C&C Please - Lighting "Test"

[JenKat]

So, having been wanting to practice with lighting, and not having any extra funds at the moment to invest in good lighting, I went out and bought a pair of reflector clamp lights, and a pair of 150w flood bulbs.

I have one pop-up 5 in 1 reflector, and plan on making my own muslin background over the weekend, if I have time... Just to have something to play with.

I didn't have any human models when I got home, so, my lovely lab was my stand-in. (By the way, she not what I would call a completely willing participant, having had hundreds of photos taken of her in her 2 1/2 yrs).

I clamped each light to a chair, each to the side about 45 degrees. The one to my left had the reflector in front of it (stripped down to just the inside white piece, to act as a diffuser, which I don't believe helped much).

Forgiving the background, composition, etc.. I was just curious of this type of lighting would be workable. I'm planning on making a couple frames covered in white fabric to create diffusers for each light, so it's not so harsh. (Once again, trying to try out alot of diy ideas to save money for the moment).

So, as for lighting on a black dog, how'd I do? No editing, other than cropping, was done.


Morgan - Light Test by Amazon Cheesecake, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

You've got good definition on the top of his head, and to be honest, I'm not sure how much better you can get with this set-up. I would move one light so that it's about 90 camera right/left and the other around 30-35 on the opposite side. I don't think you can afford too much diffusion, but perhaps tissue-paper or similar. I would also think about lowering the lights a little to get some detail out of the lower fur.