Dark shadow ;(

salixius

salixius

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niki
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ok..i bought a light tent to hopefully help with some still life photography.I have a set of 3 strobes..today i had a little test..and was finding my shots had a horrible deathly blackness at the bottom of images.I then shot out the way of the tent..and didnt get the shadow.Question is..what was i doing wrong? was there to much light bouncing around? ..im awefully afraid it may have been a fault with the camera..what would be the best way to light these tents for a nice even light.
thanks in advance.
x
 
Was the "shadow" a perfect stripe?
It could be a sync issue - i.e. the shutter speed you were using was too high for the flashes to fire in sync with it.
 
salixius said:
ok..i bought a light tent to hopefully help with some still life photography.I have a set of 3 strobes..today i had a little test..and was finding my shots had a horrible deathly blackness at the bottom of images.I then shot out the way of the tent..and didnt get the shadow.Question is..what was i doing wrong? was there to much light bouncing around? ..im awefully afraid it may have been a fault with the camera..what would be the best way to light these tents for a nice even light.
thanks in advance.
x
Click to expand...

When you say "deathly blackness at the bottom of images" do you mean like a band across the frame? Probably best to post an image so we can see the problem - did you change anything between shooting in & out of the tent as those didn't have the 'shadow'?

Paul
 
yes like a deathly band/stripe..coming from the bottom of the image then like it almost faded away..at first i thought my camera strap had gotton in the way..but unfortunatly it wasnt.When i shot out of the tent at a further distance(pointed at the wall to the right)it was fine.i will see if i have an image still..as i think i deleted them alternativly il give it another shot in a minute and upload the prob..if its still there.
By any chance would window light from about 35ft away have been a prob..the window light was facing the tent and due to a partion wall,half of the tent would have been lit..
x
 
il try slowing the shutter speed down..didnt think of that it was on 1/350 sec
thanks
x
 
Yes it is the sync speed, slow the shutter down to say 1/125" or 1/160" (it doesn't matter really as long as it's below the sync speed of your camera as the flash duration is much shorter than that sort of shutter speed. As said above, what you are seeing is the camera shutter across the bottom of your image.
 
thankyou lol..did some more tonight and did figure it was the shutter lol..was fine up to about 1/200 of a sec..but i mainly worked a 1/25..some were overly bright with all flash system at its lowest..was fine when i upped the apperture but then i lost my desired effect...im assuming the tent itself really does hold alot of light..so think i may need weaker lighting..not sure;/ ..im fine with portraiture but iv stumbled across this problem now ;)
x
 
hi there
Yes lowest ISO..im gunna unfold it and have another go ;/..i'l be up all night at this rate..if not just folding it back up and putting the bleddy thing back in the bag takes forever.My still life was completely fine untill my teacher's great advice was given on using a coccon or tent.. for a metal project.The metal has to have soft light..no harsh shadows or highlights or il fail ;(..iv tried a diffuser/soft box..but you can still see reflections of me inside it..so guess i need to master the tenty thing.
You've all been really helpful to me today..it really is appreciated ;)
x
 
Last edited:
Dark Shadow(1st of 3 light tests)

3 images with the death.Now these are light tests only..not pleasing images whatsoever ;)..also pic heavey(going to cover 3 posts)

1
IMG_4587.jpg


2
IMG_4588.jpg


3
IMG_4595.jpg
 
To bright (2nd of 3 light tests)
As you can see these are way to bright..1/25 and f/7

1
IMG_4585.jpg


2
IMG_4553.jpg


3
IMG_4569.jpg


As you can see highly over light (flash turned down to bare nothing..in the 3rd,completley nothing and the 2nd was a bunch of beads(about 12)
 
3rd of 3 light tests..
This light test was considerably better with the one light about 5ft away facing onwards(others were side left lighting)

1
IMG_4609.jpg


2
IMG_4611.jpg


3
IMG_4617.jpg


any advice please ..
thanku in advance
kind regards
N
 
salixius said:
To bright (2nd of 3 light tests)
As you can see these are way to bright..1/25 and f/7
Click to expand...

None of these are 1/25, 2 are 1/60 f5.6 and the other was at f7.1.

Set everything to manual and adjust light purely with flash power to start with, then close aperture if you need to.
 
again still nowhere near good enough..i wanted to create a nice diffused lighting effect with a shallow dof on the frontal object..obviously the wider my aperture the more light was getting in,which was totally blowing it out ;/..if i tightened the aperture i was getting better lighting but not the dof i wanted .
if you see what io mean(sorry to be a pain)
x
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
None of these are 1/25, 2 are 1/60 f5.6 and the other was at f7.1.

Set everything to manual and adjust light purely with flash power to start with, then close aperture if you need to.
Click to expand...

oh ok..well i'l check the exif data..i took that many im kinda lost..tried so many different positions..
x
 
and thanks for you reply ;)..il try that..x
 
just wanted to point out that all this is new to me(studio lighting)..i thought id mastered my camera untill this ;/..its so stressful.Il keep practicing and hopefully at some point il get a general idea of what im doing..but as its a college assignment iv got less than 3 weeks to get some decent images..in terms of correct lighting for certain surfaces E.G.glass,metal,organic ect

again thanku for the help
 
not sure if you've nailed this now but i'll chip in too.

firstly your black band was the shutter , slow the speed down to 1/125th

depending on your creative look, close the aperture down, instead of shooting at f5.6, try f8 or smaller to close off the light.

you seem to be on iso 200 for some of the shots, thats making the sensor far more sensitive to the light and giving brighter images, drop it to 100 and re shoot.
 
Thankyou..i did realise later i was in ISO 200(exif)..dont know why as im always on the lowest ;/..i may have done it when messing with it.I am going to give it another shot tonight at the settings recommended with light/lights depending on what i'l need at a fair distance away,angeling onto the box rather than behind or side..
but thanks alot..il keep at it
x
 
Following on from all the comments above, as this is all rather new to you my best advice (and even when you are totally happy with what you are doing) only Chang one thing at a time! This will allow you to see exactly what each change has on the overall image. Start with just one light and move it around the subject and at different distances from the subject methodically and you will see how the reflections, highlights and shadows change as well as the light level changes.
Once happy with all that add a second light etc etc just build up the shot step by step. Once you just jump in and begin changing everything at once you can easily get yourself in a mess and take an age to work through it.
 
V8burble said:
Following on from all the comments above, as this is all rather new to you my best advice (and even when you are totally happy with what you are doing) only Chang one thing at a time! This will allow you to see exactly what each change has on the overall image. Start with just one light and move it around the subject and at different distances from the subject methodically and you will see how the reflections, highlights and shadows change as well as the light level changes.
Once happy with all that add a second light etc etc just build up the shot step by step. Once you just jump in and begin changing everything at once you can easily get yourself in a mess and take an age to work through it.
Click to expand...

definatly agree with this..and a wise bit of advice to..i have been getting stressed and im producing crap..im not focusing as im rushing(totally wrong)..made the same mistakes yesterday,photographing my daughter.
Im defo gunna try and use the one light 1st..thankyou..that simplifies it a lill..sadly im not a light scientist..wish i was :bonk:
 
Do you have any ND filters or can you borrow some?

These will let you achieve what you want.

Turn your lights to the lowest setting and get them positioned to produce the type of light you want, dont worry about them being too bright at this point.

Meter your subject to find what aperture you required.

Set your camera up at 1/125 (1/25 will be allowing ambient light in and screwing your result!)

Dial in the aperture your light meter dictates

Put an ND filter on.

If its a 3 stop filter open up your aperture 3 stops, if its a 6 stop filter open up by 6 stops.

Viola, you have a perfectly exposed photo with shallow DOF.
 
Matt989 said:
Do you have any ND filters or can you borrow some?

These will let you achieve what you want.

Turn your lights to the lowest setting and get them positioned to produce the type of light you want, dont worry about them being too bright at this point.

Meter your subject to find what aperture you required.

Set your camera up at 1/125 (1/25 will be allowing ambient light in and screwing your result!)

Dial in the aperture your light meter dictates

Put an ND filter on.

If its a 3 stop filter open up your aperture 3 stops, if its a 6 stop filter open up by 6 stops.

Viola, you have a perfectly exposed photo with shallow DOF.
Click to expand...

Thankyou! didnt think of that..yes i have 3 nd filters my highest is 9 i think..i have got 4 and a 2..and i have never used them(bottom of camera bag).Will definatly do this tonight..and try my filters for the 1st time to :clap:
n
x
 
If flash is too bright even on lowest power, easiest way is to cut a small piece of white paper and stick it over the flash head, with either BluTack or just tucked under the wide-panel. It will reduce exposure by about two stops.
 
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