Studio Lighting Help!
Apr 23, 2012 14:13:36 #
Hey everybody,
I need some serious help with lighting. I have a Nikon D50 which I use with an SB800 flash unit on camera a flash SB600 for background and one more SB600 for fill light. I'm shooting in a pretty big space, I'll say a room thats around a 30' x 30' atleast that big. The problem is: the lighting in the room is fluorescent, it has four large fluorescent lights approximately 3'x5' each, two on each side of the room (The ceiling is probally about 9' high) The north wall has three large windows which go from the celling to the floor. I have set up in the corner of the room and covered the ceiling light with a black garbage bag to block the light , but still am getting that ugly orangest tone on face or hair of subject. Thinking I need more light still, maybe a softbox? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! San
I need some serious help with lighting. I have a Nikon D50 which I use with an SB800 flash unit on camera a flash SB600 for background and one more SB600 for fill light. I'm shooting in a pretty big space, I'll say a room thats around a 30' x 30' atleast that big. The problem is: the lighting in the room is fluorescent, it has four large fluorescent lights approximately 3'x5' each, two on each side of the room (The ceiling is probally about 9' high) The north wall has three large windows which go from the celling to the floor. I have set up in the corner of the room and covered the ceiling light with a black garbage bag to block the light , but still am getting that ugly orangest tone on face or hair of subject. Thinking I need more light still, maybe a softbox? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! San
Apr 23, 2012 22:16:13 #
Apr 24, 2012 14:14:07 #
myts10
Loc: SE Ohio
Sounds like you have the standard 40W Warm Fluorescent bulbs. It is very hard to override ambient light and you will never get rid of all the effects, just reduce them. The easiest ting to do is turn them all out even if you have to plug in a lamp of some kind. Second, is to replace all the bulbs with cooler lights, 3000K to 5500K. You may still get that 'fluorescent flutter'. Third, can buy color correction gel tubs that slid over the existing bulbs, might be cheaper than replacing all the bulbs.
I went with the first option, screwed my own 5000K bulb in a table lamp and turned out all the fluorescent lights. I even had to closed the hall door to keep that light out, it was that funky CFL stuff.
I went with the first option, screwed my own 5000K bulb in a table lamp and turned out all the fluorescent lights. I even had to closed the hall door to keep that light out, it was that funky CFL stuff.
Apr 24, 2012 14:26:32 #
What's your shutter speed?
Should be as high as it can go and still sync - 1/250th
Sounds like you're doing a portrait?
I assume you're using the D800 in commander mode?
Direct flash is not usually very appealing.
Get a white shoot-through umbrella and use that as your main light with one of your SB 600's. 45 degrees to the side of subject and even or slightly above head level to start . Get a piece of white foamcore as a reflector on the opposite side to fill in.
Use the other 600 as a background light.
The SB800 on your camera- use it to trigger the others.
dial the power waaay down so it doesn't affect the exposure. I think you can go down 3 stops. Or point it toward the ceiling, those ir sensors are pretty sensitive.
And as snowbear said: check out strobist-
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html
Should be as high as it can go and still sync - 1/250th
Sounds like you're doing a portrait?
I assume you're using the D800 in commander mode?
Direct flash is not usually very appealing.
Get a white shoot-through umbrella and use that as your main light with one of your SB 600's. 45 degrees to the side of subject and even or slightly above head level to start . Get a piece of white foamcore as a reflector on the opposite side to fill in.
Use the other 600 as a background light.
The SB800 on your camera- use it to trigger the others.
dial the power waaay down so it doesn't affect the exposure. I think you can go down 3 stops. Or point it toward the ceiling, those ir sensors are pretty sensitive.
And as snowbear said: check out strobist-
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html
Apr 24, 2012 14:47:19 #
Thanks snowbear, Awesome site. I will spend lots of time on this site, I found it very educational
Apr 24, 2012 14:48:33 #
Apr 24, 2012 18:32:20 #
Forgot to add why to use the high shutter speed-..it will minimize the ambient light- probably no need to filter anything.
Use the lowest iso you can. With an exposure of 1/250th at f 5.6 at iso 100, the ambient has to be pretty bright to show up.
Also, I like using softboxes as you get better control of the light (like keeping it off of the background) but umbrellas are cheap, easy to set up and give a good wrap-around light if used close enough.
The best way to use a background is to have it far enough away so that it does not get lit by the main lights, so basically, you're lighting two photos in the same shot. You have a lot more control over the outcome that way. That distance also helps throw it more out of focus so it's not competing for attention.
The background in the photo below is maybe 15-20 feet behind the subject and lit by a quartz light (strobe would be just as effective). Subject is lit by a softbox from camera left and a big Lightform panel for fill on the right (foamcore is just as effective and cheaper)
Experiment and have fun. All I had to test with for this shot were polaroids- almost instant gratification, but over $1 a shot. Mamiya RB 67 with 180mm.
Use the lowest iso you can. With an exposure of 1/250th at f 5.6 at iso 100, the ambient has to be pretty bright to show up.
Also, I like using softboxes as you get better control of the light (like keeping it off of the background) but umbrellas are cheap, easy to set up and give a good wrap-around light if used close enough.
The best way to use a background is to have it far enough away so that it does not get lit by the main lights, so basically, you're lighting two photos in the same shot. You have a lot more control over the outcome that way. That distance also helps throw it more out of focus so it's not competing for attention.
The background in the photo below is maybe 15-20 feet behind the subject and lit by a quartz light (strobe would be just as effective). Subject is lit by a softbox from camera left and a big Lightform panel for fill on the right (foamcore is just as effective and cheaper)
Experiment and have fun. All I had to test with for this shot were polaroids- almost instant gratification, but over $1 a shot. Mamiya RB 67 with 180mm.
Apr 24, 2012 21:22:32 #
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