One subject w/comparison of 11 different lighting methods (>>>photo heavy!!!<<<)

[480sparky]

OK, so I'm bored out of my skull tonight. So I thought I'd throw some junk on a table and take a bunch of shots of it, lighting it differently each time.

So.......... here goes: I found 6 small objects that happened to be handy and placed them on a small table. I set my D7000 up on a tripod and went through 11 'stages' of lighting, from the on-camera flash to a pair of monolights w/ umbrellas.

All were shot at ISO 400, but the shutter speed & aperture changes due to different levels of light output and the need to open the shutter for 4-6 seconds for 'light painting'. The first image of each 'set' shows how the scene was lit, the second shows the result of the lighting. All were shot in a dimly lit room to allow for the light painting.


First, a simple on-camera flash: (1/60 f/4.5)

Next, an SB-600 shoe-mounted: (1/60 f/4.5)

Since the D7000 can access Nikons' CLS, I went off-camera with the SB-600: (1/60 f/4.5)

Next, I put the SB-600 back on the camera and used an ExpoImaging Rogue FlashBender: (1/60 f/4.5)

Then I went off-camera (directly above the subjects) with the SB-600 + Bender combo: (1/60 f/4.5)

Then I 'painted' the scene with 5 trips of the SB-600 @ 1/64 manual power off-camera in a circular motion: (4 sec, f/16)

Next out of my arsenal: The diffuser out of my 22" 5-in-1 reflector. Held above the subject w/ SB-600 shining through it: (4 sec f/16)

Then I 'painted' the scene with the same method above, firing the SB-600 five times in a circular pattern over the subjects. (6 sec. f/16)

Time to get out the Big Boys now!!!!!.... a pair of monolights in an equilateral triangle with the camera. First up, silver reflectors: (1/100 f/22)

Now, spin the monolights around and throw on a couple white umbrellas: (1/100 f/22)

Meh...... got some shadows I don't really like (the rabbit's left ear, as well as between the scissors' handles). So let's move one light closer to the camera, and move the other closer to the subjects and more over them: (1/100 f/22)

That's all, folks. Hope this helps some noobs with some basic lighting techniques. I'll go back to being bored!

.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Looks like the painting gave the best final result for a still subject

 

[tirediron]

Excellent post Sparky; I suspect that will be very helpful to many people. Thanks for taking the time to make and post it!

 

[Desi]

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Daf]

Very interesting, I have some ideas now to try myself - thank you for taking the time to put that together!

 

[Village Idiot]

Looks like the painting gave the best final result for a still subject

It gave the flattest result. Less shadows (on the diffused version anyways. The multiple flash non diffused version had shadows from multiple angles)and a soft light with no contrast on the scene. It really depends on what you're shooting as to how you'll set your lights up.