Lighting Tips?

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Head Boy

Would it be worth Tuula getting one of those white umbrella thingies (you see I know all the tech terms ) to reflect some of the window light. How about gluing some cooking foil to a board to get reflected light as an alternative?

Why not buy the proper equipment? Screwing around with make do is not the way to resolve the problem.

The beauty of professional lights is you control them to give you an amateur or professional style. The problem with your solution is what happens if a cloud goes over the sun or the other way around, when you get to the squirting shot?

Answer; Scene that can make you $10,000 is ruined for the sake of a one off spend of $5000 on decent lights. Prices are to illustrate the point. Lighting is a one off spend and good lights last for a very long time.

[Head Boy]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Why not buy the proper equipment? Screwing around with make do is not the way to resolve the problem.

Two reasons.

Heavy investment means you need to charge more, and you need to work the equipment full time. Here's an example - I'm restoring a car transporter trailer because I'm interested in vintage cars, and very often they are non-runners and need to be transported. The best vehicle would be a 7-tonner with an hydraulic lift, but the costs of running that (tax, testing and maintenance) means it would have to be in use 4 or 5 days every week. Restoring a £100 trailer means I get my money back from the first car I buy, and I enjoy the work.

The second reason for making your own equipment is to learn more about the underlying science. Now I appreciate that it's not worth making your own camera (although a pin-hole will teach you a bit about photography), but lighting reflectors are not too hard to make for experimentation.

[remii]

Do-it-your-self studio - sorry, site in german language but the pics are international:
http://foto.dirkhennig.de/baustrahler-studio.html
costs around $150.- after the shooting you only need a withe balance in photoshop, gimp or your camera-software eq. NikonCaptureNX.
Attention, the lights will be hot after a short time !

[Paul Markham]

HB trust me on this one, you don't have a clue what you're talking about and you're misleading newbie shooters.

OK as a photographer who learned from scratch and in the beginning self taught here's some advice. Don't waste your time being self taught, one of my big mistakes.

Go and buy some good books on the basics of photography, equipment and lighting. Get ones that match where you are and above. Then read and read and read again. You might find a local evening class that will help as well.

Then go and buy the best equipment you can afford and practise and practice. For instance if you want to capture squirting to it's best effects use a jet of water or what ever is similar to the squirts you're trying to capture. I learned to capture cum in the air about to hit a model by a similar technique.

Master your equipment, don't let the equipment master you. Good equipment can create an effect that looks like your an amateur or professional, it's about your skills mastering the equipment. With digital and computers it's so much easier today. You set it up shoot it and go check the results.

Outdoors reflectors can work as fill in, but expect models to get hot and squint as you reflect the sun into their bodies, faces and eyes. Flash for stills is good, but can give a flat effect. No reflector or fill in flash can give you a shadow or over exposure where you need clarity.

Indoors reflectors only are a nightmare. Don't even think about it.

Amateur is about the models, their rawness, enthusiasm and above all the reality of who they are. It's not an excuse for bad photography. Any fool can take a bad picture of a professional model and it fools no one. Well that's not true so to be specific, it does not fool the person who's paying money to jerk off to amateur porn. He wants the girl next door, the women who lives down the road, doing what he thinks (dreams) they do for the fun of it.

I'm sure there's a niche for crap shooters shooting naked bored professional models. Just never found it.

Again HB stick to giving out advice on domains, your photography knowledge is limited.

Can people imagine if I tried to give advice on domains the flaming that would descend?

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by remii

Do-it-your-self studio - sorry, site in german language but the pics are international:
http://foto.dirkhennig.de/baustrahler-studio.html
costs around $150.- after the shooting you only need a withe balance in photoshop, gimp or your camera-software eq. NikonCaptureNX.
Attention, the lights will be hot after a short time !

An excellent set up for those beginning or on a limited budget. I used them for ages.

[Tuula]

I'm going to say this very nicely and for the last time, please do not turn this thread into a pissing match.

And thank you Remi for the information, although I don't really understand what exactly I'm buying or could buy for $150.

[VV]

I like the umbrella idea Head Boy, sometimes old school methods work well

[remii]

Tuula: And thank you Remi for the information, although I don't really understand what exactly I'm buying or could buy for $150.

For the lamps, lamp-tripods, umbrellas and accessories as you can see on the pics of my link - that's all and you can start with your own studio (it's not a prof. studio but it works - ask Paul)

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by Varzi Network

"A diffusion filter (also called a softening filter) softens subjects and generates a dreamy haze."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_(photography)

I learned early on the using diffusion or softening filters on the camera often lead to disaster. The effects vary wildly depending on the aperture used and there is no way to remove the effect once the picture has been taken.

After screwing up a few hundred shoots, I decided there had to be a better way to get this effect and started adding all my softening effects in the darkroom - this worked wonderfully and if I decided I wanted a tack-sharp print, I still had a tack-sharp negative.

Wit the advent of digital photography and the associated photo editing software, it would be foolish (imo) to do any softening of the image in the camera. All of these effects can be duplicated with great ease in using even the most basic photo editing software.

Yes - the softening effect has it's place - but in post-production not in the camera.

My 2 cents..... I'll now crawl back under my rock.

[remii]

Yes - the softening effect has it's place - but in post-production not in the camera

I'm with you

Shoot your pics in raw-format - the effects do in PS or other pic manipulation software

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by remii

Do-it-your-self studio - sorry, site in german language but the pics are international:
http://foto.dirkhennig.de/baustrahler-studio.html
costs around $150.- after the shooting you only need a withe balance in photoshop, gimp or your camera-software eq. NikonCaptureNX.
Attention, the lights will be hot after a short time !

Nicht schlecht....

Great setup - only drawback is halogen lamps create a LOT of heat - I've been using the 42 watt compact florescent lamps rated at 2800 lumen and with a color temperature of 6500 kelvin - at 42 watts and with the output of a standard 150 watt incandescent (this is the word you were looking for Tuula) bulb these lamps are 2/3's cooler to operate and last about 10 times longer. They are also available to fit into any screw in fixture.

Color temperature is important so regardless of what system you use, get lamps that have a color temperature of between 5200 kelvin and 7000 kelvin. We used to order special bulbs in Europe when I worked there so I know they are available there as well as in the US and Canada. The chips in all digital cameras have an ideal color temperature - standard incandescent bulbs tend to be around 3000 kelvin - way too yellow - it is near impossible to get accurate color reproduction if the light source is not balanced to what the camera chip (or film) is designed to use. Anyone with extensive darkroom and or PhotoShop experience in the printing world will vouch for this.

I've replaced most of the lights in my house with bulbs in the 5200k to 6500k range and when we shoot video, we just add a few more lights to get the "modeling" we want and away we go.

I still use flash on all my still shots because the amount of light required to get tack-sharp images on stills is still more that I use on video.

I'm also not a believer that an "amateur picture" has to be a bad picture - as stated before in this thread - it's not the cost of the equipment - it's the understanding of what you want and learning how to get it with the tools you have at hand.

One of my favorite exercises in light is to limit myself to only what is at hand (camera, lens, light) then place the subject(s) in a manner that the available light is used to it's optimum.

Experiment with what you have and you might be amazed.

[remii]

Nicht schlecht....

do you speak german papagmp ?

[Tuula]

Originally Posted by remii

For the lamps, lamp-tripods, umbrellas and accessories as you can see on the pics of my link - that's all and you can start with your own studio (it's not a prof. studio but it works - ask Paul)

Ok now I understand, I just was not sure if you were referring to one specific item or not, but thank you for clarifying it.

[Tuula]

Originally Posted by papagmp

I learned early on the using diffusion or softening filters on the camera often lead to disaster. The effects vary wildly depending on the aperture used and there is no way to remove the effect once the picture has been taken.

After screwing up a few hundred shoots, I decided there had to be a better way to get this effect and started adding all my softening effects in the darkroom - this worked wonderfully and if I decided I wanted a tack-sharp print, I still had a tack-sharp negative.

Wit the advent of digital photography and the associated photo editing software, it would be foolish (imo) to do any softening of the image in the camera. All of these effects can be duplicated with great ease in using even the most basic photo editing software.

Yes - the softening effect has it's place - but in post-production not in the camera.

My 2 cents..... I'll now crawl back under my rock.

Just to be clear, we are talking about filters that you can add on to lenses right? If this is true, then I wouldn't want to use those for adult, maybe non (just have fun with), but the whole purpose for me not using them is, so that the actual squirts look alot more clearer.

[remii]

Originally Posted by Tuula

Ok now I understand, I just was not sure if you were referring to one specific item or not, but thank you for clarifying it.

you'r welcome tuula

[Tuula]

Originally Posted by papagmp

Nicht schlecht....

Great setup - only drawback is halogen lamps create a LOT of heat - I've been using the 42 watt compact florescent lamps rated at 2800 lumen and with a color temperature of 6500 kelvin - at 42 watts and with the output of a standard 150 watt incandescent (this is the word you were looking for Tuula) bulb these lamps are 2/3's cooler to operate and last about 10 times longer. They are also available to fit into any screw in fixture.

Color temperature is important so regardless of what system you use, get lamps that have a color temperature of between 5200 kelvin and 7000 kelvin. We used to order special bulbs in Europe when I worked there so I know they are available there as well as in the US and Canada. The chips in all digital cameras have an ideal color temperature - standard incandescent bulbs tend to be around 3000 kelvin - way too yellow - it is near impossible to get accurate color reproduction if the light source is not balanced to what the camera chip (or film) is designed to use. Anyone with extensive darkroom and or PhotoShop experience in the printing world will vouch for this.

I've replaced most of the lights in my house with bulbs in the 5200k to 6500k range and when we shoot video, we just add a few more lights to get the "modeling" we want and away we go.

I still use flash on all my still shots because the amount of light required to get tack-sharp images on stills is still more that I use on video.

I'm also not a believer that an "amateur picture" has to be a bad picture - as stated before in this thread - it's not the cost of the equipment - it's the understanding of what you want and learning how to get it with the tools you have at hand.

One of my favorite exercises in light is to limit myself to only what is at hand (camera, lens, light) then place the subject(s) in a manner that the available light is used to it's optimum.

Experiment with what you have and you might be amazed.

Ok thanks for the advice about the lamps and actually I did know that about the Halogens, because we used to have some at home (not for photog, just personal) and they really did get hot fast and we ended up getting rid of them as there was a warning that they had potential to catch fire.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by remii

do you speak german papagmp ?

Ich habe in Deutschland etwa 13 Jahren gelebt.... Ja, ich kann ein bischen Deutsch.

For the rest -

I have in Germany approximately 13 years lived... Yes, I can a little German.


And to risk a shamefull plug.... :
And I'm looking for German-speaking webmasters to promote my new site www.bringmirdeineschwester.com also available in English.

[Head Boy]

Originally Posted by Tuula

Just to be clear, we are talking about filters that you can add on to lenses right? If this is true, then I wouldn't want to use those for adult, maybe non (just have fun with), but the whole purpose for me not using them is, so that the actual squirts look alot more clearer.

Why?

A hazy picture might be better for a voyeur sequence.

[remii]

Ich habe in Deutschland etwa 13 Jahren gelebt.... Ja, ich kann ein bischen Deutsch.

your german is phantastic !

Btw: I think you are a very good photographer - what you said in this forum (photographie) sounds very well - founded ! let us see a few of your pics

[Tuula]

Originally Posted by Head Boy