Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
If you are on the creative side, it’s hard to stay at home without any humans to shoot. If you are not familiar with Set.A.Light 3d, it’s a piece of software that creates realistic studio setups, including pretty realistic models.
So if you are stuck at home, and can’t transform it into a studio, or if you have no one to shoot, this can be a perfect way to feed your creative needs.
Lighting glossy metal objects can be really tricky when you incorporate them in photos. They don’t only reflect light in a pretty harsh way, but they also reflect the scene. In this video, Jay P. Morgan teaches you how to light shiny metal objects so you make them look their best in your shots. He guides you through his setup and gives an example of lighting a BB gun in a studio.
While this picture has kept me busy for a long time; it’s actually pretty easy!
The goal was to create a summery picture. But it was December, and we shot inside the studio. Here’s how we did it.
For this picture, we colored the background by using light. What sounds as if it should be straightforward does come with its pitfalls, as you’ll see. We chose cyan as the background color because it complements the model’s blond hair and the bare skin in the picture. Her clothes were therefore neutral in tone: a gray jacket and black underwear.
In this chapter of the Lighting Series, we are looking at a simple low-key portrait. Here, the skill lies in precise lighting and the posing of your model.
Being kind of a computer geek, I found myself looking for a good way to simulate studio lights. I tried Blender, Cinema 4D, and other 3D programs until I found Set.a.Light 3D. Let me save you the long read. It’s awesome. OK, you can continue now.
I first fell in love with Set.aLight 3D with one of its first versions back in 2015 or so. It was love at first light (sorry! I could not resist the pun). Since those early days, the simulation improved quite a bit, and the latest v2 release officially blew my mind.
A while back Tom Saimon and I took the Godox AD600 for a spin. It was an awesome shoot of a sports trainer, and the results were quite satisfying. We got some great feedback on the shoot, along with some lighting questions, so we created these four lighting diagrams to help fellow photographers understand each scenario. Watch the movie, then hit the jump to see how each shot was created. Of course, when making your own, don’t just copy those, instead use them as a base for creating your own exciting work.
If you are doing anything that has to do with lighting, you know the value of Lighting Diagrams and setup shots as a teaching tool (we use them a lot here on DIYP). But usually they are boring photos with descriptions of flash settings and iso points.
Photographer Joey Hernandez decided that no more! none of his set up shots is going to be boring and each one tells a funny story.
Joey tells DIYP that he shoots with a Canon 6D and a wide open 135L lens, which along with his lighting style give a pretty distinct look to his photos. And they go well with his witty descriptions. Joey will not shy away from describing a potential drug deal, or a letting you know that the hut around he corner is not a Pizza hut. That makes his diagrams a great learning tool, but also a great read with your “learn more lighting” morning coffee.
Here is a simple recipe you can use to add colour and subtle narrative to your images. It will delight your clients and help your images stand out from the crowd.
A lot of the time we see coloured gels used in photography to create very bold statements, this is often achieved with hard lighting to create a lot of saturation in the colour but there are times when a more subtle colour wash is all you need.
Sometimes you will want to introduce that subtler coloured gel by diffusing or softening the gels before they hit the model, one way to soften these coloured gels is to obtain large softboxes and completely cover them with huge sheets of coloured gels. This method is often impractical and costly to buy massive softboxes and rolls of gels but there is a way to create those soft pastel tones with the equipment you already have.
Howard Ashton-Jones is the official photographer to Scottish Gymnastics, but likes to take time out on personal projects to experiment and get creative. Last week his new image shot with a Light Blaster went viral, trending on 500px, Model Mayhem, etc. Howard reminds us all the importance of personal projects and shows us how he got the shot… To learn more about Howard, visit his IMB page.
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