Lighting for close-ups

Actinia · Oct 19, 2014

I like to take photos of Fungi. One problem is that woods in autumn tend to be dark places. I have regularly taken fungi using a ringflash. Two problems with this are that firstly, it is harder to focus in the dark and second, the image tends to be rather flat.

In anticipation of the forthcoming fungus season, I bought a pair of small LED lights from Jessops. I tried these out on an egg, a peach and a celeriac. These were chosen because they provide a matt surface which would emulate various fungi. Here they are:

#1 an egg

#2 a peach

#3 Celeriac

Lastly here is the setup I used to photograph these, complete with my tea which I am still drinking.

#4 Setup

The three close-ups were taken at f/11 with ISO 400. Exposure time varied from 1/8 to 1/25th. I did not use any exposure compensation. When in the woods, I would be using a remote shutter release.

I would welcome any comments on the lighting for such situations. The great advantage of these lights is that they cost just a few pounds each.

Designer · Oct 19, 2014

My first thought was; are you sure you want light that is that even? With perfectly balanced light from two sides, there is no "modeling" of the subject. If that is the light you want, then I think you've found it.

As an alternative, position the two lights on the same side of the subject to see the difference. Another thought is; if these are affordable, and two are not making much light, why not buy two more and fasten them all together in a square grid fashion. That way, your light would become a larger source, and therefore more diffuse.

Please accept these suggestions as coming from someone who has not actually done this.

Vince.1551 · Oct 19, 2014

I agree with Designer. It's best to work on light and shadows and create gradual descending tonality that setup is guaranteed to produce flat even images presuming the lights are firing at equal intensity

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Overread · Oct 19, 2014

A few thoughts:

1) The little LED light backs you've got can help provide light for focusing and in a pinch might be ok for some fill light when doing a video - but they don't put out much light. This means that you're still stuck with your longer exposures.

2) The size of the light source is still pretty small compared to the subject, if you could attach a softbox to them you'd be able to soften the light further and get a smoother result. Note that with the lower power they have this might not work out all that well with these light units (its, again, an area where flash units are going to be superior).

3) I've read and tried experimenting in macro with the concept of curved light. That's where you make the light source to the subject curved instead of flat - the idea being that your subject has a 3D shape and thus will have parts of it closer to the light source than others. At the tiny distances this makes a difference in the fall-off of the light - so if you make a softbox setup where the surface is curved inward you can have the light travelling the same distance (roughly) to each part of the subject; this coupled with good diffusion can help give a cleaner smooth light and remove highlight spot problems.

4) As the others said - play with the shadows. Totally smooth and even lighting will always appear flat because there will be little contrast variation. By having a degree of difference between the two primary light sources you can then introduce shadows and an element of contrast into the shot; it should "pop" far more.

5) I've found (through method 4) that if you do end up with very smooth even lighting you have to adjust how you edit a shot to compensate. Contrast boosting and sharpness adjustment vary because whilst you've got the light data, you've got to help it along differently compared to a show that might have more contrast variation present from the camera.

Actinia · Oct 19, 2014

Thanks to you all for your comments. I have tried again using the lights at different distances, and also adding a ringlight as well (as an extra light, not round the lens).

#1 This has the two original lights, but with the light on the right further away.

#2 This has the two lights on their sides, low down, and with the ringlight held higher, above the subject. This may be useful for fungi when you want to illuminate the underside.

I also used a remote release to allow for the extended exposure time.

What this means in practice is that, when I get into the wood, I will be able to position these three lights as I see fit. I will probably also get another couple of the smaller lights, they were just £10 each. I will probably fasten them to a cane and stick this in the ground.

I will be posting images from my next fungus foray in the Nature & Wildlife Forum. I will add a link here where when I do.

Derrel · Oct 19, 2014

TWO lights of equal power and fired at basically the same angle is guaranteed to provide FLAT, dull, basically shadow-free lighting. Two lights of equal power and fired at basically the same angle is the way one lights for flat artwork on a copy stand. The shadows that one light casts are "filled' by the opposing light, which is why your rounded egg and peach look as flat as if they were stick-on decals, and why they do NOT appear to be real, genuine, three-dimensional objects.

You want to have a single "main" or "key" light, which hits the subject at an angle, which will create some shadows,those shadows are what will create the perceptual clues that convey depth and dimension to the human brain. Try using just ONE, single light, and you will see, from the very first shot, that your egg and peach will magically appear to be real, genuine, three-dimensional objects. Get rid of the second light for a bit!!!

If you want to use a second light, make it farther away than the key light, or at least half the intensity of the key light, and move the fill or secondary light in very CLOSE to the lens axis, so it fires STRAIGHT ahead, and does NOT come in from an angle opposite the key light's direction.

A better choice is ONE, single key light, fired at an angle, and then a reflector opposite.