Lighting is Easy Blog

Last week I attended a workshop at the Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association by well-known portrait photographer Michael J. In his workshop he demonstrated his techniques photographing pets and he used a complex but very effective lighting setup that is frequently used by in-studio portrait photographers. It typically uses between five and seven lights, and once you get it set up once, you'll be able to replicate it again.

Here's the setup:

Notice how the main light is feathered away from the background so it doesn't spill over onto the background. This allows total control of the background using the background lights. The rim lights provide plenty of light on the sides of the subject to allow this kind of feathering of the main light. Grids are used extensively to give precise control to the background, rim and hair lights and also prevent the possibility of lens glare. If you have access to several lights and modifiers, give this setup a try. You'll love the results!

If you've ever done a photo-shoot on-location you know that moving your equipment around is one of the hardest parts of the project. After many different failed solutions, here's what I have been using for the past few years and it works perfectly for me. It's designed for another type of creative professional that has the same needs we do in regard to moving lots of heavy equipment - musicians.

The thing I like best about it is that it folds down very small, can open up very large and can carry a lot of weight. It's like the swiss army knife of carts. Here's what the manufacturer has to say about it:

The Rock N Roller Multi-Cart 8-in-1 R6 Mini Equipment Transporter Cart makes getting your audio equipment in and out of gigs a breeze! We all know that load-ins and load-outs can be the worst part of a gig. Either you're sweating before you play or dreading the number of trips you'll be making after the gig through narrow corridors, cellars, and staircases, or over the length of several football fields. 
The Rock N Roller cart changes all that with its ability to instantly transform into any of 8 helpful configurations. Carry up to 500 lb. on the Rock N Roller R6 equipment cart's 2-rail frameextendable from 28" to 42-1/2"and 24" (front/rear) foldable sides. Weighing only 25 lb., the R6 equipment transporting cart carries huge loads but folds flat to fit even in the trunk of a compact car. 
Rock N Roller R6 Multi-Cart configurations: Storage-Transport, Short Furniture Dolly, Short Platform Cart, Short Hi-Stacker, Long Hi-Stacker, Long Platform Cart, Long Furniture Dolly, And 2-Wheel Handtruck. 
Applications for the R6 Equipment Transporter: Guitar/bass equipment, small drums, small PA's, DJ, photo/video, general use 

Never sweat before a gig againor hurt yourself trying to carry more gear than you should to save trips! Make load-ins a breeze and order an R6 multi-cart today!

This one is the medium-sized one. There's also a larger off-road version with larger wheels and a smaller one. I have the large and medium ones and they suit me just fine. I got mine here at Guitar Center.

Do you have anything that's worked well for you? Please share in the comments below!

Knee pads. Yes, knee pads.

Changing your point of view from a standing position to a low angle almost always improves your image. But if you're like me, you're reluctant to get down low for fear of getting your pants dirty or hurting your knees. That's where knee pads can save the day. Knee pads make you more likely to get down low and more likely to get better images because of it. And they look cool!

What to get

There are two main types of knee pads; flat and round. The ones with a flat surface are a bit more restrictive to moving around, so I recommend the ones with rounded knees. Get the "pro" models, they're more comfortable and durable. The cheap ones are no bargain because they'll wear out fast. I got mine at Home Depot for about $30 and love them.

So, go get a pair and get down!

Do you have any tools you use that aren't originally for photography? Tell us in the comments below.

Photographer: Chuck Vosburgh. Model: Emma the Mannequin at Studio 3

You've heard the saying that the camera adds ten pounds. What if you could take off ten pounds by just changing your lighting?

Broad Lighting and Narrow Lighting, also known as Wide Lighting and Short Lighting is a technique you can use to control how wide the subject looks to the viewer. In the example above, both photographs are of the same subject, but one appears considerably narrower than the other even though both are the same size. It's an optical illusion and it's easy to take advantage of.

Here's how it works:

It's all about which side of the subject the light is coming from, specifically which side of the nose is lit. If the side of the nose that is closer to the camera is lit, the subject appears wider. If the side of the nose closest to the camera is in shadow, the subject appears narrower. Another way of describing it would be if the light side of the nose faces that camera, the subject appears wider. If the light side of the nose faces away from the camera, the subject appears narrower.

It's easy.

Shadow control

Here's the setup:

The specs:

I'm always a little bit skeptical about photo apps for my iPhone, but this is one I can recommend. The app is simple with poses broken down into seven categories; children, couples, portraits, women, men, groups and weddings. The think I like the best about this app is that it has drawings instead of photographs which show the poses more clearly in my opinion. 

So, check it out, at $1.99 you can't go wrong. It's called Posing App and you can get it through the App Store.

Update: On their site, they say they are working on versions for other phones and have a sign-up to be notified when it's ready. http://posingapp.com/

Here's an easy way to correct any kind of skin discoloration using Photoshop.

Photographer: Chuck Vosburgh, Model: EJ

Split lighting is the most dramatic of the basic lighting styles and requires just one light. The hallmark of this style is that the subject is lit one one side, leaving the other side in shadow. The setup is simple, position the light to one side and if you like, use a reflector to add just a small amount of fill to the shadow side. It's a good idea to use some kind of modifier to direct the light like a grid or snoot so the background can stay dark. A regular parabolic reflector on the light can work too, but it will usually spill too much light onto the background making the photograph much less dramatic.

Here's the setup:

Metering

Getting a perfect exposure with split lighting can be challenging without a light meter. If you have an incident light meter, just point the dome toward the camera, not the light, and take your reading. If you're using your camera's histogram to evaluate the exposure, just be sure you're not blowing out the highlights, which is easy to do with this style of lighting.

Here's an example of a typical histogram for this style of lighting:

Notice that there is a lot of information on the shadow end of the histogram. That's because there's a lot of dark and very little mid-tones and highlights. 

This simple lighting setup can be easily done with a flash, strobe, bulb or window. Give it a try, it's easy!