Some photography tips

[Rudi Richardson]

Hi all

I thought I'd share a photography tip which I mentioned to Matt and Pete last night.

Very often lighting is one of the complaints about folks model pictures: "normal" light bulbs (incandescent bulbs) tend to cast a yellowish light and often there's not enough reflected (or is that refracted?) light and one might get some funky shadows.

One way to overcome these issues, and a few others I guess, if to photograph your model in the bath tub, or even just the bathroom Bathrooms are typically tiled, have mirrors, great lighting, those heater bulbs, and bathtubs may be acrylic or have an enamel coating, all of which means plenty of reflected light! So after you've made sure there's no water in the tub (it plays havoc with your pigments ), lay down a piece of butchers paper or coloured card for your background, and shoot the model in the tub

If however you get funny looks for taking your digital camera into the bathroom with you here are some easy (and cheap!) ways to make a light tent:

How to make an inexpensive light tent (this one uses muslin cloth as the filter)
How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio (this one uses tracing paper for the filter)

I personally use the 2nd one, with the tracing paper for the windows/filter, for shooting all my model review photos. Eventually I will invest in a proper light tent, but for now (and the past 2 and a half years) this one serves just fine

HTH

Rudi

 

[wds]

Rudi,

Thanks for putting this up. I am always interested in ways to get good results on the "cheap".
This helps.

Cheers,

Bill

 

[Richie]

Rudi, Rudi, Rudi!

Jenny has barred me from taking the digital camera into the bathroom anymore!

Richie

 

[Matt Beattie]

Great tips , thanks Rudi i think i will give that light box a go

I too would get some strange looks from my wife if i went in the bathroom alone with the camera

Matt

 

[DBridges]

Thanks for the links! That second one in particular is great - amazing the simple things that can help. Next time I need to take some pictures, I think I make my own box as illustrated in that article.

David

 

[AndyFettes]

Richie does that mean you have some pictures from pervious sessions then ?

 

[kaleu]

andyfettes wrote:

Richie does that mean you have some pictures from pervious sessions then ?

Richie, if you do have them, don't post them.

 

[AndyFettes]

Spoiler, Erik !!!!

 

[JonHayward]

I got some photography tips from Mig Jimenez recently regarding lighting.

He recommended to me 500w halogen lights with tungsten bulbs. These are usually found in gardens with a PIR sensor that basically uses your electricity every time a cat strolls past :laugh:

I managed to find some for just £5 per light, which do not have the PIR sensor, from the UK company Wilkinsons. I needed 3 but they only had 2 so I got those.

I had to wire them up (they need connecting to earth so use 3-core flex) and put a switch in but man, these babies throw out some SERIOUS light (and heat, beware!). I use coffee filters as diffusers and with just the two lights the difference over using my flourescent daylight bulbs is amazing.

All in all I got two seriously high-powered photography lights for just over £14 including all the wiring. I will get a third ASAP.

I am on the strictest of strict budgets because of planning a wedding, so I can't go splashing out on any kind of fancy stuff. For the money these are amazing tools, not only because you get a photography light setup for so cheap, but once they're on stands if you have a BBQ in the garden one night you can put them outside and flood-light the place too. They can even be used in the garage for working light.

 

[moon puppy]

I've tried this same thing but the only lights I can find are the low wattage solar types. Maybe one of my friends connected with a home improvement chain can throw this ol' dog a bone...

 

[Iron Mike]

moon puppy wrote:

I've tried this same thing but the only lights I can find are the low wattage solar types. Maybe one of my friends connected with a home improvement chain can throw this ol' dog a bone...

Who might THAT be?

 

[cb1]

hi guys, it has been a while since I last posted.
I just wanted to share a tip while taking pictures. I've been reading a lot on exposure and natural light
I took this today as a test of some settings and I think it came out good.
Camera - Canon T3i
Lens 18-55 IS STM
focal length -28mm
Aperture -f11
shutter - 1/25
B&W and red filter setting
No flash
I laid the lens on the table to get a "eyes" view of the kit, as though you were standing there.
the old Tamiys M48A5 - nowhere near as good as Terry's, but I like it. LOL
I normally only use natural light. it gives the kit better natural shadows.

M48A5 (2) by Chris Barzyz, on Flickr

 

[moon puppy]

Nice shot Chris!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Or you could do a Geek attack on your hobby cam like I did. It began with needing more light on the subject idealy from the flash, but close up ot was too much. So I took some transparent smoky colored plexi I had and held it over the flash. Wa-La! It worked but was very cumbersome and a pain in the can to hold it all square.

One thing led to another and I built a little frame that my Nikon L24 just slips into. Turn the cam on and it all locks together smoothly. It has 1 or 2 layers of dark plastic over the flash to tone it down and I added a broken frame lens from a watchmaker loup to the front that I can either shoot through or loosen a clamp nut and move it out of the way. Looks goofy like some half arsed underwater camera but really works to get good close up shots. :gogo