can fill the holes with different reflector cards from hard/bright (foil), white, grey (for slight low level) even black (so reflective areas "see" something dark to reflect)...

    I have a lot of pro lighting gear, but will use a cheap reflector clip-on painters light on an inexpensive microphone boom stand with just a LED or CFL bulb (for B/W) as a small set key light, and use reflectors for the rest... Easy and does not overpower the subject... And does not get hot...

    Steve K
    The most useful tools for tabletop work are usually the homemade ones. I have a whole toolbox of that stuff. My go to method for tabletop is to light with full sized units through 4x silks top make a base of big, soft light and to start with my "set" boxed off with 4-by-floppy flags. Then I shift those to allow the light I want to get in. It's already softened if I want that so I just have to remove smaller pieces to shape it more pleasantly. I have a whole bunch of tiny flags that look like oversized dodging tools. Then there are a bunch of little pieces of mirrors on armature wire to reflect. You can make softer reflectors, but not as soft as white paper, by coating bits of mirror with scotch tape. You can apply tissue paper to wire to make tiny diffusing tools. Just check the reflections in shiny objects to be sure you're not showing obvious grip heads and things like that.

    Get creative and then keep the solutions. They'll come in handy at some point.
    -Chris

  5. #25

    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    London
    Posts
    114

    Re: Continuous Lights & Metering

    Hi Juergen

    look up “secrets of stilllife photography” by gary perweiler for detailed information on multiple exposures on 1 sheet of film
    back before digital stills photographers were regularly doing such extreme things as moving a single sheet of film between cameras for different exposures
    this needed lots of gear but did mean that you could test each element separately then assemble the image in one sheet when you had worked everything out
    it still took a lot of trial and error
    at the time i was working in Moving image commercials and films
    we did a similar thing using computerised robots to move the camera called motion control
    we would open the camera and mark a start position on the film
    then do the first exposure
    then wind the film back open the camera and precisely line the mark up again ready for the next exposure
    quite how we ever achieved perfect registration i will never know but we did but because of the effort
    we generally tried to light and meter perfectly
    we used a little probe attachment and a 1degree spotmeter to work out exposure

    i would look up film lighting techniques. it is possible to light very well but takes lots of practice
    look around you at things that look good to you then workout where the light is coming from
    and try to replicate it

    ultimately if it looks good to your eye you should be able to photograph it

    good luck

    robin

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