Neat image, would have been a good 'Balance' entry, appart from the fact that I think people on this site are a little tired of Woody appearing in every challenge. :-).
As pcody said, play with the lights. I've used one of these wee fellas a few times for trying out lighting ideas, and they are ideal, as they'll hold a pose for ages, and have lots of curves and surface angles. (I use a huge teddy bear for 'human' sized lighting tests, BTW)
As a rule of thumb, the further the light is away, or the smaller it is, the sharper your shadows. The bigger, or closer, the softer the shadows. If you're keen you could also look into 'honeycombs' for the front of your light, which will assist in making the shadows crisper, but that might be a bit much effort if you're anything like me :-).
For softer shadows, take a look at This thread about home-made soft boxes, if you're careful with the heat of the 500W lights you can get some great results with simple/cheap gear..
I'm using home made brollys, soft boxes and getting some really nice results. Although I'm using 2nd hand manual flashes instead of hot lights, as they are more portable, and don't have the heat to deal with, so I can make things out of cardboard and paper and they wont burst into flames...
Cheers, Chris H. |
