Basic lighting guides

Garry_Edwards

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3 May 2008 - 4:53 PM

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I thought these basic guides may be helpful, especially to people just starting out.

They're in pdf format, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat on your computer. If you don't have it, or if you only have an old version, you can download it from here

An intro to Portrait Photography - a very basic guide to get you started. Portrait photography

Photography shiny still life subjects - a lot of people find this subject difficult, it's easy really, once you know what's involved. Shiny still life subejcts

Lighting equipment - explains the various types of lighting and its advantages/disadvantages. Studio lighting

And one on Ringflash photography - not everyone's cup of tea but there's very little info available on the web, so I've included it here. Ringflash photography There's also a short video here.
To avoid confusion, I ought to point out that there are 2 versions of this video, this is the one that doesn't have the makers' name on it.

Hope these guides are useful. Feel free to link to them but please don't change them in any way

Paul Morgan (Challenge Team)

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3 May 2008 - 7:45 PM

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Or the downloads section

Chris_L

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4 May 2008 - 11:52 AM

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See! I told you Garry was gonna start spamming!

Just kidding, the guides are great thanks for sharing

PEP

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8 May 2008 - 5:05 PM

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Thanks for making that available. I intend setting up a small home studio and, having never used studio lighting, needed some good advice. Now to put it all into practice!

Coleslaw (e2 Member)

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9 May 2008 - 8:21 AM

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Good lad.
Will have a look this weekend.

Geraint

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17 May 2008 - 8:24 PM

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Quote: I've just added a new one, which may interest tight b*stards like me who hate spending money
It's about how to improve a cheap softbox and make it every bit as good as an expensive one.

Improving softboxes the Heath Robinson way

Thank you very much for this. I've been scratching my head today thinking of a way to diffuse the light coming from my grid - a shower curtain never crossed my mind! Your lighting guides are very inspirational - thank you very much for posting them.
Geraint

Garry_Edwards

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17 May 2008 - 9:03 PM

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Quote: I've been staring at the brollie photos on page 4 and I can't see the difference, but I take your word for it, shower curtain's a winner.

Chris,
I have to admit that the differences are more obvious in the original, 38 Mp image on my computer than in the 470Kb version in the tutorial, but I think you can see that the overall contrast is a lot lower (softboxes have a dual role in that they can produce both high local contrast and low overall contrast) and you should also be able to see that the specular highlights (reflections of the light) are larger and more diffused.

I could have chosen a subject on which the specular reflections would have been dealt with better but I thought it was a good idea to choose something that was practically impossible, especially at that distance, so I chose a silver/gold reflective umbrella (dare I mention that it's a Lencarta one?)

BTW, as I mentioned in the guide, it was a very cheap shower curtain. A better one would have produced even greater improvement.

climbing_orchid

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7 Jul 2008 - 10:50 AM

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Thanks for this Garry, very useful
Liz x