Charles Morris
(K=5969) - Comment Date 10/26/2005
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what kind of lights are you using? it looks like you could use a big diffuser to soften the light and the glare can be greatly reduced.
if you are using a softbox on one of the lights make sure you are close to the subject with the softbox. generally whatever the diagonal measurement of the softbox is, take that times about 1.5 and that is as far away as you can be with the light without compromising the softening effect of the light significantly.
another possibility is window light so you have the sky as your diffuse light source to reduce glare and shadows.
if you have no softbox, consider making a small box frame and stretch thin white cloth over the sides from which your light will shine and that "scrim" will diffuse the light as well.
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Charles Morris
(K=5969) - Comment Date 10/26/2005
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on another tack to approach this problem, if you use a polarizing filter you cna reduce the glare on many surfaces. it is easier to get the polarizer set correctly with continuous light, but it is possible with a little trial and error using flash with modeling lights to.
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Vicki Jones
(K=15) - Comment Date 10/26/2005
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How about if I didn't use my flash attachment on my camera? I think that screwed things up a lot. I'm using Bogen lights and bouncing off umbrellas. No, I don't have a softbox but I'm very creative. I once used a crook neck desk lamp with a spot light bulb and hung a pillow case over it. It turned out pretty good. It was a double explosure where I made my daughter's legs disappear. Tell me more about the softbox.
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Vicki Jones
(K=15) - Comment Date 10/26/2005
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Just for fun, I uploaded that picture. It's called "Look Ma, No Legs". I'll upload one of my "good" pictures tomorrow. All outdoors. Where I know the lighting.
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Charles Morris
(K=5969) - Comment Date 10/27/2005
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ok, a softbox is a device that you attach to the light heads and the light then shines through layers of a diffusion material. most often it is a shimmery white nylon or polyester material. the idea is that the layers of fabric spaced apart diffuse the light so the entire surface of the softbox then acts as a light source.
this allows you to have soft wraparound light with very few shadows like the light on a cloudy day. this reduces the hotspots you a more controllable level and provides even illumination that is good for portraiture and products. the trick to these things is that if you put a softbox on your light that is 2 feet square, and then put the light 12 feet away from the subject, it loses most of it's charms becasue you are now providing rather directional light again since it is coming from a relatively small source. while this would soften the edges of shadows, you would still have fairly high contrast and that is sometimes desireable too. to have the strongest advantage of the softbox, consider its size, if it is 2 feet square, the diagonal measurement is about 3 feet, so you cna use it very effectively so long as the outside surface of the softbox is within 3 feet of the subject. you have up to about 1.5 times that measurement until it starts taking on the character of directional light source.
some alternatives with similar effects:
*use a scrim. a scrim is a panel of diffusion material held between the light source and the subject. light tents are a specialized example of this and you cna make scrim devices yourself. a white sheet, or some white ripstop nylon secured to a frame and then let your assistant hold it for you or use whatever means to get it where you want it. hang it from cup hooks crewed into the ceiling for that matter.
*reflectors... you can use lots of things as reflectors. a common and cheap one is a sheet of foamcore presentation board from an art supply or craft store. even a white wall o celing can act as a reflector and expand the effective illuminating surface from your subject will be lit. the trick here is bein carful with yoru light sources t avoid the spill of direct light that might cast harsh shadows on the same area you are trying to light evenly by bouncing and diffusing the light.
given those concepts, you should be able to come up with a number of interesting and useful gadgets to shape light. an old window screen is a fine startign point for a do-it-yourself scrim, just get some thin cloth and a few feet of "window spline" (the stuff around the edges of the screen that snaps into the groove) and you have a low cost home made scrim.
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Vicki Jones
(K=15) - Comment Date 10/27/2005
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I'm going to print all that out and go over it a time or twelve. That's a lot of information and I appreciate the time you took to explain that to me. I still prefer outdoor lighting and waiting for the perfect light that nature gives but I've got these lights, probably couldn't sell them around here unless I could convince some redneck that they blind coons and make them fall out of trees. Speaking of that, I've a picture of a coon my dog treed on a fence stump. I'll be loading that up today. Look for one called Up a Stump. Once again thanks for your help.
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