Not sure whether this is the right forum, but I will try anyhow. Looking ahead for some kind of assignment that will be the shooting of a huge art collection which consists primarily of Buddhist statues and European art pieces, mainly dating from the 17. and 18. century. The shots are going to be used on the Net as well as in catalogues and other advertisement materials. Is here anyone who has some experience in shooting statues and similar art objects?

Due to the mere size (from miniature up to 2 stories height) and the quantity of the objects, the shooting will be on location, i.e. some kind of dusty warehouse with some natural lighting coming through the windows or almost now light at all. As I am going to acquire the gear first, is there any suggestion what kind of lighting set-up could effectivly be used for such shots?

Thanks!

Light a statue as you would a live person.

There are many strategies for lighting a face but the effective ones put light in both eyes and hide the nose shadow in a way that models the shape of the face and does not distract. That can be accomplished by simply placing the key light about 45 degrees from the nose (wherever its pointing) and high enough so the shadow from its tip falls down over the top of the nostril and down under the cheekbone rather than sideways across it. Fill from the camera axis will illuminate all the shadows the camera sees and create natural front-to-back fall off which will put the emphasis on the front of the face and eliminate distractions.

Another strategy is to use relatively flat lighting on the front of the face combined with a back rim lighting to reveal the shape of the body; your classic sunlight + fill flash scenario. That would help reveal the detail and texture of the objects and provide separation from a cluttered background.

You could also combine both approaches, using key / fill frontal lighting to model the detail in the front and accent lights from behind and to the sides to define the shape and provide background separation.

If you want to travel light you could do the job with a wireless speedlight system and a variety of modifiers. A collection of Bogen super clamps, extension arms, cold shoe mounts, etc. would allow you to improvise the positioning of your lights via a flash clamped to a bamboo pole or rafter. You could handle direct sunlight or other ambient light situations via improvised diffusion screens or flags using local materials.

It might also be possible to enlist the services and equipment of a local studio for a reasonable fee. That's not something I would rely on, but worthwhile researching as a "Plan B" option.

Chuck, thank you very. very much for sharing your expertise. Allthough not a professional photographer and a pure novice in the field of lighting set-ups, I am fortunate to be given a considerable budget and - more or less - unlimited time to obtain the gear and to carry out this task. Is there any specific lighting equipment or any flexible brand set-up that you could recommend? The lighting equipment will primarily remain at the shooting side, but needs to be "transported" to the single scenes as I won't be able to move most of the artwork, simply due to weight issues.

Thanks!

W. Schneider wrote:
Is there any specific lighting equipment or any flexible brand set-up that you could recommend? The lighting equipment will primarily remain at the shooting side, but needs to be "transported" to the single scenes as I won't be able to move most of the artwork, simply due to weight issues.


Given the fact you are in Taiwan I'd guess you might be able to find some locally made studio flash equipment and modifiers. As for the modifiers the more the better, since you will no doubt be dealing with a wide variation of surface textures and want to experiment to find the best character of light for each. Booms are quite helpful for positioning lights behind and above the subject to keep the stands out of the photo.

Yes, I looked around a bit today, and I could find something quite inexpensive manufactured by a company called "Britek". Does anyone has some experience with this stuff? The equipment is sold in Flash-unit packages, similar to the Alien Bees setup. However, it has been told that a Flash even used with soft-light modifiers could be quite harsh and probably hard to control, especially taken the reflecting metal or marble surface of many objects into consideration. Could it be advisable to use a pure Tungsten or some other form of continious lighting setup instead?

Thanks!

W. Schneider wrote:
Yes, I looked around a bit today, and I could find something quite inexpensive manufactured by a company called "Britek". Does anyone has some experience with this stuff? The equipment is sold in Flash-unit packages, similar to the Alien Bees setup. However, it has been told that a Flash even used with soft-light modifiers could be quite harsh and probably hard to control, especially taken the reflecting metal or marble surface of many objects into consideration. Could it be advisable to use a pure Tungsten or some other form of continious lighting setup instead?
Thanks!

It makes little difference to the character of the light if the source of the light is a tungsten bulb, flash tube, or the sun for that matter. They all start as point light sources and all need to be modified the same ways to change the rays from parallel (relative to source and subject) to non-parallel, which is what generates the diffuse shadows.

The strategy for lighting reflective objects is to put light on the surfaces the objects reflect, rather than the objects themselves. Thus if you want a nice highlight up the side of a golden statue you'd drape a sheet of white fabric in front and to the side of it and light it, not the statue. Then to cancel unwanted reflections in the object you place black cards or drapes between the statue and the object in the reflection to kill it. Google "Photographing Jewelry" and you'll find tutorials on how to photography reflective objects.

As a general rule of thumb you use diffuse light to minimize texture and direct light to reveal it. In either case what makes the shadows harsh isn't the character of the light, but rather how much fill the shadows have. Just consider that if fill on the camera axis is slowly increased to the point where it overpowers the shadow producing key light off to the side the shadows (and texture) will appear to get lighter and lighter until they disappear entirely and the flat fill completely overpowers the directional light.

What the character (direction of light rays relative to source) controls is the rate of transition between highlight and shadow, or in other words how hard or soft the shadows are. Note its the shadow transitions, not the light itself which is hard or soft.

So the essence of controlling the rendering of texture and detail is a balance between choosing how hard or soft the shadows need to be to best represent the texture of the 3D object in the 2D reproduction by selecting the modifier and distance at which it is used, and then using the key / fill ratio to modulate the appearance with contrast; making the shadows appear dark which will created the illusion of depth and height, or well filled and light in tone which will create the illusion of smoother texture and less depth and height.

The best way to learn this is practice on different types of objects with different types of light. All you really need to grasp the principles is a 6" metal statue, 6" terra cotta statue, a basket (for texture exercises), a couple of goose neck desk lamps and a couple pieces of tissue paper or translucent fabric to diffuse the light and a variety of white and black cards to use as reflectors and flags. When you can achieve the desired lighting with that stuff on your kitchen table you will know how to tackle this project and what tools you need.

CG