Lighting situation

[his4ever]

Mk... I made a little diagram of my situation.

My project for this year is to take pictures of people every weekend. I am hoping to rearrange my living room to better accommodate my situation.. but I am trying to figure out how to get my key light to work. Any thoughts?

I bounce the light off the right wall at full power (I only have high and low options).

This past week I did it with the low power setting and a white bounce thingy on the flash. I hope I am giving enough information.

(I would rearrange my living room now.., but I am 36 weeks prego... and its not a good idea .)

[RussHeath]

Tell us a little more about your plan.

Are all the weekend shoots going to be in your living room? Will some be at other locations?

What lights do you have? How much light do you get through the two windows in the room?

Sounds like a fun project.

[his4ever]

When it gets warmer (prob in April) I hope to get outside with some of my shoots.
For now,.. my livingroom is my only option.

The windows only allow enough light for about 1/25 or less at 400 ISO. I am shooting at 200 ISO because of the bounce flash.

I have three little continuous lights, two that are CFL equivalent to 60 Watts and one that is CFL equiv. to 100 watts. They are in silver work lamp shades (the kind you get at the hardware store).

I also have two pieces of white foam board to reflect light off of. I have reflected the 100 watt light off of the board once and got an ok picture... but with the black background, lost the persons dk hair.

I can clamp one of the lights on one of my studio compression rods (that hold up my backdrop). The only prob is this past Sat I got a strange green hue, and they are supposed to be daylight bulbs. Hopefully these are not to many thoughts, I hope this helps

Again, I hope to reagrange the living room so that I have more space (also so I can get my "models" away from the backdrop do get some DOF). So much to figure out.... but right now, lighting is most important... it really helps make or break the picture... and I am not getting enough pictures with good lighting.

Thanks so much for your response.

[his4ever]

Russheath, you know what... I just saw you link for the ghetto strip light set up.

I have strip lights ready to go... I just want to make some more studio compression poles to hang them on... but by looking at your pictures... it looks like you have some more ideas!! Whoot. But how does this affect children and adults. Will the set up help or will it be too bright? I have thought about turning them around and reflecting the light (also since it is such a small space).

Wow... talking about this with someone is really helping!!
Thanks

[RussHeath]

his4ever - I'm glad the chat is helping. It's amazing how much you can figure out just by "saying" it to someone else, huh? I think you've got the right idea by focusing on the lights. A 100 watt equivalent CFL is only about 25 watts, and each of my strip lights holds two daylight 40 watt fluorescents. I have no idea what the tungsten equivalent is, but they put out a lot of light.

I don't think they would be too bright for kids, just think about buying some of that diffusion material from the hardware store that would usually be used to cover the lights. That way you can spread it out a little. I oriented them vertically in my thread, but I have also seen them used oriented in a horizontal arrangement, one high and one low with the camera shooting through the middle. That more closely approximates a beauty light setup and might give better portrait results.

You could also consider getting bigger bulbs for you 60 watt CFLs and making a homemade snoot for one of them to act as a hairlight. The closer you can get the lights to your subjects while keeping them off frame, the shorter your exposure so you'll have more room to play.

Watch the video here to see how David Greene uses the strip lights for portraiture.

Post some shots for us if you can, I'd love to see how these turn out!

[his4ever]

Very cool thoughts. .

The CFL's are equal to what a tungston are... so I have 100watts tungston equvilant in a CFL... its really bright... it would be fun to figure out how to make a snoot for it .

Also, I am not sure how to set up the strip lights yet... I would love to try the horizontal idea... espcially if it gets me the beauty effect. Have you found anything to diffuse your lights yet? What sort of material have you purchased, if you have purchased any.

As soon as I do my next shoot... if I do anything different (which I will hopefully), and if I have permission from my "models" to post their pictures online, I will post them. I link here what thread they are in. There is a thread I started here, my first time with a family. I used the black background... but I just did not have enough light for the shoot. I would love to contiune to use black, but for now with my limitations with light... and people who have dark hair, I need to keep with the white background.

If none of this makes sense right now I am sorry... I am up way to late... going to bed.

Thanks

[RussHeath]

Check out this thread from strobist about the lights and the diffusion material. I haven't bought any yet, but it's on the next Home Depot list.

I had a look at the first shot you posted, and it's a nice start. The lighting on their faces and bodies is good, but as you noted there the separation from the black background is lacking. If you have the strip lights, consider a triangle arrangement, with one strip light at each 45 camera left and right, and your brightest worklight directly behind the family / model pointing from the ground up at the back of their heads. That should provide a nice rimlight that will give you separation without too much hassle.

[his4ever]

I will have to try that... this sat I have another family coming over. Today I bought some bungie cord, and I am looking forward to figuring out how to at least get the lights up. I will have to run to HD to get some of that material that the Strobist was talking about.

Thanks I will let you know how it all goes

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by his4ever

I will have to try that... this sat I have another family coming over. Today I bought some bungie cord, and I am looking forward to figuring out how to at least get the lights up. I will have to run to HD to get some of that material that the Strobist was talking about.

Thanks I will let you know how it all goes

Yes, please let us know (with pictures if possible)!

[his4ever]

So I ventured to use (and find a way to use) my strip lights . I had to use the stools I usually reserve the models to use... but they were all fine with sitting on the floor. I eventually moved the nearer light in the picture back some... and with the second photo shoot I had on Sat worked out so much better . This is going to be lots of fun for me in the coming months (hopefully I will get outside too)

When I get some of the pictures finished I will post a few of them on another thread.. and I will have a link for that thread here.

(and that is the reality of the small space I have to work with... better in photo than in drawing)