Latolite Hi-lite: Blue Vignette Issues

Pegasus_Thrust

Pegasus_Thrust

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Hi Everyone, Apologies as I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't locate the thread.....

I am getting a bit of a blue vignette when using my hi-lite, sometimes it's worse than others but just recently it's really starting to get on my nerves. I have in the past and still do get rid of it with the adjustment brush with a bit of increased exposure in LR but enough is enough.

How do I avoid the vignette in the first place?
or
Is there a really quick way in LR to batch sort it?

Am using a D3 with a Nikon 50mm or a Sigma 28-70 (I reckon it's worse with the 28-70). I have 4 manual speedlights in the set-up: 1 at the bottom of the hi-lite pointing up on the inside, 1 on a stand pointing into the side at about halfway up, 1 on a stand on the opposite side bouncing off the ceiling and then one on my camera. The hi-lite in question is a 5x7 one.

....if anyone could explain to me where from a technical perspective the flip the blue tinge comes from too that would help.

Thanks in advance everyone
 
Need to see an example really, but just guessing, the HiLite is not evenly illuminated and colour balance is off. The 28-70 may be worse because of its natural vignetting - fix in LR.

Don't really get your lighting description but HiLite needs two lights inside, one either side. You need to fiddle about a bit with zoom head settings etc, but try it with each gun pointing at the far-side/rear of the HiLite, and make sure no light shines directly on the front of the HiLite. Use a small piece of card and Blutack for that.

Easy way of checking evenness is to shoot just the HiLite with blinkies enabled (highlight over-exposure warning). Adjust exposure just around the blinkies threshold, and use a high f/number to minimise lens vignetting.
 
I will certainly try a higher f number moving forward, thanks for that Richard.
 
Pegasus_Thrust said:
I will certainly try a higher f number moving forward, thanks for that Richard.
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If I've understood your problem correctly, a higher f/number won't help at all. Need to see a pic really.

Edit: the keys to success with a HiLite are a) even illumination all over, b) slight over-exposure relative to the main subject light. It sounds like you have neither.
 
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It's weird if I'm honest, I spent a lot of time thinking that I wasn't illuminating the hi-lite enough/evenly throughout but the vignette only appears in the corner of the shot- regardless of the proximity of the corner of the frame to the corner/edge of the lastolite.

.....based on this is it not a shutter speed or aperture issue that's causing it?
 
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10696785135
 
Pegasus_Thrust said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104142235@N05/10696785135/lightbox/
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Your problem is that the HiLite is clearly not evenly illuminated and is much brighter in the centre. In fact it's too bright, and is bleaching the subject outline slightly, hair etc (though I've seen much worse). It's not an easy thing to do, but if you want avoid a lot of post processing work, then you need to get the HiLite even and adjust exposure balance so that it's only just over-exposed - like 0.5 to 1.0 stops max more than the front light.

As for the colour, the vignette is a bit blue but there could be a number of reasons for that, none of which I'd worry about so long as the main subject is right. The background is going to be white one way or another anyway.
 
Thanks, I am going to try a different formation of lights as you suggested. I noticed the hair too when shooting but I think the grey/white in the hair made exagerated it a bit as when someone with a more solid colour stepped in the problem resolved itself. Not that I am disagreeing too as I accept there is room for improvement but the blue tinge in the example is nowhere near the top of the lastolite, it's at the top of the frame- I am of the thinking the appearance of the light being concentrated in the middle is more to do with the camera than the positioning of the lights......... it's weird.
 
Pegasus_Thrust said:
Thanks, I am going to try a different formation of lights as you suggested. I noticed the hair too when shooting but I think the grey/white in the hair made exagerated it a bit as when someone with a more solid colour stepped in the problem resolved itself. Not that I am disagreeing too as I accept there is room for improvement but the blue tinge in the example is nowhere near the top of the lastolite, it's at the top of the frame- I am of the thinking the appearance of the light being concentrated in the middle is more to do with the camera than the positioning of the lights......... it's weird.
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I'd put money on the vignette being a lighting issue rather than lens, but it could be either, or a bit of both. Both your lenses will naturally vignette at low f/numbers, but it disappears at higher f/numbers and should be gone completely by f/8-11. Easy enough to check by shooting a plain toned wall, and also very easy to eliminate in pp. LightRoom has custom presets to fix it with a mouse-click.
 
You've also got a lot of wrap there - the background 'wrapping round' and reflecting off the sides of the face. Suits some subjects more than others but it can be reduced by moving the subject further from the HiLite, or by screening off areas of the HiLite outside the image area. Less wrap also tends to reduce the bleaching effect a bit too.
 
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Richard has explained this above and I agree with what he says. The only other point I'd make is that lighting it with speedlites is pretty challenging. I know Lastolite videos claim it can be done easily, but I'd say that the only really satisfactory way to get round your problem with a hilite of the size you have is to get use a couple of studio lights.
 
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I tweaked my set up today, having a speedlight pointed slightly to the rear from the side on third up from the base on one side and on the other another doing the same but from a third down from the top- I didn't have them anywhere at full tilt and I switched back to my 50mm and have had zero vignette that requires any PP. I've considered using studio lights but I'm going to stick with the speedlights for now because of the portable and space element- if I end up getting a bigger one though it's something I will certainly consider.
 
Glad you're getting on PT :) TBH I prefer using speedlites inside the HiLite and the there are lots of options to help even out the coverage with zoom head settings, wide-angle panel, or maybe using a Stofen-type diffuser cap. And because you don't need any modelling light in there and get fast recycle because they're usually turned down quite a bit, that overcomes the two biggest disadvantages of speedlites for studio work. Also, because they're small, they're easy to flag with bits of card to stop the light hitting the front directly.

Not sure about the way you have the speedlites arranged, though if it works for you that's cool. You must be getting some uneven coverage right to left if I've understood you properly. What I try to do is get the HiLite as evenly exposed as possible over the important area around the subject and balance the exposure readings accordingly with minimal over-exposure on the HiLite. If that means the corners of the HiLite go a little grey, then that's no problem to clean up in post processing. Don't be tempted to wind the power up just to get white corners if that also means the important central area gets over blown.

I also just noticed a bit of a contradiction in what I said above re higher f/numbers. What I meant was, higher f/numbers will reduce lens vignetting if that turned out to be an issue.
 
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Cheers Hoppy, the method yesterday was by no means final but it seemed to work well enough- there is a touch of grey in the corners of the hi-lite but I generally shoot landscape across about head height and if the corners/sides/top of the hi-lite ever are visible then they get cropped. Agree with the over powering part as I've been down that route before.

The cardboard suggestion: how big a piece are we talking and are we saying we take it the the forward facing long edge of the speedlight?
 
Pegasus_Thrust said:
Cheers Hoppy, the method yesterday was by no means final but it seemed to work well enough- there is a touch of grey in the corners of the hi-lite but I generally shoot landscape across about head height and if the corners/sides/top of the hi-lite ever are visible then they get cropped. Agree with the over powering part as I've been down that route before.

The cardboard suggestion: how big a piece are we talking and are we saying we take it the the forward facing long edge of the speedlight?
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I turn the speedlite so the long side of the head is parallel with the HiLite. The card is white, about 6x4in, attached with BluTack.
 
Confused, does the card not cause any shadow outline?.... presuming you're forcing the light to bounce off the rear to illuminate the front.
 
Pegasus_Thrust said:
Confused, does the card not cause any shadow outline?.... presuming you're forcing the light to bounce off the rear to illuminate the front.
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Yes, forcing the light to bounce and scramble inside the HiLite rather than shining directly against the front and creating a hot-spot. The card is some distance from the front so hardly likely to create much of a shadow, but the idea is to position the guns/heads so they're most outside the HiLite anyway, firing in.
 
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