1.2 Position and Distance

Unit 1.2 Position and Distance

DH opens up with saying that by the end of the lesson you should know that lighting has depth of field and with enough light you can turn a white wall black.

Distance:
At the mention of the inverse square law, and mathematical calculations makes static play in my head like a broken TV. But DH has put it simply in that the closer you are to the light source, the more powerful the light will be. Now that is quick and easy to understand. Common sense right?

Example: The subject is the same distance from the background as it was in 1.1.
The light source was 5 feet from the subject.

If you move the light source farther away from the subject, and expose for the subject, the background will be lighter. The fall off from the light source is greater, therefore there is more light on the background. (Right?)

If you move the light source closer to the subject, and expose for the subject, the background will get darker. The light has a shallow depth of field, the fall off is less. The light source is hitting the subject and not much of the background. Hitting it home.

Assignment:
Mac sync speed, Flash on 1/8, 5 or 6 feet away from subject.
Move light far away, adjust flash power if need be.
Then move light right in tight, adjust flash power.

Tags: strobist lighting102 position distance

L102 Unit 1.1

Lighting 102 Unit 1.1 is all about position and angle of the light source.

Off axis light is light that is not behind us/same axis as the camera. All natural light is off axis.

The best way to see what light looks like is to stand where the light is coming from. There are 2 point of views. That of your camera and that of the light source (assuming it is off axis).

If you light cannot see it, it will not be well lit.

Start to learn to light without a meter:
Put your shutter speed at max sync speed. For me that is 1/320 on my Canon XTi
Aperture of f/5.6
Take a test shot. The subject is likely to be too dark or too light. Change your aperture until you get a correct exposure.
This is what gets me a little bit confused. From my understanding, say f/5.6 is the widest aperture that you can have with your lens. If the picture is too dark, wouldn't you want to open up your aperture even more; if f/5.6 is your widest aperture (or close to it) you wouldn't be able to open it up any more to let in more light. Will have to get the camera out for this one.

Mini assignment: Place your subject, obtain the correct exposure. Place your light and take a photo from the perspective of the light source, and the perspective of the camera (in front of the subject).
Tags: strobist lighting102 position angle

P.s. I really should be cleaning or doing something equally as productive instead of this but this is way more fun.

1/320
f/3.5
430EX shot into umbrella 45 degrees camera left
1/16 power

Camera Perspective:


Light source perspective:


Click images to enlarge

Onto Lighting 102

Well, I've read through Lighting 101 on David Hobby's strobist blog, and now I'm onto Lighting 102.

Both of which you can find here.

I think it's important to blog about this, or keep track of it somewhere. As DH says, you're more likely to keep it going, and then I'll have a reference to go back to the points that stood out for me.

Lighting 102 Light Controls Overview

1. Varying position: To create mood and dimension, move the light around depending on the look you're trying to create.
2. Varying the apparent size of the light source: Shooting through diffusers, into reflectors, etc.
3. Altering the relative intensity: balancing light with ambient, other strobes, other light sources. This one is a bit confusing for me.
4. Restricting light: Controlling where light does not go with gobos, snoots, grids, cookies, etc
5. Refraction and reflection: Zoom flash, bending light... Not sure about this one at all. Until I read this I had totally forgotten that my flash wasn't TTL anymore and that I had to set the zoom. Oops.
6. Altering the color: Got this one covered with Gels. Ordered a pack of color correction gels and special effects gels from Photogels.com
7. Time