Here ya go... Hope this helps someone
One Light Set-up
Basics- use sandbags, put white balance on camera to daylight. Make sure subject is 5 feet away cause of shadows
Steps:
· Set up modeling light and position it where you want it.
o Put on soft boxes. Under modifiers- twist off and line up notches with screws to put on. Get soft box and like up notches with light. You can put flaps down to see. Twist on one spin should do it. Use black knobs to adjust hieghth and angle.
· Make sure everything’s off on battery pack (model and power)
o Figure out lighting ratio (isolate A and combine B+C with switches) plug in lights where the letters are and use the side of the battery pack as a cheat sheet
· Plug in the lights to the sockets- pull pack shield, match up notches and push in evenly
· Plug in sync chord (under the red square). There’s a little piece on the end that connects the cord to the box. This is the cord that plus into your camera/light meter.
· Plug in power cord (next to blue things). Always use orange extension cord
· Plug into the wall. Turn on power and model light. Listen for fan
Metering
· Plus sync cord into light meter- the longest side of the other end the longest thing plugged into the O.
· Set the meter with the ISO 100. Set sync speed to 250 and make sure the lightening bolt with the c is set up. You want to expose for the highlights
· Meter the brightest side with the meter facing the camera. Lets say it does 11 and count the ticks. Then do the shadows- says 2.8. that’s 4 stops different and seriously dramatic. You decide the lighting ratio. The ticks mean how close it is to the next stop.
· Once lighting ratio is set, connect cord to camera and then take the picture. Always bracket.
Other stuff
· To set up a reflector, use the clamps to clip it to the stand.
· Turn off modeling light to move.
High Key- 3 Light set ups
Pull subject forward. Expose the background 2 or 3 stops brighter than the
person- key lights are the background if you want, but you have to
almost double the ratio- isolate A and combine B+C.
Background- use two soft boxes the same size and put at a 45 degree angle
pointed towards background at model head hieghth.
The face- use boom for glamour lighting. For boom, use end to control it and
tighten to adjust heighth. Its physics- balance it with the weight thing on the end.
Once lights are set- connect to the light box. Plug in the lights to the right
spots. Key in A and background in B and C.
Plug into the wall.
Turn on and on modeling lights.
Take meter- if ration isn’t half, then move light away or closer. Do the law of inverse squares. Expose for background/highlight and again… BRACKET
Metal Lighting
Use a table with a black velvet cloth one a little stand. We did wine glasses and a bottle.
Get out camera stand
· The big one adjusts with a blue screwdriver-like thing and the shorter one has a foot thing. Use the knobs to adjust angles and forward/backward movement. You can also to the camera vertically on the stand- that’s pretty baller.
Compose shot
Find family of angles.
· Set up reflectors.
· Get a white paper and clamp on reflector on the stand with clamps.
· Mark it wit tape. Shine a flashlight on the metal nearest to you from the camera’s angle. And see where it is on the sheet. Then look at area farthest from the camera and mark that. That’s the fam. The spots
The picture
· So put the reflector where the family of angles is and take down the white paper. You can also do a soft box instead of the whole complicated reflector thing, but whatever works
· Put a direct light behind the reflector set up pointed at the metal object. You’re going to shine the light through it. Do a big ratio as in 1200… all in one!
· Turn on the lights and spot meter
o Coordinate iso with spot meter usually 100. Sync speed is the same thing as shutter speed
o Look through meter and focus it on the brightest spot of the knife. Get where the camera is and press the button after its focused.
· Expose for 2 or 3 stops more than the reading. If its not possible to do that, chance the shutter speed.
Take the picture
Glass
White on Black background
Compose shot and do the camera stand thing.
Use diffused light aka soft boxes. Use the skinny long one if one side of the
subject (wine bottle) is long and smaller one. We want equal ratios like 600 and 600 with two lights
Adjust lights- add above reflector for top of class. Basically you just have to
reflector everything until it looks good aka no reflections and things
Do an incident reading with this set up only if there is a label or paper thing.
Keep taking pictures and adjusting and adding reflectors until you get it perfect.
Black on white
The LIGHT TABLE
Don’t ever put a soft box under a table- the building will burn down.
Put a big soft box behind the table pointed at the subject and shoot a light underneath the table at the subject. Put white paper under the table as a reflector. You want to use equal power ratios
Horizon- it sucks. Keep adjusting light to make it disappear. Use reflector or put lights closer and lower together.
Meter- through glass and towards background and down through towards light. Basically meter where the light sources are and through the glass. If the ratios are too much, put light source outside table and bounce in with white paper
Add reflectors if the edges are not clear enough on top or sides.
