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07/21/2003 04:49:00 PM · #1 |
| What is the best artiifcial lighting source to use? I have a halogen lamp that I have used on a couple of occasions, but I am not satisfied with the tones that I get with it. |
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07/21/2003 11:17:14 PM · #2 |
Unless you're shooting B&W, the best artificial source is a strobe. You can pick up some smaller ones in the $600 range, and if you're creative and/or use reflectors, you can easily get away with two of them, although three is the "basic" studio setup.
Eric Jacksch
www.ericjacksch.com |
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07/22/2003 12:06:46 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by patriciabrown2001:
What is the best artiifcial lighting source to use? I have a halogen lamp that I have used on a couple of occasions, but I am not satisfied with the tones that I get with it. |
How are you setting the white balance on the camera? By "tones" I am guessing you might mean a color cast - where the image is probably somewhat yellow from the halogen light. Manually setting the white balance can alleviate this problem - I use a CP995 (which was replaced by the 4500) and have made many shots using halogen lights.
I often diffuse the halogen lights though to make them less harsh - any sort of translucent fabric, plastic bags even, or simply reflecting off a ceiling / wall can help.
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07/22/2003 12:45:43 AM · #4 |
| what's the difference between the photographic strobes and the cheapo xenon strobes you can get at novelty shops I want to get a bright light source that doesn't burn anything near it but I don't want to spend $600+ if the photographic ones just sync with the camera I might just use trial and error with a cheapo (probably LOTS of trial and error) |
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07/22/2003 12:56:20 AM · #5 |
| Yeah,I'm getting a yellow color cast. I have the white balance set on auto for all my shots. (I figured the camera is smarter than I am...LOL) Boy, do I have a lot to learn about photography! |
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07/22/2003 01:31:39 AM · #6 |
Well Patricia,
I would like you to feel free to ask me about anything related to photography. Read up on white Balance. You do not want your Cam making decisions. Itis not as smart as you think. The best thing you can do is keep taking pictures and make mental notes on what you did. After a while you will be able to understand all variables and how to change them individually or in unison for some really intresting effects.
By the way I am TurboTech. It is nice to meet you. |
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07/22/2003 01:44:59 AM · #7 |
Patricia,
Does your camera have different "white balance" settings that you can flip through and also see the color effect they have in the view finder as you scroll through each of them? If so, problem solved. Just stop when you see one that fits the lighting you have, meaning the whites look white (and not yellow or redish).
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07/22/2003 02:01:47 AM · #8 |
i almost always use the tungsten setting indoors for the clearest tones. i do, however, agree with chris in that you might want to just flip around the settings until you find what you are looking for! :) |
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07/22/2003 02:02:31 AM · #9 |
Hi Turbotech...Nice to meet you, too. Thanks so much.
Hi Chris...I'm still learning the controls of my camera. I just checked, and my camera has white balance options for different lighting conditions. It also has a white balance preset that allows you to use a white object as reference to set the white balance. Guess I'll just have to play around with it and see what I get. Thanks for the help. |
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07/22/2003 02:08:40 AM · #10 |
| Hi Alecia...Well, my camera doesn't have a tungsten setting. I did try the white balance preset just now and it made a huge difference. Thanks to all of you. |
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07/22/2003 02:21:50 AM · #11 |
If your camera has a raw mode, you can use that to take the guess work out, and set white balance later.
Otherwise, I suggest taking underexposed shots of a piece of white paper under the lighting conditions you wish to test.
- Take one shot at each white balance setting.
- Look at these in your choosen image editor.
- Using the eyedropper tool, find the pic that has the RGB values close together, ie (203,203,203) or (160,160,160) would be perfect, but (240,160,150) would show a strong red cast.
- If any of the values for R, G, or B are at or very close to 255, reshoot the pic, underexposing by even more.
The setting that produced the pic with the closes RGB values should give the most accurate results under those lighting conditions. |
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07/22/2003 02:29:16 AM · #12 |
| On your Camera (4500), I belive the 'Incandescent' setting would be best with tungsten lighting. Then play with the 'White balance fine tuning' to see which works best for your particular incandescent lights. |
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07/22/2003 03:34:45 AM · #13 |
| This is all too complex for me. I'm going to continue to use the sun whenever I can! I usually shoot on my porch or in my garage, just inside the line of shade on a sunny day. |
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07/22/2003 03:49:30 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by dsidwell:
This is all too complex for me. I'm going to continue to use the sun whenever I can! I usually shoot on my porch or in my garage, just inside the line of shade on a sunny day. |
Since this is what most studio lighting is designed to copy, I think you're probably on the right lines. :-)
Ed
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