Lighting help please!

wippers

wippers

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,534
Name
Gareth
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi All - I'm trying to do a photo of my step-dads radio controlled truck using a couple of strobe lights and getting really stuck in the mud! :(

I want to achieve a nice black BG with the truck well lit.
I have 2 lights: one with a soft box with grid and the other which I have either a silver umbrella or a snoot.

I have been playing with the lights both at 45 degrees, the softbox above and snoot from the front, and other variations but the results are just crap. I've only messed a bit with the lights before and am not sure where to start.
Adding to the problem, is that the truck has some lights on it which I also want to show off, but I either seem to get the truck over exposed and you can't see the lights, or the truck underexposed and you can only see the lights! :bonk::bonk:

Please someone help and give me a few pointers - in laymans terms please too. :thumbs:

Here are the best so far of a very bad bunch:

Using the softbox and snoot:
20111103_9641.jpg



Using the softbox and snoot with blue gel (was to try and get blue tints on the chrome bits - fail! :shake:):
1203.jpg



Using the softbox and snoot with a blue gel over the snoot again:
2155.jpg



I really don't know where to go from here and would be eternally grateful of any input. :shrug:

Thanks for reading.

Gareth
 
I think you've made a very good start - still life photography is by far the most challenging genre and not having the right equipment can make life much harder too.

Top picture: Your softbox light is in the wrong place. Put it above and behind the subject, not in front. It needs to light the top, forget about the front... You'll need to experiment with positioning a bit, but basically the angle of the softbox will be somewhere near the one in this picture

Use your snoot at an acute angle and run it along the side of the truck, illuminating the running gear/exhaust etc. The snoot needs the be quite a long way away, otherwise the amount of light lost over distance (the effect of the inverse square law) will be obvious - the further away the light, the less effect this will have.

Of course, with the softbox above and a bit behind, there will be no light o the bits of the truck facing you. Just use a reflector on each of these elevations - a sheet of white A4 paper will be good, but a shiny silver takeaway lid will probably produce a more exciting shot - just experiment, and see how well the reflector(s) pick up 'spare' light from the softbox and put it exactly where it's needed.
Adding to the problem, is that the truck has some lights on it which I also want to show off,
Click to expand...
Battery powered lights? Just shoot in complete darkness, turn the truck lights on and experiment with the shutter speed. A longish shutter speed, maybe a second may much less, will make the battery powered lights show up at whatever level of brightness you want.

OK, you're not using a shooting table, or a boom arm, and the product is different - but the principle is exactly the same.

Blue gel: Not easy on such a shiny subject, because unless you've got the angle exactly right the light will just bounce off and go nowhere visible. An extra problem is that you're adding light, which means that it will be light and bright rather than dark and saturated - which I'm guessing is the effect you want.

I've got the knowledge and equipment to add the blue colour but, to be honest, on something as small and fiddly as this I would probably just leave it, and add it later in Photoshop - easier all round.

Hope that helps, come back if you have any more questions
 
Last edited:
Cheers Gary. That's really helpful and hadn't thought of putting the softbox above and behind. I think I may finally have to invest in a boom arm.

Just to clarify - If I have the softbox as in the link, the snoot accutely angled down the length of the truck to pick out the detail and then use a silver reflector (which I have) to bounce the light from the softbox onto the front of the truck? Does this sound like I have a grasp of what you mean? :shrug::thumbs:

Gareth
 
Yes, that's about right. You'll have to experiment of course, because precise positioning is going to be critical..

For some lighting situations, you absolutely must have a boom arm - but my guess is that you won't need one for this.
 
Out of interest Garry - I have the Elemental light set-up at home (bought after reading a review in TP) and wondered whether the Lencarta boom stand will fit the elemental lights do you know?
 
Yes, it will fit no problem
 
Well, I did say feel free to ask any other questions:)

You can get boom arms that just go on top of an ordinary lighting stand but this isn't one of them, it's a different and much more solid fitting and so can only fit onto the stand supplied.

Safety first...
 
Garry Edwards said:
Well, I did say feel free to ask any other questions:)

You can get boom arms that just go on top of an ordinary lighting stand but this isn't one of them, it's a different and much more solid fitting and so can only fit onto the stand supplied.

Safety first...
Click to expand...

Cheers Barry. I think I'll have to invest in a Lencarta one then. :thumbs:

Thanks for the help. It's really appreciated.

Gareth
 
Gary
Barry
Garry:)
 
Had another try with the softbox directly above the truck and the snoot at about 30 degrees to the side. I held a silver reflector in front of the truck.
Is this any better? :shrug:
I quite like the little bit of reflection at the back.

DT1_72.jpg
 
You're getting there.

The softbox is too far away from the truck, creating those over-hot specular highlights on the roof and wing. The softbox needs to be close enough to be only just out of shot. You will then get diffused specular highlights that you can see through to the subject itself.

Doing that will make the specular highlights on the top of the exhaust pipes even hotter, you avoid that though by sticking a bit of something on the softbox (thick paper will do) immediately above the pipes.

You also need to adjust the angle of the softbox to avoid the specular highlight on the windscreen.

A lot of people seem to think that still life photography is boring and easy, and that it can be done with a light tent - I think you're beginning to see that none of that is true:)
 
Cheers Gary - I have the softbox just out of shot so can't get it any lower without changing the angle of the shot. It is quite a big box if that makes any difference? And it also has a grid inside? Should that be removed or will that just spill more light where I don't want it? :shrug:
I hadn't noticed the highlights on the exhausts, but they're glaringly obvious now you've pointed it out. I'll have a play with some paper.
One thing I do like is the white reflection in the background giving a sort of silhouette. I have a smaller piece of the black perspex sheet stood up which I think must be reflecting the snoot? How can I get a nice silhouette around more of the truck?

Hope this all makes sense. Thanks for your patience. :thumbs:

Gareth
 
Gareth,
The bigger the softbox the better. 3x the size of the subject is the absolute minimum, and for a convex shape, as on the roof of the truck, it really needs to be much bigger than that for perfection. The principle is explained here

You don't need a honeycomb on the softbox for this application, in fact you should remove it. If it's a decent honeycomb it will make a massive difference. If it's one of those cheap fleabay ones it will be pretty useless but removing it should still help.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'silhouette' as this is not a silhouette - can you explain?
 
Garry Edwards said:
I'm not sure what you mean by 'silhouette' as this is not a silhouette - can you explain?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant the white reflected light at the back end of the truck. I suppose a "halo" may have been a better term perhaps?

Thanks for the link. There's certainly lots to learn about lighting and particularly the still life studio shots. I'm looking forward to using a bit of creativity when I've got my head around the basics. :thumbs:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top