experimenting ...

FoxT

My son loves making lego minifigs, & he likes me to photograph them. I finally started a bit of experimenting with flash in a studio ( hah! term used very loosely) setting.. Never done this before, thought I'd post on setup & results, etc....










Advice, hints, tips, critique, all welcome. I like the dramatic effect of the overhead lighting, but I would also like to fill in a bit more, w/o compromising the black background.Any suggestions on this would be most wecome!

Cheers, FoxT

Tallon

They came out really well actually, I like the lighting shape in the background

Your son is also awesome

FoxT

Thank you Tallon, I can state w/o any bias (heh) that he is most awesome, indeed! He is 8 yo, loves this stuff. (And, of course, I do, too... let this be my lil evil boardsie secret...)

Thecageyone

They look great

Have you tried bouncing the flash off the ceiling? Maybe use a black T-shirt or Black card for a backing?

FoxT

will try! Black BG definitely helps, am thinking about getting a 2nd flash, either as fill from front, or putting the minifig on a glass plate with a flash underneath to kill the strong shadow & make the minifig 'float'.


I have found with the setup above that minifig/flash/camera positioning is absolutely critical, so will try as you suggest + a few more ideas as well. Am pleased with the last shot, but had to get the fig sitting down as couldnt get aything good when he was standing up ( about 15cm high) .

Thanks, FoxT

Thecageyone

It's all about experimentation. The shadows do look cool in these shots though.

.Longshanks.

Last one is awesome!

mrboswell

FoxT wrote: »

will try! Black BG definitely helps, am thinking about getting a 2nd flash, either as fill from front, or putting the minifig on a glass plate with a flash underneath to kill the strong shadow & make the minifig 'float'.


I have found with the setup above that minifig/flash/camera positioning is absolutely critical, so will try as you suggest + a few more ideas as well. Am pleased with the last shot, but had to get the fig sitting down as couldnt get aything good when he was standing up ( about 15cm high) .

Thanks, FoxT

Why not try a reflector first in front of the figure. Make you own from cardboard and tinfoil

smelltheglove

A piece of whitre card used as a reflector should give you just a small bit of fill so you dont have to lose too much of the shadow which is really what makes it look so good.

FoxT

Beginner's luck! Thanks everyone...

toe_knee

My son has a load of them bionicles and I always thought they would make some great pics. Don't have a flash though. Would I get away with using a flash lamp. I know the light wouldn't be nearly as strong.

kelly1

Yeah, last one is very good.

FoxT

Toe knee, I'd say a flashlight would do it. However,
- you will need to shoot at f/10 - f/18 to keep the entire fig in focus
- at ISO 100 your exposure time will be in the region of 1/5 sec to a few seconds at that aperture , with a flashlight as your light source
- So you will likely need a tripod.
- Also best to do it downstairs. My home has wooden floors & I find that they flex. If I am taking long exposures, the camera can wobble a bit in the tripod...

Having said all that , I expect that you would get similar results with a flashlamp.

Try it!

Cheers, FoxT.

toe_knee

Cheers for that. I have wooden floors upstairs so will setup down stairs with the tripod. Can't wait to try it now to be honest.

FoxT

None of these are much good but I was going to write notes on it anyway so I said I might as well post them if anybody is interested...



First of all I took a shot using the room lights. 0.8s, f/10, tripod, custom white balance:



SETUP: I got a cardboard tube & taped it onto a builders light stand, then flash on tripod behind the stand with the flash shooting through the tube. Note the black card taped to the wall.... very useful for getting the background absolutely black.





Here's a few of the flash shooting through the tube:






Then, I taped a sheet of A4 paper over the end of the tube, to act as a diffuser..lost 2-3 stops of light doing this, had to compensate by increasing flash power & opening aperture a bit...






Finally, Toe Knees question about a flashlight got me thinking, so I tried that..

1/3 sec f/14, tripod, custom white balance...




Results with the room light are OK, actually. The flashlight isn't too bad either but it gives a ragged, uneven light compared to the flash/tube setup.

Finally, I tried using a rectangular card snoot on the flashlight but just could not get a well - defined shadow line, light from the flashlight was amazingly uneven actually.

That's it for tonight...

NakedDex

The light with the paper diffuser over your makeshift snoot is fantastically soft. Excellent job.

FoxT

Thanks! Ordinary white A4 printer paper makes a lovey diffuse light, I have been meaning to experiment with greaseproof paper, pillowcases etc, havent got round to it yet.

Does anybody else want to do a bit of experimenting & put it up here? Doesnt have to be flash-related, can be anything....Just do it!

Bring it on, folks!

nuwaveimages

Love the shots, Brillant details n colour:)

chevron

Cheers FoxT I always love seeing behinds the scene's shots and setup shots.
I will have to have a go at this with with limited gear no flash.

But its does have me a thinking

WillyWonka

Awesome thread, thanks Fox.

sNarah

WillyWonka wrote: »

Awesome thread, thanks Fox.

What he said

FoxT, thanks for sharing, really enjoying this thread! I've a softbox on the way so will defo keep an eye on here for some tips...

And yes, there will be toys featured! Toys rock!

FoxT

Over the years I have avoided glass like the plague - and this is the first time I have ever set myself an objective of photographing a glass object., I had read a bit about it, so I started off with this setup:




Hawkeyed readers will recognise the cardboard tube as the snoot I used in the last few lego shots.:)

Anyway, after 4-5 shots I got this...nice enough but I noticed later that the top looks really weird..




I wanted to get a plain, white background so cropped in on the neck, a few shots later I got this....




The yellow lines matched the curtains , then I remembered reading something about using black card, so I tried this:





got 2 pieces of black card, the photo is rubbish but it got rid of the yellow lines & gave me nice black ones instead.

Another 15 minutes of foostering with black cards etc, and replacing the wire cork thingy, got us here:





Bah, I see a bit of condensation on the inside of the bottle... the devil is truly in the details with this stuff!

All of these shots have been cropped with Picasa & contrast boosted (The 'Autocontrast' button is your friend!) -Picasa has real limitations, but it is easy to use & is free, and, to the extent that it forces you to get the best possible result sooc, IMO it is a mighty fine product. I am doing these shots to learn more about lighting, so composition & artisitic merit etc etc are not a priority at this stage.

C&C welcome as always - and post a few of your own!

Cheers,
FoxT

.Longshanks.

Im loving the experiments!

The bottle one reminds me of one I tried last year when I first bought a flash and wireless triggers. Afraid I've no set up shots, but it involved tissue to defuse the flash and two books carefully placed close to the flash to only leave a tiny slit of light hit the bottle



Have been meaning to go back and try it again

falsers

Love the last photos in both sets! Would love someone to take pics of my transformers like that

FoxT

Decided to do a few more of the bottle, using this setup:




flashlight, A4 paper diffuser, Set Custom WB on camera, Aperture priority, all the shots below taken at about 3-5 secs f/16 - f/18, ISO 100, long exp NR on, on a 40D with a Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5.




Alright, but wayy too much light. Removed A4 sheet & stood the bottle direct on the lamp to get this..




Better, but I'd like more detail on the white stopper. For the next shot I got a sheet of white A4 paper & held it directly above the bottle, just out of camera view:



Is better.

I washed the bottle with warm water & detergent but in the course of the shoot ( I took maybe 20 shots) it got fingerprints etc over it...so is absolutely manky - but the essence of this stuff (for me) it to get to grips with lighting, will wear the latex gloves etc next time!

- FoxT

kdobey

Enjoying your experimenting and your sharing. I've not been active with the camera in a while despite getting a flash a while back.

I really like your light tube idea and also the bottle experiments - particularly with the yellow curtains in it!

Some one mentioned using a torch and it reminded me of one I tried a long while back (before I had a flash) of using a dark room + long exposure + light source (a phone with illuminated screen and keypad). I quite liked the result.

Light fantastic by kdobey, on Flickr.

I also set it up on top some tin foil to get some extra reflected light.
This is a single exposure straight off camera (no PP).

Thanks for sharing and it's inspired me to dig the camera out and get experimenting again soon!

FoxT

kdobey, that is really good- the tinfoil works really well, looks like silk. You've given me a few ideas...
Thanks!

kdobey

FoxT wrote: »

kdobey, that is really good- the tinfoil works really well, looks like silk. You've given me a few ideas...
Thanks!

Thanks.

This isn't ordinary tin foil ... this is .. um .. specialist photographic tin foil .. I can get you some if your willing to pay the ... um.... specialist price. Don't be distract by the fact I ship it in a box that says "St Bernard - Always better value"

Incidentally - you get two very different effects on each side (depending on the type of foil you buy).

mumof2

This is such an interesting thread! Great stuff to see here.

I love the last shot in your first set posted here (the yellow lego guy)! My own son (same age) would love to see this tomoro, I can see him wanting me to print out instructions!!!:D

(ive got a few ideas too after reading this - just short on time every day:()

Thanks for showing:D