Flash TTL camera with infrared studio flash

Various kinds of ways I have tried to trigger the studio lights with the flash ttl exist in my favorite camera EOS 1000D, indeed if we look at Sutter in press and flash on the camera lights, studio lights also follow-on, just unfortunately this event is not in line with my desire, the result is a photo with ttl flash light cameras and studio lighting was not optimal, which was captured by the camera sensor is just the light from the flash ttl only, while the studio lights do not work at all.

long time I feel discouraged with problems like this, without in my accidentally pressing one button from the front panel of the camera, when in Flas camera lights and lamps are also lit at the same studio as I wanted,

Pays attention to way following :

1. Focus the subject
2. Knob compress of the picture beside which have been said the word arrow
3. Knob compress shutter at camera

Sees result of its

safe tries, hopefully successful

What ISO

ISO sensitivity expresses the speed of photographic negative materials (formerly expressed as ASA).

Since digital cameras do not use film but use image sensors instead, the ISO equivalent is usually given.

What ISO denotes is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and therefore the possibility to take pictures in low-light situations.

And, where you would have needed to physically change to a different roll of film if you wanted a different ISO speed, digital technology allows you to simply dial one in. In this way, you can record images taken at different ISO speeds on the same memory card.

ISO Speed & Exposure

ISO speed affects the shutter speed / aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure.

Suppose your digital camera's light meter warns you there is not enough light to correctly expose a scene. You could use the on-board flash, but let's suppose again it's not allowed (like in a concert or indoors recital).

You would then need to use a higher ISO. Set on "ISO Auto" mode, your digital camera will automatically select a higher ISO. Otherwise, you can manually select the next higher ISO and see if the increased sensitivity allows you to obtain a correctly exposed picture. If it does, you can now take a correctly exposed picture.

Similarly, if you find the camera is using a shutter speed that is too slow (1/60 sec. and slower) to handhold the camera steady and shake-free (thus resulting in blurred pictures), and you cannot open up the aperture anymore, and you do not have a tripod or other means to hold the camera steady, and you want to capture the action, etc. etc. -- then you might select the next higher ISO which will then allow you to select a faster shutter speed.

ISO Speed & Noise

However, all this increase in sensitivity does not come free. There is a price to pay with your image appearing more noisy.

See, when you boost the sensitivity of your image sensor by selecting a higher ISO, the image sensor is now able to record a fainter light signal. However, it is also true now that it will record fainter noise, where noise is any signal that is not attributed to the light from your subject. Remember that an image sensor is still an analog device and it generates its own noise, too! The increased sensitivity allows the image sensor to record more light signal and more noise. The ratio of light signal to noise (S/N ratio) determines the "noise" in your resultant image.

An image sensor is usually calibrated so that it gives the best image quality (greatest S/N ratio) at its lowest possible ISO speed. For most consumer digital cameras, this value will be expressed as ISO 50, ISO 64 or ISO 100. A few digital cameras use ISO 200 as their lowest ISO speed.

Just as with its film counterpart, an image sensor will exhibit "noise" (comparable to "graininess" in film) at the higher ISO speeds. Unlike film, where graininess can sometimes contribute to the mood of the image, noise produced by an image sensor is undesirable and appears as a motley of distracting coloured dots on your image.

ISO Speed & Image Sensor Size

The size of the image sensor determines the ISO speed range that a digital camera can use without suffering from undue noise. One reason for this is because the pixels on the larger image sensor can be larger and therefore receive more light, and thus have a greater

If we take two image sensors, each with 4 mega pixels resolution, but of different sizes, the 4 mega pixels image sensor that is smaller will exhibit more noise at higher ISO than the larger one.

Most consumer digital cameras use 1/1.8 in. (and smaller) image sensors, so noise at high ISO is a problem. Though they will allow you to use a high ISO (such as ISO 400), the resultant image will usually be very noisy.

A digital SLR (dSLR), on the other hand, uses a large image sensor, usually full frame (24x36 mm) or APS-sized (half-frame). Noise is rarely a problem and the use of a high ISO 400 results in images with barely noticeable noise.

Practical Considerations

• You obtain the best image quality by using the lowest ISO possible on your digital camera. If you want to ensure your digital camera always uses the lowest ISO setting, switch the ISO setting from the default "Auto ISO" (this setting is usually found in the Menu) to the lowest possible on the camera, say ISO 50.
• If you mostly take pictures where there is enough light for a correct exposure, i.e. sunny outdoors, then using the lowest ISO on your digital camera will give you the best image quality your digital camera is capable of.
• If you want to take pictures indoors where light may not be sufficient and in other low-light situations, then you would need to supplement existing light with flash or studio lights. Either that, or select a higher ISO. Of course, depending on your digital camera, a higher ISO may mean a noisy image.
• A large image sensor (APS-sized and larger) means that you are able to use a high ISO speed without unduly worrying about noise. This means that you can take pictures in low-light situations without your pictures being under-exposed. It also means that in situations where it is required, you are able to use a fast enough shutter speed to prevent camera shake. All, again depending on your camera, without much noise.

Should You Use A High ISO?

Until consumer digital cameras start adopting the larger image sensors, noise will continue to be an ever present fact of life at high ISOs.

Another category of digital cameras for advanced amateur photographers -- commonly known as "prosumers" (professional consumers) -- attempt to bridge the gap between consumer and professional digital cameras by using a slightly larger image sensor (at 2/3 in. or 8.8x6.6mm).

However, the "megapixels race" has meant that ever more pixels are being crammed into a small area. Where before there were 5 million pixels on a 2/3 in. image sensor, now we see 8 million pixels crammed on the same sized image sensor. It is therefore not surprising that noise remains a problem. And which is why you should not be fooled by the "more megapixels is better" mantra.

A little bit of noise may not be a problem depending on the size of your prints or images for display. There are also a number of noise reduction software (Noise Ninja, Neat Image) that you can use to clean up the noise, though there's quite a bit of post-processing work involved, and you might want to reserve this for the special pictures you want to print large format.

If it is a matter of choosing between not being able to take a picture and suffering a noisy image, I'd rather be able to take the picture at a high ISO and then try to clean up the noise afterwards in a noise reduction software.

But remember, to be able to do this, your digital camera must allow you to select a high ISO (ISO 400, ISO 800). Some entry-level digital cameras have only one ISO, usually ISO 64 or ISO 100.

Is There A dSLR In Your Future?

If you definitely must take noise-free low-light pictures and therefore need to be able to use a high ISO speed, then you need to consider digital SLRs with their large image sensors. Just remember, though, that a dSLR usually requires a higher level of proficiency in using the camera and adjusting exposure than a point-and-shoot consumer digital camera does.

Recap

• ISO (equivalent) speed on a digital camera gives an indication of the sensitivity of the image sensor.
• The best image quality is usually obtained at the lowest ISO setting on your digital camera.
• If by adjusting the shutter speed / aperture combinations you cannot obtain a correctly exposed picture (usually in low-light situations), then you may want to select the next higher ISO.
• However, remember that using a higher ISO usually results in noisy images on consumer digital cameras.
• Use a high ISO if it is a choice between missing a picture and being able to capture an image -- even if it means you need to spend time cleaning out the noise in post-processing using a noise reduction software.
• If you leave your camera on "Auto ISO" and if you find that most of your images are noisy, then perhaps you are taking most of your pictures in low-light situations where the camera has automatically selected a higher ISO.
• If you are printing mostly 4x6 in., you may find the noise is not evident in the prints (and so you don't need to worry about noise at high ISO) though they may be visible at original sizes on screen.

STUDIO PHOTOGRAFPHY

The Lights

Decide what format camera you'll be using. Bigger cameras require smaller apertures to get adequate depth of field and hence more light. Decide how big your subjects are going to be. Head-and-shoulders portraits require much less light than automobiles.

To learn about hot lights, read one of the many good books written for cinematographers on the subject. With flashes, 500 watt-seconds is sufficient for digital or 35mm photography of people at full-length. The smaller strobe systems also work for 4x5 view camera photography of tabletop subjects. Most serious studio photographers start with about 2000 watts-seconds, which is adequate for 4x5 photography of large subjects, and will rent another pack if they have to light something huge.

Sunlight

If you have any windows in your studio, you might be able to use the sunlight coming in. The color temperature of sunlight varies from about 2000K at sunrise to 4300K in the early morning to 5800K at high noon in midsummer. [Note: the sun streaming into a window is different from what you get if you take your subject out into the open. "Daylight" is a combination of sunlight (around 5500K) and skylight (approx 9500K), averaging to around 6500K in the summer. Clouds or shade push the color temperature much bluer, up towards 9000K, though an overall overcast is usually 6000K.]

Hot Lights

Once you know how much light you need, decide whether to go hot or cold. "Hot lights" are tungsten or Metal Halide Iodide (HMI) lights that burn continuously. The big advantages of hot lights are

• you can always see what you're going to get, even if you mix with ambient light. You don't need Polaroid tests, fancy meters, and a good imagination.
• you can use hot lights with movie, video, and scanning digital cameras

Not too many still photographers use hot lights, though, because they have the following disadvantages:

• heat. Thousands of watts of heat that make the photographer sweat, the models sweat, and the props melt.
• tungsten color balance. Kodak makes some nice tungsten color slide film but if you don't like it, you'll have to filter your lights and lens like crazy to use your favorite color films.
• limited accessories. It is much easier to control a light source that isn't hot enough to light paper on fire. You can experiment with electronic flash without burning your house down. With hot lights, you must make sure that your diffusers, soft boxes, umbrellas, etc. can handle the heat.

HMI lights are mercury medium-arc iodide lights that burn at a color temperature of between 5600K and 6000K. They produce about 4X the light of a tungsten bulb with the same wattage because less energy is wasted as heat. Also, you don't have to waste energy and light filtering to daylight color balance. That said, if you get yourself a 36,000 watt Ultra Dino, you won't exactly be shivering in the studio. The smallest HMI lights seem to be about 200 watts.

Light Control

Whatever lighting system you get, make sure that it is reasonably popular. Otherwise, you won't be able to get any accessories to fit. You need to be able to control whether the light is hard or soft. Hard light is generated by a small and/or far-away light and results in strong shadows. Examples of hard lights are the sun (not small but quite far away) and bare bulbs. Soft light is generated by a large diffuse light and results in shadow-free images because there are many paths from the light source to the object. Examples of soft light are an overcast sky, a north-facing window close to the subject, a bulb reflected off an umbrella placed close to the subject.

Another dimension to control is diffuse/specular. A diffuse source contains light on many different angles whereas specular light is organized in parallel rays. Specular light doesn't bounce around the studio filling in shadows and lowering contrast, spilling onto the background, etc.

Old-time photographers relied on silver umbrellas to get a somewhat softer light source. With white translucent umbrellas, you can use them like a silver umbrella and bounce off them (losing about 1/2 the light, which will go through and away from your subject) or push the light through them, which results in slightly harder light with the same 1-stop loss. However you use an umbrella, you'll generally get a diffuse light source.

The modern religion is the softbox, a reflector-lined cavity covered with a white diffusion fabric. The best of these, e.g., the PhotoFlex MultiDome, allow you to remove the front fabric to get a "sort of hard" light, to place or remove an interior baffle to get a "slightly less soft" light, and to warm up the color of the light with a gold reflector. Because softboxes surround the light head, you lose much less light than you would using white umbrellas. Note: the M&M image at the upper right was done with a softbox.

Snoots sit over a light head and turn it into a very small light source. These are usually used for hair lights. You can stick a small honeycomb grid over the snoot to tighten up the cone of light thrown by the snoot and also make the light more specular.

Barn Doors are black metal flaps that sit around a strobe head and keep the light from going where you don't want it to go. This is Hollywood technology from the 1920's. If you really want to control the angle of the light cone thrown by your head, you should probably get a zoom head or a bunch of grids.

Reflectors are really too general purpose to be called "studio equipment" but they are essential studio items and, if cleverly used, can eliminate the need for additional strobe heads. A favorite of mine is the PhotoFlex Litepanel, which is a huge sheet of gold/silver reflector, white diffusion fabric, or black light absorber in a plastic frame. You can light through this and turn it into a huge softbox, bounce off of it to bring the contrast ratio closer to that magic Kodak 3:1, or take it outside and have an assistant hold it to filter the sun. Another essential item is the disk reflector (e.g., Photoflex Lightdisc) which stores compactly but springs open to a large round reflector with a steel frame. I usually buy them white on one side, gold on the other.

The most important word in studio light control is "gobo". Hardly anyone knows what it means, but you can't beat the mysterious sound. It actually is short for "go between" and refers to anything that you stick in between the light and the subject to cast a shadow, diffuse the light, or whatever.

More: see the Photoflex Web site for a wide range of standard professional products. If you really want to understand the art of lighting, read books written for film makers and also look at old black & white movies (before they had color, they used lots of interesting gobos to add shadow patterns on white walls and other boring surfaces).

Flash Triggering

With hot lights, there is no need to worry about triggering the lights; they're on all the time. With strobes, the camera has to tell the strobes when to fire. This is traditionally done with a sync cord. Sync cords come in many lengths and are available coiled or uncoiled. The one thing in common that they all share is that someone will trip over one and probably pull something expensive down onto the floor. It is much better to use a wireless trigger of some kind. I have had good luck with the Wein infrared trigger system, which consists of a small on-camera hotshoe-connected flash with a filter over the front that only passes IR light. The other half of the kit plugs into your strobe powerpack and waits for the IR pulse from the on-camera unit, then triggers the flash. If you want to go fully wireless, you can get a mini Wein trigger that plugs into a flashmeter.

The Gossen Luna-Star F2 is a great example of the modern flash meter. It takes one standard 9V battery that you can buy anywhere. It only has six buttons and their functions are obvious. Without reading the manual, I was able to use all but one of the meter's modes within 60 seconds of putting in the battery. 99% of what you'd need to know from the manual is printed in four sections on the back of the meter. The meter is great for computing lighting ratios. You press the measurement button once to take a snapshot reading. You press and hold it while sweeping the meter around a scene and the Luna-Star F2 draws you a graph at the bottom of the display of the contrast range (e.g., f8-f16). Every time take a flash reading, the meter also shows you the ambient reading with an unobtrusive little bar on the same graph. Unlike the Minolta meters, you don't need a "reflected attachment" and an "incident attachment." The naked meter works to measure reflected light. Add a plastic incident piece and you can measure incident light. Add a little viewfinder and you've got a 5 degree spot meter. It is a great design and smaller than competing products. Nit: It only meters down to EV -2.5. That's a couple of stops less light than most pro SLRs but not as good as some other handheld meters.

The Background

The basic professional background is seamless paper. This comes in rolls 53", 107", and 140" wide. The 53" size is too confining for photographing people, leading to stiff poses and nasty little slipups where a corner of the frame is not covered by the background. On the other hand, the 140" size is not necessary most of the time, which is why it is only available in a handful of colors. The 107" width is about 9 feet and that's a good size for most people. A roll costs about $30 and a good starter set would be white, "studio gray", and black. Colored seamless, or as we refer to it here in Cambridge, "seamless of color", tends to give pictures a Sears portrait studio look. Manfrotto makes a nice "Auto Pole" system that lets you mount several rolls of seamless conveniently (a few hundred dollars; can even be motorized).

Camera Support

Obvious Answer #1 to the question of camera support is "Why do we need one? We're using a lightweight single-lens reflex camera and the strobes will freeze any camera shake?" Obvious Answer #2 is "Use a tripod.

Why use camera support? With hot lights, for maximum sharpness you need to ensure that the camera doesn't move during the exposure. With larger heavier cameras, a camera support will allow you to concentrate on composition rather than muscle fatigue. If you're attempting to be creative, a camera support enables discipline around camera position.

A tripod seems like the obvious way to support a camera, but there are much better options in the studio. A tripod is inconvenient. Since using the center column to adjust height reduces stability, you have to adjust all three legs to raise or lower the camera. You can't usually get really low or really high or really hanging out over your subject with a tripod because the legs get in the way.

Part of the reasons that tripods have so many shortcomings is that they are engineered to weigh less than 250 lbs. If you want the most stable support for a fixed weight, a tripod is the right design. Once you accept the idea that a camera support can weigh more than the photographer, there is more freedom of design and you'd probably come up with a Studio Stand. This is basically a heavy rigid single column off which you hang crossbar arms off of which you hang tripod heads off of which you hang cameras. There are wheels on the bottom that you can lock. The columns come between 6 and 12 feet in height and prices range from $350 to $3500 depending upon features and stability. Arkay, Davis and Sanford, Delta, Foba, and Manfrotto are the most common brands.

CAMERA SETTINGS

ASA Speed: Light sensitivity of film expressed in mathematical values. Equivalent to ISO (International Standards Organization) film speed ranges. The higher the number, the more sensitive the film is to light.

Ambient Light: Light already existing in an indoor or outdoor scene independent of any light supplied by the photographer.

Aperture: An opening in a lens through which light enters. Aperture size is calibrated in f-numbers. The larger the f-number(ex.f11, f16) the smaller the opening size.

Aperture Priority Automatic Camera: An automatic exposure camera that automatically adjusts the shutter speed to correctly expose the picture once the photographer has set the lens opening.

Automatic Diaphragm: A lens aperture that stays at it's widest opening until the moment of exposure, when it closes down to the aperture at which it is set. After the exposure, it returns to the widest setting again.

Automatic Exposure Camera: A camera with a built-in metering system the automatically adjusts the lens opening (aperture), shutter speed, or both for proper exposure.

Automatic Flash: An electronic flash that has a photocell which measures the amount of flash illumination reflected back by the subject. When enough light for a properly exposed picture is reflected to the photcell, it stops the flash from emitting more light.

Auto Focus: As the name implies, a camera or lens that automatically adjusts the focus by a variety of electronic or mechanical means.

Autowinder: A motorized mechanism for advancing the film in a camera and recocking the shutter. Most autowinders have a maximum speed of about two frames per second. Standard feature on most modern autofocusing cameras.

ulb Setting: A shutter speed setting on adjustable cameras that keeps the shutter open for as long as the shutter is pressed. Used for taking timed exposures with a cable release.( e.g. Astronomical photography)

Bayonet Lens Mount: A method of mounting a lens onto a camera body. The lens is inserted into the camera and given a short turn to lock it into place. Except for a few instances, a bayonet mount camera will not accept bayonet mount lenses made by a different manufacturer. The most common method of lens mounting.

Bellows: An accessory with a flexible pleated material that goes between the camera and lens to extend the lens to film distance for extreme close-up photography. In most cases the photographer will have to increase the exposure to compensate for light reduction.

Bracketing: Taking additional photos of a subject over a range of varying exposures when unsure of the correct exposure.

Cable Release: A flexible cable with a plunger on one end that is attached to a camera's shutter release. When the plunger is pressed, the shutter is tripped. They are now available as multi-function electronic remotes with most of the newer autofocus cameras.

Changing Bag: A light proof black fabric bag that permits film and other light-sensitive materials to be handled in normal room light. Has a double zipper on one end and two armholes with elastic sleeves on the other.

Close-Up Lens: A lens attachment that permits a lens to focus closer that normal. Usually sold in sets of three, with each close-up lens a different strength for focusing at varying distances.

Colour Temperature: A comparison of the colour temperature of a given light source, expressed in degrees Kelvin (e.g. daylight is approx. 5000-6000 degrees Kelvin)

Condenser Enlarger: An enlarger using one or more glass condenser lenses between the lamp and film plane to provide a focused and even distribution of light. Contact Paper: A slow speed black and white photo paper used primarily for making contact prints from negatives. Kodak AZO is an example.

Cross Screen Filter: A clear filter etched with a fine grid pattern which produces "starburst" flare patterns around light sources in a scene.

Daylight Film: Colour film that is suitable for use in average daylight or with electronic flash without any filters. (balanced for 4500-6500 degrees Kelvin)

Dedicated Flash: An electronic flash that is designed for specific camera makes and models. When the flash is attached to the camera and turned on, the camera's shutter speed is automatically adjusted to the correct setting. Normally with dedicated flashes other functions have also been automated.

Depth of Field: The distance range from the camera to the nearest and farthest points in a scene that are in sharp focus. Use the aperture to determine the depth of field, the smaller the aperture (f11, f16, etc) the longer the depth of field.

Dichroic Enlarger: An enlarger equipped with dichroic filters for colour printing. Dichroic filter values are adjusted by turning dials normally located on the side or top of the enlarger. Dichroic enlargers may have either a diffusion or condenser lamphouse.

Dichroic Filters: Filters encased in glass for colour printing that are built into an enlarger head. The colour balance of dichroic filters is set by adjusting dials, instead of moving individual filters.

Diffraction Filter: A clear filter on which tiny lines have been etched to create rainbow coloured bursts of light from point light sources in a scene.

Easel: A device that holds a sheet of photo paper flat and properly positioned under an enlarger, or a self standing photo mount or folder.

Emulsion: A light sensitive coating on photographic film and paper. An emulsion is made up of silver halides and gelatin.

Enlarging Paper: Photographic printing paper for making enlargements from negatives. Has faster emulsion speed than (more light sensitive) than contact paper.

Extension Tubes: Hollow metal tubes that mount between the camera and the lens to permit closer that normal focusing. The longer the extension the closer the lens will focus, a lower priced substitute for a bellows unit.

Fiber-Base Paper: Photographic paper consisting of light sensitive emulsion coated on a durable paper base. See also "silver prints."

Filter Size: The diameter of the filter retaining threads on the front of a lens in millimeters. Common sizes include 49, 52, 55, 58, 62, 67mm.

Fisheye Conversion Lens: A lens attachment that can be used with most wide-angle, normal and telephoto lenses to take extreme wide-angle pictures. Available in most filter sizes, fisheye conversion lenses are a less expensive alternative to a real fisheye lens.

Fisheye Lens: An extreme wide angle lens. Most fisheye lenses cover a 180 degree angle of view, popular focal lengths include 6, 8 and 14mm. The 6mm and 8mm lenses produce a circular image on the film. (not full frame)

Flash Meter: An instrument for measuring the amount of light produced by a flash unit. (normally expressed in f numbers)

Flash Synchronization: The adjustment and timing of camera and flash so that the flash fires when the camera shutter is open. Most 35mm SLR cameras synchronize with electronic flash at shutter speeds of 1/60th or slower. (newer models will even synchronize at speeds up to 1/250th)

Graded Paper: Black and white photo paper that is manufactured on specific contrast grades. Normally expressed as a scale from 1-5, with 5 being the highest contrast.

Guide Number: A rating of a flash unit's power. Can be divided as the proper exposure setting for a photo taken with the flash ten feet from the subject, multiplied by ten. For example, a flash with a guide number of 56 will produce enough light for an exposure of f5.6 at ten feet

Hot Shoe: A standardized method of mounting an electronic flash on a camera. The hot shoe fittings on both the camera and flash have an electronic contact in the center that fires the flash when the shutter is pressed. Usually located on the center top of the camera, however most newer cameras have an electronic flash already built in.

Infrared Film: A black and white or colour film that is sensitive to infrared radiation, which is invisible to the human eye. During focusing the photographer must refocus after set up as infrared film is on a different plane than what the human eye sees.

Leica Thread Mount: A screw type lens mounting style with 39mm diameter threads. Most enlarging lenses also have a 39mm thread mount.

Lens Hood: A short conical shaped tube that attaches to the front of a lens to shield it from extraneous light. Helps prevent lens flare, ghost images and loss of contrast. An inexpensive must have accessory for your camera system.

Light Meter: A device that measures the intensity of light. Can be either built into a camera or as a separate hand held instrument.

Macro Adapter Lens: A lens attachment that permits a lens to focus much closer than normal.

Macro lens: A primary lens that can be focused from a very short distance out to infinity. May be a fixed focal length lens or a zoom. However most high magnification Macro lenses (lifesize or higher) are fixed.

Mirror Lens: A type of long telephoto lens that uses several mirror optic surfaces to "fold" the light path, resulting in a very powerful telephoto lens that is relatively small.

Modeling Light: A relatively weak incandescent light bulb mounted in an electronic flash head next to the flash tube. The continuous illumination from the modeling light makes it possible to preview the lighting effect that will be produced by the flash.

Motor Drive: A motorized mechanism for advancing the film in a camera and recocking the shutter. Motor driven cameras usually have a maximum speed of between 2-6 frames per second. However new advances in shutter technology enable some cameras to shoot up to 10 or more frames per second.

Mount Board: White, gray, black or coloured cardboard onto which prints are mounted for display. Also called mat board.

Optical Zoom: Optical zoom lenses on a digital camera use all of the CCD image sensor's area to capture the image. Digital zoom essentially crops the image to deliver an apparent increased zoom effect but the trade-off is image quality.

PC Extension Cord: A cord that goes between a camera and a flash unit's shutter cord to permit the flash to be positioned farther from the camera. Available in different lengths, also as dedicated, non dedicated and TTL extensions.

Parallax: The difference between the field of view seen through a camera's viewfinder and the image recorded on film by the taking lens of a twin lens reflex camera.Parallax is due to the distance between the viewfinder and taking lenses on rangefinder and twin lens reflex cameras and is most evident at close subject distances. SLR cameras don't have the problem because the subject is viewed through the taking lens.

Perspective Control Lens: A wide angle lens design featuring optics that can be shifted to correct for converging vertical lines, inherent in wide angle lenses. Available mainly in 28 and 35mm focal lengths, these lenses are used normally for architectural photography.

Photograms: Photographs made without a camera by placing opaque objects on a sheet of photographic paper, exposing to light and processing. Photograms have dark backgrounds and white silhouettes of the opaque objects.

Polarizing Filter: A common filter that removes reflections from water, glass and other surfaces, it also increases colour saturation.

Posterization: A special effects printing technique that separates normal tones into distinct tone ranges by the use of high contrast films. A specialized darkroom technique.

Programmed Auto Exposure Camera: An automatic exposure camera that automatically selects both the shutter and the aperture to properly expose the picture. (point and shoot) Most modern 35mm SLRs have some sort of programmed automation.

Push Processing: The technique of over developing film to compensate for intentional underexposure by the photographer. Commonly used to gain faster shutter speeds or greater depth of field than normally exposed and processed film will permit.

Rangefinder Camera: A camera with a rangefinder focusing system, which provides a double image of the subject in a small central area of the viewfinder. When in focus the double image appears as a single image.

Reflex: A camera design using mirrors or prisms to reflect the scene onto a ground glass focusing screen.

Reproduction Ratio: The ratio of the actual size of an object to it's reproduced size on film.A 1:1 ration means that the object is represented as life size on the film, a ratio of 1:2 means that the object is half life size.

Resin Coated Paper: Photographic paper that has thin coating of plastic resin on the backside of the paper and in between the emulsion and paper support. RC paper absorbs less of the processing chemicals, requires a shorter wash and dries faster than fibre based paper.

Reticulation: A special effects darkroom technique that creates an overall pattern in film by subjecting it to extreme changes in the temperature of the processing solutions.

Reversal Film: A type of film that produces positive images by being reversed from negative images during processing. Colour slide films are reversal films.

Reverse Adapter: An adapter ring that permits a normal lens to be mounted onto a camera backwards for improved results when taking extreme close-up photos.

SLR: Single Lens Reflex camera, a type of camera design that permits the photographer to view, expose and focus on the subject through the taking lens instead of a separate viewfinder window.

Sabattier Effect: A special effect darkroom technique that produces both negative and positive images on the same film or paper by re-exposure to light partway through development.

Shutter: A mechanism containing curtains, blades or plates that control the length of time film is exposed to light.

Shutter Cord: A cord that couples a flash unit to a camera. Provides for external synchronization between the shutter and the flash.

Shutter Priority Automatic Camera: An automatic exposure camera that automatically adjusts the lens opening (aperture) to a shutter speed that has been pre-set by the photographer.

Skylight Filter: A very pale pink filter used with colour film to reduce excess blue found in outdoor scenes. Commonly left on the lens all the time, acting as a lens protector.

Slave Sensor: A device with a photocell that triggers a flash unit when it senses light from another flash unit. The light from both flash units with be synchronized with the camera.

Solarization: A special effects darkroom technique that reverses the image on the film by extreme overexposure. Photos made by the Sabattier effect are often referred to as having been solarized.

Split Field Lens: A semi circular close up lens in rotating mount. Attaches to the front of a lens and enables it to render near and distant objects in focus at the same time.

Step Down Ring: A filter size adapter ring that permits a lens to use filters smaller than the lens filter size.

Step Up Ring: A filter size adapter ring that permits a lens to use filters larger than the lens filter size.

T-Mount: An interchangeable lens mounting system for slide duplicators, microscope adapters and telescope attachments, lenses without automatic diaphragms and other optical accessories. A T-mount is a metal ring with female 42mm threads on one side to screw onto the lens attachment and a male camera mount on the other side.

Tele-Converter: A lens accessory that mounts between a camera body and normal, telephoto or telephoto zoom lenses to double (or triple) the effective focal length. A 2X tele-converter will make a 80-200 zoom lens seem like a 160-400 zoom. A 2X converter will also add 2 stops to the maximum aperture.(ex. a 80-200 f4 zoom will become a 160 -400 f8 zoom)

Telephoto Lens: Lenses whose focal lengths are longer than 50mm (in 35mm photography). Telephoto lenses enlarge the subject size.

Texture Screens: A clear material onto which a texture has been embossed or imprinted. A texture screen is placed on the photo printing paper or sandwiched with the negative to add the appearance of texture to a print.A specialized darkroom technique.

Thyristor: A type of circuitry used in automatic flash units which returns unused energy to the capacitor after each shot. This design reduces recycling and power consumption substantially.

TTL Flash: Through the lens flash metering. Sensors located in either the prism, the mirror or on the film plane which record the amount of electronic flash coming into the camera at the time of exposure. These sensors will automatically adjust the output of the flash. A very accurate method of flash metering.

Transparency: A positive photographic image viewed or projected by transmitted light. Colour slides are transparencies.

UV Haze Filter: A visually clear filter that removes bluish haze caused by ultraviolet light. Commonly left on the lens all the time to serve as protection.

Umbrella: A lighting accessory consisting of reflective fabric stretched over a metal frame. Used to reflect soft, even light onto a subject.

Universal Screw Mount: A style of lens mounting once used by Pentax, Praktica and other camera makers. The universal screw mount has 42mm diameter threads on the lens mount.

Variable Contrast Paper: Black and White photo paper whose contrast is controlled by using filters.Kodak Polycontrast and Ilford Multigrade are two examples of Multi-Contrast papers. The filters are available in grades from 1-5 ( 5 being high contrast).

Variable Focal Length Lens: A type of zoom lens that requires refocusing as it is zoomed.

View Camera: A style of camera consisting of a bellows connecting a lens support and film holder, mounted on a rail or pair of rails. View cameras offer the lens and film planes a great deal of unrestricted physical movement for controlling depth of field and perspective.

Vignette: The darkening of the corners of a photograph. Commonly caused by lens hoods, filters and other lens attachments that reduce a lens' angle of view. May be done intentionally by the use of special filters or masks in front of the lens or by using special techniques during printing.

Wide Angle Lens: A lens with a focal length shorter that the normal lens. In 35mm photography, lenses shorter than 50mm are considered wide angle lenses.

one Focusing: A type of focusing system that has two or more focus settings for varying subject distance ranges, rather than a continuously adjustable focusing ring.

Zoom Lens: A lens in which the focal length can be adjusted over a wide range. One touch zoom lenses allow the photographer to adjust the focal length by pushing or pulling the focusing ring. Other zoom lenses have a separate zoom control ring that is turned to adjust the focal length. Rapidly replacing the 50mm lens as a standard lens, most standard zoom lenses have a focal length of from 35-70mm.

STUDIO LIGHTING

This article is aimed at people who want to learn the basics of studio work. It has no pretensions and isn't intended for the experienced. There are a number of far better resources suitable for people who have progressed beyond the basics.


Being natural with artificial light

Before any of us can even begin to understand studio lighting we have to think about what lighting is, or even to go back a bit further and think about what photography is!

The word photography is from the Greek and means "Drawing with light" and I think that's a pretty good description of what all successful photographers do!

When we use artificial light we are basically drawing with light, and we are normally using the light in a way that makes it look natural.


How many lights?

So how many lights should you use and where should you position them? Well, there's no simple answer to that one, but for most subjects a good starting point is to use just 1 light and to position it in a natural position, where the sun might be in relation to the subject - perhaps fairly high and coming from behind the camera and a bit off centre, perhaps quite a lot off centre. Shades of Rembrandt perhaps? Well, that's pretty simple lighting, but there's nothing wrong with simplicity and if I was as good with my cameras as Rembrandt was with his paintbrushes.... but this can sometimes be a bit over-simplistic, because Rembrandt could 'adjust' the natural shadows to get the effect he wanted, and if we want to do the same then we have to use extra lighting, or to fill in the shadows to make them less obvious. One way of doing this is to place a second light set at less power. If we overdo the power there will be no shadows at all, which can make the lighting very flat and boring or, even worse, we can create a second set of shadows, which makes it look very unnatural - 2 suns!

If you only want to lighten the shadows to a limited extent you can use a reflector board instead of a light, but there is a lot of light loss when you use a reflector because the light from your key light reaches the subject first, goes past it to hit the reflector, bounces off the reflector losing power in the process and then loses more power travelling back to the 'dark side' of your subject, so if you want to use a fairly strong fill light to lighten shadows a lot you will probably need to use a second light. So you need to have 2 lights? Well, 3 would be a lot better, because with many of the best pictures you have backlight or sidelight as well as front lighting, and you may need lighting on the background as well, so having more lights available does help - but don't get carried away and don't just don't use them all just because they're there!

Rembrandt wasn't the only painter to use a single light source, and many very good photographers only use a single light too, especially for portraits. Because most of my shots are fairly complex product shots I often use quite a lot of lighting, but there are many shots on which I have used only one light.


Your subject

So far I've ignored subject matter. The reason for this is, quite simply, that for many shots subject matter simply doesn't matter! The principles of studio lighting hold good whether your subject is a portrait, a commercial still life or almost anything else.

Of course I'm being a bit simplistic really - a still life setup can benefit from a complex and very precise lighting arrangement and it can have it too, after all it isn't going anywhere... but a fashion shoot, which might benefit from equal care, has to have a fairly simple lighting set simply because there is too much subject movement to allow really precise lighting.


Where should you place the lights?

I said that I wouldn't talk about equipment, but equipment can be relevant to this section, and so I think it needs a mention... My pet equipment hate is lighting stands. They're a pretty simple piece of kit, normally a simple tripod with extending sections, on top of which balances (hopefully) an expensive and fragile light head. The problem with lighting stands is that they're never able to go low enough, or high enough, and they always seem to be either too heavy to lift or too light and unstable to take the weight of the light.

How is this relevant to the positioning of your lights? Simple really, most people (especially me) are naturally lazy, and tend to place the lights where the lighting stands will let us place them, in much the same way as tall photographers tend to take most of their photographs from a higher viewpoint than shorter photographers. To make the most of our creativity and our equipment, we need to place the lights where they will work best, even if this means buying extra low or extra high lighting stands, boom arms or anything else that may be needed!

So where SHOULD the lights go? If the key light is placed very close to the camera it will give very flat lighting, just like an on-camera flash, which may not be the effect you want. If you move the light upwards and to the side you will get better modelling - your subject will take on a less 2-dimensional look. Move it even further to the side or further up and the modelling effect increases, but shadows become longer and the need for fill lights becomes more likely. Of course, you don't need to have the key light in front of your subject at all - it could be right at the side of your subject, in which case it will give very strong, directional lighting and will illuminate only a fairly small part of your subject (you can of course use a weaker fill light on the dark parts).

Or the light can be placed immediately behind your subject, illuminating only the background and giving a silhouette effect.... Or it can be behind the subject and bounced off it, giving a halo effect... The 'standard' advice is to place the key light above and to one side of the camera, and this is 'safe' advice because a lighting set-up like this is very unlikely to produce a really bad photo, and for many subjects it can produce a very good one - but the result is unlikely to be very 'different' or creative.

Until fairly recently amateur photographers who don't have the Polaroid film backs needed to assess the effects of creative lighting have tended to play safe with their lighting, but digital cameras have changed all that and we can now afford to experiment with the positioning of our lights as never before!

So where should the lights go? Sorry, but this is for you to learn by experiment. By all means take 'banker' shots, with the lights arranged as suggested by books on lighting, but take experimental shots as well, learn the limitations of your lighting equipment, the flare characteristics of your lens, and the different effects you can get from positioning your lights in non-standard positions. Sorry I can't be more specific but I don't want to provide you with a set formulae for producing standard, boring studio photos.


Hard lighting or soft?

The great thing about using studio lighting is that you have total control over both the direction of the lighting and the effect of it - but what effect do you want, and how do you achieve it? There is a general view that portraits of women should be lit softly, with diffused lighting.

Is that view right? It depends on the subject and on the effect you want to achieve. If your subject is perhaps not young, or has very sharp features, or scars, or poor skin, then soft, diffused lighting will often show her at her best.

The key light at say 45 degrees up and 45 degrees to her best side, with the fill light slightly lower and 45 degrees to the other side, and perhaps 1/2 stop or one stop less brightness than the key light, will help. And a piece of white card held horizontally under the chin will help to kill shadows even more - but what if your subject is young, has perfect skin and wonderful features? You'll get a far more striking shot with just the 1 light and her complexion will stand the close scrutiny caused by the shadows.

And if your subject is a man he may look a bit too 'soft' if the lighting is soft! Another factor to be considered is the film medium - how much contrast can it handle, without losing detail in the highlights and shadows? The lighting contrast will normally need to be less with transparency film or digital than with colour negative, and black & white can handle a very wide range of contrast.


Reflections and highlights

With a portrait the only highlights you'll normally see is the catchlight in the eye and the sheen on the hair caused by a well-positioned hairlight. In theory, there should only be one catchlight in each eye, but that is less important for you if you can doctor your images on computer, and easily remove an unwanted catchlight. Catchlights are a direct reflection of the light that causes them, so if you are using a light with a large square softbox close to your subject then the catchlight will be large and square too. Subject to the need to position your key light in such a way that it suits your subject's features, it's a good idea to position it fairly high. The catchlight will then be high too, and will make the eyes look larger.

Catchlights in still life shots are often seen as a fault, but in my view they are just as important to the shot as shadows - they are an aid to good composition, they attract the eye and they can bring an otherwise dull shot to life provided that they are positioned where you want them to be. And there should be nothing hit or miss about their positioning.

Here is a simple professional tip on how to position your reflections/catchlights on a still life shot:- First, set up your shot properly, make sure that the camera is exactly where you want it to be and that the lighting is where you think it needs to be. Now place a small, naked light source in front of the camera lens, on its exact axis. It doesn't matter how far in front it is, but it does matter that it is exactly in line with the lens. My own preferred light source is a candle. Now walk around the back of your set, you will need to increase and decrease your own height as well as moving left and right. When you can see a reflection of the candle flame exactly where you want it to be you have found the exact position where a light needs to be! To place a reflection at that point, simply position a light in the exact position of your own eyes.


Making the lights hard or soft

And how do you achieve soft or hard lighting anyway? The softness or otherwise of the light depends largely on the size of the light relative to the subject. Any light, placed right up against the subject, will light it softly, and a light a long way away will produce harsh, directional lighting. The sun is a good example of this - it's very big but it is also about 93 million miles away. If there are no clouds the sunlight will be very harsh, simply because the source of the light is very small, in relative terms. But on a cloudy day, with the sun hidden by clouds, the clouds act as a giant diffuser and the whole sky becomes a very soft source of light. To get a similar soft effect in the studio we need either a very large light source fairly close to the subject or a smaller light source VERY close to the subject. We normally achieve a larger light source by using an umbrella or softbox, which simply makes the light bigger, and diffuses the light. And we achieve a smaller light source by restricting the light with an accessory such as barn doors, a snoot or similar, or just by moving the light further away. Moving lights closer or further away can cause some problems though, unless you can adjust the power of your lights over a wide range you may find that you have too much power with the light very close or not enough if it's a long way away.

Camera magazines often advise people to reduce power by moving the light away, but as you see from the above this is poor advice unless you also fit a large softbox to your distant light to increase its relative size and soften its effect. I'm not a cynic of course, but there are some people out there who believe that camera magazines are so terrified of upsetting their advertisers that they won't tell their readers that they need lights that have a wide range of adjustment. People like me however, who think that that can't possibly be true, simply assume that they haven't a clue when it comes to studio lighting! The only real answer is to have lights that have a wide range of adjustment, but you can help matters along by increasing output by using a narrow-angle reflector (which will give a harsher light anyway) and you can reduce power by using neutral density filters in front of the light and/or by using some neutral-coloured cloth in front of it - but a word of warning - don't place any combustible material in front of a source of heat - be sure to switch the modelling light off!



Backlighting

So far, I've briefly mentioned where the lights might be positioned with frontal lighting, but most professional studio shots are either almost completely or very largely backlit. The light comes from behind and adds that something extra to the edges of the subject to 'lift' it from the background. Most product shots are done this way and so are many portraits, especially the hair. Backlighting is very worthwhile, but is slightly more difficult. In particular it is more difficult to adjust the effect and to get the exposure right, but if you are using either digital or polaroids this isn't a problem.

Backlighting also has it's own equipment needs. For a start, you need to make sure that if a light is pointing more or less towards the camera then the light doesn't hit the lens, which will cause flare and ruin the shot. An easy solution is often a honeycomb, or grid, which fits over the front of the light and which shields stray light, preventing it from hitting the lens, unless it is pointed directly at it. There are a number of different honeycomb options available, depending on the field of light spread you need and on the angle at which the light is pointed. Another option is a barn door attachment, simple swivelling doors that fit on to the reflector and stop the light from going where it's not wanted. A cheaper, do it yourself option is a snoot - a piece of stiff black paper, shaped into a cone shape with the larger end fixed to the reflector. All these accessories work, although in slightly different ways.

There are though, two other equipment considerations. If you are backlighting your subject you will usually get better results, with less risk of flare, if you avoid using zoom lenses. The reason for this is that zooms have a large number of elements, and the more elements in the lens the greater the risk of flare caused by stray light. The other bit of kit you really must have is a lens hood. The ones supplied for zoom lenses are often useless because they have to work at the wide end of the zoom without causing vignetting and so are simply too small to be of much use at longer focal lengths. My best lens hood is a bellows type, which can be adjusted to length and even tilted.


Using the modelling lights

The modelling lamp is a simple continuous (tungsten) light that's placed very near to the flash tube. Its function is to show the effect that the flash will have. At least, that's the theory but unfortunately modelling lights don't always do their job very well, and can provide misleading information. My reason for saying this is that although you may have a number of flash heads of varying power, they may all be fitted with the same or a similar modelling lamp. For example, I have lights from one manufacturer of 1200 watts, 2400 watts and 4800 watts - and they are all fitted with the same power modelling lights, 300 watt halogen lamps. And I have lights of another make ranging from 200 to 800 watts, and again they all take the same lamp, in this case 150 watt 'ordinary' ES lamps.

Now this can be very confusing because the modelling light actually falling on the subject bears absolutely no relation to the power of the flash itself and can give the impression that fill and effect lights are just as bright as the key light! And although the modelling lights can be set to give off either their full light or proportional output, which reduces as the power of the flash is reduced, this makes absolutely no differences to the error factor. So what's the answer? Well, my answer is to use the modelling light only on the key light. This shows me exactly what the key light is providing in terms of lighting effect, and helps with focussing. I see no point in using the modelling lamps of fill and effect lights on a continuous basis, and just switch them on for long enough to make sure that they are covering the required area - and, equally importantly, that they aren't spilling on to somewhere they shouldn't.

If honeycombs (grids in America), snoots or spotlights are used it's essential to check the lighting effect with the modelling lamp, but it can be equally essential to switch them off as soon as possible because these accessories restrict ventilation and too much build-up of heat can lead to an attention-grabbing and very expensive bang! And, if like me you use Elinchrom lighting you'll probably be surprised to find how short a life the modelling lamps have and how much they cost! One final point about modelling lamps - they are placed fairly close to the flash tube and the difference in position doesn't usually provide misleading information, but this difference is enough to cause problems with accessories such as focussing spotlights, especially when gobos are used to project a shadow. The answer here is to experiment, using polaroids or digital, to check that the apparent focus is correct. Once you know whether you need to make an allowance and how much adjustment is needed, the problem will be solved.



Measuring exposure

Unless you use a handheld meter, pictures taken outdoors are normally measured using reflected light - the camera meter measures the light reflected from the subject and either tells you what it finds or tells the camera what it finds. Reflected light measurement can also be used with studio lighting (in fact you can even use a camera meter if you are using tungsten (hotlight) lighting, but for most subjects it's far better to use incident light measurement.

Incident light is the light that actually reaches the subject, not light that's reflected from it, so the measurement takes no account of the lightness or darkness of the subject and the subject is therefore more likely to be measured accurately. If you are using flash, you need a flash meter - there is simply no way of getting the exposure right without one. To find out the correct exposure you simply place the meter as close to the subject as possible and take a reading, with the meter pointed straight at the camera. Some people believe that the meter should be pointed at the key light and not the camera, and there is something to be said for this, and some people believe that the meter should be pointed partly at the camera and partly at the key light, and there is even more to be said for this argument, but I prefer to meter back to the camera. It gives very consistent results, and takes some account of the cos factor, which in effect is the light loss caused by light striking the subject at an angle, leaving it at the same angle and not reaching the camera.

Let's assume for the moment that the meter reads f11. Does this mean that if you now set the camera aperture at f11 and the shutter speed to whatever it will synchronise at that your picture will be OK? More or less, yes. If your subject is very dark it may need up to 1 stop more light than indicated, and the opposite applies for white or almost white subjects, but generally the OVERALL exposure will be right - but there's more to it than that, because this reading will not tell you the individual effect of the various lights. To find out the relative brightness, first take the reading with the meter pointed directly at your key light. Let's say this reads f11. Now take a reading pointing the meter directly at each light in turn. Let's say that the fill light reads f8 and the backlight reads f22. This tells you that the shadow area, lit by the fill, is getting half the light of the area lit by the key light and that the part of the subject caught by the backlight is getting 4 times as much as the key light. The overall lighting contrast is x8, or 3 stops. Experience with a particular type of subject will tell you whether that is likely to work for you. This method doesn't always work well for hair light, which is in effect a backlight because it is usually placed above and behind the head. The reason for this is probably because, although experience tells us how much backlighting is needed for most subjects, hair varies tremendously in thickness, colour and reflectivity. I'll never forget that I once photographed a black woman who had permed, dyed hair. If her hair had been in its natural afro style I would probably had got the hair light about right, but I wrongly assumed that because it was lighter it needed less light. The hair came out looking completely dead because it completely absorbed all the light I threw at it - and I gave it 4 stops more than the key light!

By contrast, a blond white woman would probably have only needed 1/2 stop more light than the key light. The answer here was to take a REFLECTED light reading from both the face and the hair, and to make a judgement based on that! Oh well, we all make mistakes....



Exposure for the background

Whether you are shooting in black & white or colour, forget the colour for the moment and think in terms of tone, not colour. To get the true tone of the background all you need to do is to take an incident reading from the background to the camera, and adjust the lighting on the background to give exactly the reading as the reading from the subject to the camera - it's that simple! To make the background lighter in the photo than it really is, increase the power of the background lighting by, as a starting point, 1/2 - 1 stop or, to make it darker, simply use less light.

Just how important is accurate metering? Well, if you're shooting with black & white or colour negative film there is a certain amount of latitude, or room for error, but with slide film there is very little and even small errors will be obvious. The latitude with digital cameras is about the same as with slide film, and the exposure needs to be spot on - yes, I know that you can make adjustments on your computer, but these adjustments will not turn a badly exposed image into a good one!

Portrait Lighting

A lot of people seem to have difficulty lighting the background but it really isn't difficult - once you know how. The first important point is that the background and the subject are separate and should be lit separately, if at all possible. Secondly, it's far easier to light the background well if you have a lot of space between the subject and the background. In an ideal world, 10' is probably the minimum 'easy' distance but I appreciate that for many people that amount of space is a luxury.



Do you want to light the background?

If you have the background far enough behind your subject for neither light nor shadows to spill onto it, you can probably get a mid grey tone simply by using a plain white background.... take an incident light reading from the background to the camera, and if it reads about 2 stops less than your subject, it will record 2 stops darker - about mid grey!

If you do want to light the background, there are a couple of ways of doing it. If you have only 1 light available for the background you should normally try to place it centrally. It can be directly behind and hidden by your subject, either at low level or high up (each will have its own unique effect) or, if you are using a paper roll background and you have lots of space behind it and plenty of flash power, you can place your light behind the background and shining through it. If you use this method you need to take a reflected light reading from the background. If however the background is lit by the more conventional method of reflected light, you measure the effect by an incident reading. Whichever method you use, some light will spill onto your subject and will provide a degree of backlight. If you want to achieve a pure white background you simply overexpose the background, perhaps by 1 or 2 stops. (The greater the degree of over-exposure, the less apparent any unevenness in the lighting will be but the greater the over-exposure, the greater the backlighting, and the risk of excessive backlighting degrading the edges of your subject, especially hair).



Using 2 background lights

If you have 2 lights available for the background you simply arrange them behind and to each side of your subject, pointing at an angle on to the background. Arranged with care, this method can produce very even lighting. Some manufacturers produce special angled reflectors to make this easier.



Colouring the background

This is easy. Simply fit a lighting gel over each background light. To get the original tone or colour, simply set the power to match that of the exposure needed by the subject. If you over-expose the coloured background it will come out both lighter and in a weaker shade. Of course, you can use lighting gels to light your subject too - the same principles apply.



LIGHTING THE BACKGROUND FOR STILL LIFE

Although many lighting techniques are similar for both portraits and still life, background lighting is not, and this section will hopefully make this fairly complex part of the job a little easier. Professionals use methods and equipment which is beyond the reach of most amateur photographers. This section ignores professional background lighting techniques, but I will mention one professional technique that anyone can achieve with home-made equipment.

Floating on air is a useful technique, and involves using and lighting a background that becomes invisible in the final photo.

Simply make a wooden L-shaped frame, (a bit like a chair frame without the seat and back) and cover it with a 'sweep' of plastic material, preferably diffused. If you don't have diffused material you can use clear plastic but will need to fit a diffuser, such as tracing paper, to the underside. All you need to do to light it is to place a light underneath and set the power as required. If the lighting level is too low the background will not be illuminated evenly. If you set the level too high, the edges of your subject will be degraded. If you get it just right however you can have a pure-colour background and the background can even show shadows if required. If, because of cross-lighting, your subject is throwing the dreaded double shadows you can set your under-lighting high enough to get rid of the second shadow but whilst leaving the main shadow. You can change the colour of your background by using lighting gels

But why bother when you can take the background out in Photoshop? Well, if you believe that Photoshop can replace good photography.... my own view is that Photoshop should be used to make good images better, not to rescue bad ones, and it's always better and usually much quicker to get the lighting right in camera than to try to put it right later.



Other ways of lighting the background

It's very difficult to light the background easily unless you use the method described above. If you use a 'scoop' background there will always be some unevenness because either the base or the back will receive more light, and the curve of the scoop is particularly difficult to light evenly. If you use a separate base and back, you can leave a large gap between the two and light each individually, with the light for the back coming up from underneath and shining through the gap, but it isn't easy to get it right. Another method is to place a light behind the background and shining through it, with another light above and behind the base. This will both backlight your subject and illuminate the base.

Back Light as Main Light

When you are deciding how you are going to add light to a scene, don't forget to consider the idea of adding only back light.

And try not to think of it as such. Learn to think "separation" light.

Those of us in the newspaper biz need all of the help we can get when it comes to repro. And using a separation light can really make a photo pop.

Additionally, if the light is strong it will create shadows that will create leading lines into the direction of your light source.

One caveat is that you have to hide your light from your camera. As mentioned before, one good techniques (especially in a darkened room) is to mount the flash backwards and turn the head around. This will let you use the recycle light as a guide to help keep some item in your frame between you and your flash.

The shadows should tell you which performer I am using as a GoBo.

One other thing you should notice with this photo. This small, shoe-mount flash is about a hundred feet away from the kids rehearsing their post-musical bow.

These little strobes put out a lot more power than you might think. And you can work at great distances, especially when shooting in low light.