New Studio lighting for photos.............

[tucker85]

I still have a lot to learn about taking pictures of orchids but these new studio lights with umbrella diffusers have really helped. I never got the right colors with a flash and shadows were always a problem with a single light source. Now I just wish I could buy some talent.

[Paul Mc]

Oh wow!!! Have fun playing with that, and be sure to show us your results!

[billc]

You're getting pretty high tech there Tucker. It's amazing how these orchids can change your life!
You do need to work on getting something more high tech than those books though.

Bill

[silken]

Looks great! You can also use those umbrellas to bounce some light from different directions as well, including daylight which gives pretty natural light and colours.

[Connie Star]

Wow! I wish I had a set-up like that!

[WhiteRabbit]

wow - awesome!

[Discus]

heh that is awesome
Extremely harsh self-critique is a fairly good way of learning, along with trying to figure out why it is you like particular photos other people have taken.

p.s. sometimes one finds sticking a camera on a tripod restricts your "vision". Find the angle you want first, and then finagle the tripod into holding the camera there.

I've recently become a fan of just hand-holding and using total flash, but you definitely get better results by doing it right.

[camille1585]

Nice set up!! I still do everything the improvised way, so I need to take a zillion photos to get the good one. No tripod (I use various pieces of furniture for support), no lights (mirrors to reflect natural light) and an old point and shoot camera. I think that I need to start investing in some better stuff..

[Discus]

Camille - rather than mirrors, try bouncing light off large sheets of white card, it gives a much softer light (although you may need to go light_source>mirror>card, depending on how far away you are from the light source!). Often better is more than one sheet of card so shadows are softened.

For small things, try using a "milk bottle softbox" - take a small white translucent plastic thing (milk bottle, tupperware, etc), cut the top and bottom off, put it over the object and shine light in from the side; you can also put foil on the other side to reflect light back in again. On small objects, this acts a bit like a giant "softbox" for soft, almost shadowless light, which can be good for certain subjects.

On a student budget, anglepoise lamps from Ikea etc. make passable light sources and are quite easy to position; the light will often be more pleasing after bouncing it off something!

---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 PM ----------

"sheet of card" should be pretty big - A3 minimum, bigger would be better.

---------- Post added at 12:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 PM ----------

I've always thought a focus rail would be a very handy accessory for macro flower photography. Moving an entire tripod (or often the subject!) is a bit painful.

[camille1585]

Actually with the mirrors the light is soft, since I'm not reflecting any direct light. I mainly use them to light up the 'dark' side of the the blooms since I shoot near a window, so don't get light from all direction. This is my end result, which I I think is not bad if you consider the techniques I use.



Money is not really an issue anymore (PhD students are employees here), but until I move out of my dorm room and into a proper apartment, space to store stuff is an issue... I've been house hunting since august, but 1 bedroom apartments are a very very rare thing in this country, especially in a college town.