Lighting Experiment - advice needed!

Pippy_Neville

Pippy_Neville

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In my office I have some fancy dan frosted glass with words laser cut into them (think frosted glass with clear words). I decided to have a go at using this as a lighting baffle to see what I could come up with, my plan is to use them for some slightly different corporate head shots.

So what I discovered is that I need a small and directional relative light source (pretty much the opposite of what I am normally aiming for). To achieve this I put a 580exii outside on full power on a light stand about 15' from the window, zoomed in to max. I stood against the wall which is roughly the same distance from the window. It took me a few goes but I started getting somewhere near what I am aiming for - this is straight out of camera.
I think I need to gel the flash wtg next time and sort out my wb?

4461479583_ed225d9ffb_o.jpg


I would like to get the words smaller and probably across the chest or something a bit more creative. But I need a much higher lightstand and I'm not sure if a speedlite is powerful enough?
And a question for you physicists: How would I be able to get the letters more focused? Is it a function of flash to window v window to subject distances?

Thanks for looking - it's fun experimenting for a change!
Cheers,
pip
 
Since you can't move the lettering, you need to either move the camera up (a lot) or move the victim up, to get the lettering lower.

To get the lettering smaller you need to either move the camera further away or move the victim closer to the window, or both. With photography as with life, perspective depends on viewpoint so the closer the camera is to the lettering on the window, the bigger the lettering will appear to be.

And that will help with the focus on the lettering too, and so will using a smaller aperture.
 
I would probably take two shots, one of the subject, one of the lettering. Make them into layers is PS and move resize or rotate as required? Or am I missing something?
 
Nigey said:
I would probably take two shots, one of the subject, one of the lettering. Make them into layers is PS and move resize or rotate as required? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Then it would look stencilled on.
I would do it across the chest so the words "wave" with the clothing.
 
Nigey said:
I would probably take two shots, one of the subject, one of the lettering. Make them into layers is PS and move resize or rotate as required? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

That would work well enough by why make extra work when it's so easy to get it right in the camera?
 
Thanks for the input guys.
Nigey, I know where you're going but Trev as hit the nail on the head. The intention is to have the wavy writing going across the chest or face. If i can get the writing small enough and bright enough the focus issues will take care of themselves I think. I'm sure people have done this with projectors before, I'm trying a low tech solution!
Garry, I'm thinking of putting my light stand on some podium steps (I'm an asbestos removal company, I have loads of kit!) to get the height. I was more worried about power really. I now wonder if focus issues are actually umbra/penumbra issues meaning my light source is too big relative to the window? Actual writing on window is about 10" or so high for reference.

Anyway, it's all good fun!
 
You have 2 separate subjects here, the writing on the glass and the person, and ideally they should be lit separately and differently.

You need fairly flat, high lighting for the person and low, oblique lighting for the lettering - in other words the lighting on the lettering should come from the side and skim across the surface of the glass - not too close, otherwise 1 end of the lettering will be much brighter than the other, and you will have to experiment to find the angle that works best without reflecting light from the glass back to the camera.
Alternatively, the light could skim across from above or below.
 
Garry Edwards said:
You have 2 separate subjects here, the writing on the glass and the person, and ideally they should be lit separately and differently.

You need fairly flat, high lighting for the person and low, oblique lighting for the lettering - in other words the lighting on the lettering should come from the side and skim across the surface of the glass - not too close, otherwise 1 end of the lettering will be much brighter than the other, and you will have to experiment to find the angle that works best without reflecting light from the glass back to the camera.
Alternatively, the light could skim across from above or below.
Click to expand...
My plan for the person is ambient plus something fairly low key, don't want to add too much lighting. I'd not thought about oblique lighting letters, will give it a go.

JasonRS said:
To get the lettering across their chest - Stand them on a box / table

To make the lettering smaller - move them nearer the glass its stencilled on.
Click to expand...
Jason - why didn't I think of that! It'll make the letters smaller and I reckon I'll gain a good stop or two of flash. Good man, I'll have a go if I can work out how to get everything in place... doing this as selfies at the moment so shutter in timer mode and running around, so will have to work out how to pre focus effectively but that should be easy enough.
 
I'm sure that some people are missing what's going on... Or am I missing it?

I'm reading this as the light allowed through by the clear bit of glass that says "quality" making it show up on the wall. Therefor you should be able to get it written on the chest of the person.

I think others are reading this as its stencilled white on the window?
 
Trev Rich said:
I'm sure that some people are missing what's going on... Or am I missing it?

I'm reading this as the light allowed through by the clear bit of glass that says "quality" making it show up on the wall. Therefor you should be able to get it written on the chest of the person.

I think others are reading this as its stencilled white on the window?
Click to expand...

No Trev, you're spot on. The window is frosted (at least the bit we're talking about) and the word ("Quality" in this case) is cut out of the frosting so the word is clear. Hang on, I'll see if I have an image somewhere... here we go, here's a big crop from the corner of a marketing image we have (not taken by me but as it's only a corner crop to demonstrate what I mean I hope I'm not breaking any rules - if I am please tell me and I'll remove it). I've upped the levels a bit to make it stand out a bit more.

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Hope this makes it a bit clearer?
Pip
 
Good point, and as I have one of those tucked away somewhere it'd be a shame not to use it now wouldn't it?!!! It wasn't long enough for what I was doing yesterday but if I'm going to be nearer the camera it'll be rather handy.
 
Sorry, I completely mis-read your original post and thought that you had said that the lettering was painted onto the glass, instead of the lettering being clear on frosted glass:bonk:

Which means that my answer was completely wrong too...

The light pointing at the window will need to be as far away from it as possible, this will produce a sharper image on the subject and will also make the image smaller (although the subject still needs to be as close to the glass as possible, as this will affect sharpness and size too.

If the light on the glass is set low it will raise it on the subject, although it will also distort it a bit.

Because of the very low power produced by the hotshoe flash, the lighting on the subject will need to be at a very low level.

Hope this (finally) helps
 
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