While I am no pro at this, I have learned a few tricks:
- To get your shutter to work in the dark, turn on the lights, get your focus, then change to manual focus.
- For a black b/g, go to a fabric store, and $10 should get you several yards of fabric... try to find a thick fabric that doesnt reflect light, but absorbs most of it.
- Drape the fabric onto furniture, or pin it to a wall to set your b/g. Try to keep the painting a few feet from your b/g so the light doesnt shine on the fabric too much.
- For shapes, cut a desire shape into a stencil. For the music one below, i used a glow stick with electrical tape for the blue lines, and stencils for the notes.
 
- As for pointing the light to/away from the camera, I guess it depends. Try them both out, and see what you like.
- I always set ISO at 100. But then again, I usually use bright LED lights. |
