Light help

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  • 02-09-2010, 05:21 PM
    Frog
    Light help
    A friend sells bookmarks with charms.
    She wanted me to edit some photos they would be taking and I said, "why don't you just let me take the photos". OOPS!

    They brought down two lights with some sort of special bulbs and on stands. Vertical stands, no tilt, but the lights themselves tilt. One has a narrow hood, 5 to 6 inches, the other has a wider hood, 10 to 12 inches. They said the light bulbs have a 5 hour life and they get very hot. The bulbs are the same in each light.
    They also brought a box they had made. Some hard white board, totally open on one end, two sides about 8" high and a back about 10/12" high, and a white bottom.
    My camera is on a tripod with arm extended a bit horizontally. I have the planes very close between lens and subject by using a level.
    I'm using a Tamron 90mm macro lens and have good focus.

    I'm having trouble getting rid of the shadows though I've come close. I don't have a lot of room to move the lights without hitting the camera. They're very close now. So close my hair almost catches on fire when I'm trying to look into the viewfinder to set aperture/shutter speed but it is the closest I've come to having no shadows at all.

    Sorry if it is more info than you need but figured better too much than not enough.
    I'll try to get a pic in a little while of what's there.

    I figure once I get one shot just right, I can then just take those charms out and put another one and it will be ready to go. Probably a hundred various pairs of charms.

    Any hints will be appreciated and I am now admire the knowledge used for these lighting techniques more than I used to. Always something I avoided before. But hey, I'm going to make a little money off it.
  • 02-09-2010, 06:39 PM
    Frog
    1 Attachment(s)
    Re: Light help
    Ok...here's a shot, though not a good one, of what I've got going.
    I did change some by using a low stool instead of a table to put the box on. This makes it so I can get both lights closer and more directly overhead which I think is helping a lot.
    Also, I have the box turned differently. What is showing as the back in the pic was the bottom.
    Camera isn't on tripod head as its in my hand and tripod head is turned wrong way in pic but you get the idea.
    After taking the pic, I did move the lights just a little and from what I could see through my eyes, I didn't see any shadows. I'll have the camera a bit farther away but have plenty of room for cropping to size she wants.
    This is outside under a tarp shed so it got too dark to continue tonight.

    Anything else I should watch out for?

    Oh, and I'm going to have to make him a new box as I got this one dirty when I didn't realize my finger was bleeding from something else and blood doesn't come off of foam core poster board....lol.