10,000+ photos and not one is up to snuff...HELP!

[Don Kondra]

After a brief romance with the whatever-I-could-find-around-the-house CFs, I found that they simply weren't powerful enough. My images were littered with shadows from ambient light and the skylights.

Also, the CFs aren't rated for color temperature (most household bulbs aren't), so while they're probably a lot closer to 5500k than tungsten bulbs, the results were still a bit spotty after the initial experiments.

Chances are, if you could find the packaging for the CF bulbs you will find they are in the 3000k range. Until you start to pay attention most people don't realize how yellow their household lights are.

Right now my photo-equipment budget is zero. So a nice shiny new set of 45w or 85w, 5500k CFs isn't an option. Neither is Elements 7.

A set of 4 - 45w bulbs is $39.

They are equivalent to 150 watts of Tungsten light.

However, I'm still getting lots of nasty shadows.

Shadows aren't nasty, they add character :mrgreen:

How do you shoot with three sources and only get one set of shadows ?

I'm assuming it has something to do with the large umbrellas on the 85w CFs creating much softer shadows than the relatively smaller source of the softbox overhead

Short answer is yes, the umbrellas diffuse the more powerful light much more than the simple linen cover on the lesser powered overhead light.

Also keep in mind that shot is meant for demonstration purposes and I purposely wanted to show the reflections from the lights in the middle bulb.

When I first started shooting with continuous light I tried to blast the object and eliminate the shadows. With a little more experience I realized a "shadow" adds depth, definition and character or a mood to an image.

Now a leg for instance with shadows going two ways looks weird, one way looks more natural, kinda like how it would look with the sun shining on it from the side. Do you ever remember reading anything about a key light or a main light? That's the concept.

With your present set up (where's that shot BTW) try repositioning the lights and study their effect. You decide if you want no shadows or one set of shadows.

And cover the skylight till you can purchase some 5500k bulbs.

Gimp is a free download and I believe has some tools you can use to play with WB and clone out the background if you wish.

Your last shot is getting there

Cheers, Don