winnjewett wrote:
Well, I am very excited. I'm about to purchase a house with two two car garages (yes that's two, two car garages). One is attached, and one is detached. Right now, I am debating whether to put the studio in the attached one, or the detached one.
The advantage of the attached one is that all the ammenities (namely the bathroom) are not far away, and not across an outside path.
The advantage of the detached one is that I will be able to start working on remodeling it sooner (I can't move into the house until July 1st, but I will have access to the detached garage by the end of the month.
Remodel a bathroom with running water into the 2nd garage!!!
There everything is said and done!!! No more to decide!!! HAHA
Actually first ask which one has higher ceilings cause this may play a big role in your creativity. Second how is the heating/cooling control in the 2nd garage compared to the attached? You don't want to work in uncomfortable conditions.
Personally I'd prefer the detached cause I'm away from others but I may just be asocial :P HEHE
Graham, that's awesome. I have a similiar set up but my end results are not as impressive as yours. Can you share in more detail exactly how your box is designed for the watch photo?
You can take a look at my set up here: http://tinyurl.com/5v7j9
There's not too much to describe.
-went to home depot and bought a large piece of white material (ceiling tiles here). Also bought some 90degree brackets, flat washers and bolts to hold the corners together.
-used a saw to cut the material into 5 pieces
-assemble into a box with one open face
-cut a square out of one of the side pieces to be the front
-use long bolts to set this square cutout piece a few inches back from the outer wall
-stick a light in the box
Well, my garage conversion is nearly complete. I'll be waiting a little while to get the final paint job done, but believe me, the priming work on these 12' 6" ceilings really kicked my butt.
It's really a GREAT feeling to be sitting here with an empty space, nice clean walls, and my full 10' x 20' background setup and not have it running into anything.
The overall space is 16' x 22' and I think I'm going to love it. My only hated thing is that I didn't want to get rid of the garage door which means I still have the rails that it's mounted to sticking out into the room. I'm trying to decide what to do with that crap, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.
Michael_Sexton wrote:
JohnE, do you use a light meter such as the Sekonic L-358. I am considering purchasing one of these but I don't know if it's worth the money or not, atleast for me. Will I see a big difference if I use such an instrument? Every photo I take I feel as though the exposure is lacking at some point somewhere.
Thanks for the reply earlier and I appreciate people such as yourself who are considerate and willing help the needy.
Hi Michael,
My pleasure.
I use the Sekonic L408. I'm not sure the brand is all that important. I use the meter when I'm lighting a new situation and I don't want to do (or don't) have the time to do trial and error (i.e. read and adjust to the histogram.) I found that the more I shot in the studio, the more I knew where to set the output on the Alien Bee's to get the effect I desired. When I shoot a different situation or when shooting outdoors, I use the meter and I meter the output of each light.
netimages wrote:
Hi John !
Thks for your response on that one.
I've canceled the garage plans since.
{I would prefer a new house at this stage +wink+}
Have another question though about your picture and the over head hair light.
I've found that mine seems to over-heat and shut itself off in that position so I open up some of the flaps in the half dome. Same problem. So next time I reduced he modelling lamp and it still over-heated ? Since the modelling lamp isn't all that important for a hair light I've decided to turn it off next time around.
Just curious, have you had this type of problem with the overhead half dome ?
Thks ! ...Show more →
Ouch... no, I've never had the hairlight or any of the lights overheat (I use 150 watt halogens in each light.) I wonder if you might be having a problem with that light.?
In a prior post, you mentioned that you "meter each light individually", but set your main to be F11@1/250.
Could you please elaborate a little more on what the "non-main lights" would be metered at? Does this mean, that if you were using 4 lights, then you would have 4 separate readings?
Where would the meter be held when metering the various lights, and what direction would the light meter be held at? (ie: near the model's face, facing each light souce, held near the light source, facing camera, etc...)
What's that saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words". So, if you don't mind, (and it's not too much trouble), could you please post a sample image and list what each light source was metered at?
Sorry about the "newbie-like" questions.
Sincerely,
Randal
PS..... What a fantastic topic! I wonder what type of "sales spike" has occurred on "studio equipment", since the start of this topic.
The reason you meter each light different is for aspect ratios. Say, you have a fill light at f/11, and you're fill light at f/5.6 and your background light(s) at f/22.
This would work best with a white background, as now you're focus is lit perfectly. The other side of the face would be 4 times darker than the other (a 1:4 or 4:1 ratio). So in some cases, your camera might not have the Dynamic Range to even record any info from that side of the face, leaving it pitch black (in theory.) Now, since your background is 4 times brighter than your subject, you might completely blow it out, or if it's white, it will be pure white (what I like to call ultra high key.)
Now, the reason why I said, "In theory" is because of light spill. Just because you have a 4:1 ration doesn't mean the light will fall that way. You will get some spill on the darker side, and vice versa. You will also get spill on your background too. So now your real ratio is 2.5:1 and your background is now 5 times brighter than the subject.
So there are three ways to meter.
1. Put the meter directly in front of the subjects eyes. And go with that exposure.
2. Place the meter in the intended area of illumumination. If you're trying to light the left and right sides seperately, meter both sides of the face with the meter pointing towards the main light source for that area. If you're in the shadow half the of the face, meter towards the kicker/fill. (I prefer this because it gives a truer representation of what's actually going on.)
3. Meter with only one light at a time. If you have 4 lights, this means a lot of turning off and on. I do not recommend this as it's a lot of work (unless you have a remote control) and it doesn't give an accurate feel. You could meter the face, but the fill light spills and now you're face is overexposed.
I'm sure there are more ways to meter, but those are some basics.
rantonishak wrote:
What's that saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words". So, if you don't mind, (and it's not too much trouble), could you please post a sample image and list what each light source was metered at?
Sorry about the "newbie-like" questions.
Sincerely,
Randal
Randal,
Try the first few pages of this thread and you should see a setup picture of John's studio, if the picture is still there. I believe it had the readings listed.
Carl
P.S. Mr. Moderator - please leave this thread as a "sticky" at the top of the board - it is still worth having it posted up there. Otherwise, I will have to keep bumping it back to the top.
I will be purchasing my first light kit and am looking for advice and opinions for the following set. Please have a look and tell me what you think..
Newbie here so I need all the help I can get. I am also thinking about purchasing a Sekonic light meter as well. I would appreciate your views on the use of such product as well.
Thanks for the greatly needed assistance.
Michael_Sexton wrote:
CarlG, I will soon be returning from Germany headed for Lakeland. Maybe we can have coffee sometime...
Mike, let me know - I would be happy to...just give me enough advance notice, please. Between the full time corporate job and shooting on the weekends, I may opt for a beer instead! I know it won't be German beer, but...
Michael_Sexton wrote:
I will be purchasing my first light kit and am looking for advice and opinions for the following set. Please have a look and tell me what you think..
Newbie here so I need all the help I can get. I am also thinking about purchasing a Sekonic light meter as well. I would appreciate your views on the use of such product as well.
Thanks for the greatly needed assistance.
Personally, I cannot answer for the set you linked us to but these are continuous, tungsten lights. It will get hot, I imagine, for the model. Just make sure you use these in a well ventilated room to keep the air moving so that your models don't pass out. Again, not spoken from experience but a general statement about continuous tungsten lighting.
You may want to opt for a couple of Alien Bees - a two light kit may be a good route for you, and still fairly reasonable in price. You would have more control over your lighting and will avoid having to provide CPR for your models!
BlueEyesPhoto wrote:
The reason you meter each light different is for aspect ratios. Say, you have a fill light at f/11, and you're fill light at f/5.6 and your background light(s) at f/22.
This would work best with a white background, as now you're focus is lit perfectly. The other side of the face would be 4 times darker than the other (a 1:4 or 4:1 ratio). So in some cases, your camera might not have the Dynamic Range to even record any info from that side of the face, leaving it pitch black (in theory.) Now, since your background is 4 times brighter than your subject, you might completely blow it out, or if it's white, it will be pure white (what I like to call ultra high key.)
Now, the reason why I said, "In theory" is because of light spill. Just because you have a 4:1 ration doesn't mean the light will fall that way. You will get some spill on the darker side, and vice versa. You will also get spill on your background too. So now your real ratio is 2.5:1 and your background is now 5 times brighter than the subject.
So there are three ways to meter.
1. Put the meter directly in front of the subjects eyes. And go with that exposure.
2. Place the meter in the intended area of illumumination. If you're trying to light the left and right sides seperately, meter both sides of the face with the meter pointing towards the main light source for that area. If you're in the shadow half the of the face, meter towards the kicker/fill. (I prefer this because it gives a truer representation of what's actually going on.)
3. Meter with only one light at a time. If you have 4 lights, this means a lot of turning off and on. I do not recommend this as it's a lot of work (unless you have a remote control) and it doesn't give an accurate feel. You could meter the face, but the fill light spills and now you're face is overexposed.
I'm sure there are more ways to meter, but those are some basics....Show more →
Try the first few pages of this thread and you should see a setup picture of John's studio, if the picture is still there. I believe it had the readings listed.
Carl
P.S. Mr. Moderator - please leave this thread as a "sticky" at the top of the board - it is still worth having it posted up there. Otherwise, I will have to keep bumping it back to the top.
Hello CarlG,
Thank you for the info.
I knew about the image samples, and went back through the 1st 15 pages looking for the readings. Unfortunately, I could NOT find any samples with metered readings posted.
So, John if you are listening (or reading). and it's not too much trouble, could you please post a sample image and list what each light source was metered at?
CarlG, coffee or beer either one sounds good to me.
About the lights, are you saying that I would be better off not using continuous lighting and use strobes instead? I'm not new to photography but I am new to lighting so I really don't know what is best. At the moment I am using a Digital Rebel EOS-300D and it does not have a pc port on it for triggering the lights. I am aware of external add-on pc units but I don't have any idea about exactly what I would need or how to set it up. I really want to get a good set of lights that I will be happy with but most of all the photos as a result of the lights. Any advise or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
itdphoto, sure you are more than wlecome...to come along. Are you in the Tampa area as well?
You would be better off with strobes mostly because of the heat factor.
For learning purposes you might be better with continous lighting just so you can "see" the light better. And then play with shutter and aperature to give the light different textures.
But, you can also do that with modelling lamps. :-p just not as bright.
But yes, you would need a hotshoe adapter for the PC sync cord. Whenever you upgrade your camera, that won't be a problem, but for now, you can always work around that. Or even pocket wizards would work, and you can use them later on.
So what's going on over in Tampa? I'm over in Orlando.
No more to decide!!! HAHA