In a bid to learn more about photography, I’m attending a local group that meets up every once in a while. The current focus is on studio lighting, using an amateur lighting kit one of the students brings in. The lighting kit cost around £250, with rigging for a background, umbrellas and various lighting. To be honest, I’m not sure what’s in the kit, as there is bags of it! However, the aim of the game is to use kit a novice could get their hands on, rather than a pro kit that can cost thousands. Afterall, none of us in the group (with the exception of the lecturer) are pros.
Stuart Baynes, the chap who leads the course, prefers to use soft boxes, or lighting boxes for studio lighting purposes. But, for the session we used brollies.
Having a brief rummage on Ebay, this link shows the sort of thing involved in the kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/studio-flash-lighting-photography-strobe-light-kit
I think though, if you’re serious about buying your own lighting set up, you could go crazy looking at all the options available! On Ebay, just using the search “studio flash lighting photography strobe light kit” brings up 172 results ranging from £4 bulbs to a set costing over £1500. I’ll admit, £4 is more my budget!
I don’t really anticipate getting studio lights myself. I once had a vague idea I could train to take children’s portraits. Then I had my non sitting still son, and I realised how challenging it is to take a shot that captures his cheekiness, whilst still having a crystal clear image…Another thought would be the size of my home. I don’t really have anywhere to set up a studio that currently wouldn’t get demolished by a 2 year old. However, Stuart said not to let space put you off buying lets. What you really need to figure out is what exactly you want to take pictures of! For me, I’m still a flower girl at heart. I also prefer portraits against natural backdrops. I’m hoping the photography group will explore this side of things in their sessions too. For example, rather than using studio lights, how do you use the natural ambient light around you to get the best results? In particular, using nature as a backdrop.
What did I learn though?
The image above is curtesy of http://www.carlmcmillan.com/how_to_copy_with_digital_camera.htm
But it shows an example of a traditional “copy” lighting set up. Essentially the key is the 45 degree angle from the subject to the light source. With two lights set up in this way, it should reduce the glare on the image. It is the ideal set up when wanting to copy art. Or, as Stuart likened it to a spy in a 1940s movie taking a picture of secret documents. A spy doesn’t get the chance for a reshoot, so they position the light at 45 degrees to the document to avoid image glare.
UPDATE – I used a diagram I found online to illustrate copy lighting, but I’ve since learnt a website exists where you can draw your own lighting set ups. Here’s the link: http://www.lightingdiagrams.com/Creator