Creative Artificial Lighting
by Chris Simmons

April 12, 2002

• Artificial Lighting (Strobe)
  • goals
    • minimize backscatter
    • natural looking light
      • shadow under the subject (lit from above or to the side; _Not_ below: when shooting verticals, remember to move your strobes.)
    • correct exposure
      • what’s the guide number of your strobe? (guide number/strobe to subject distance = aperture at 1/film speed)
      • strobe to subject distance
      • aperture
      • subject reflectivity
  • things to remember
    • your eye is much more sensitive than the film (2 to 3 stops for film, 8 to 10 stops for your eye)
    • Everything you see is analyzed by your mind and a perception formed. Not so with film, what the lens sees the film records (a literal view without though/perception)
  • Illustrations in Flash
  • single strobe
    • harsh shadows (if not diffused)
    • very directional light
    • can be used for interesting lighting (texture)
  • dual strobes
    • balanced light (no harsh shadows; but, sometimes the light can look flat)
    • use one flash as the main light source and the other as fill (maybe w/ a diffuser)
  • edge lighting (demo & illustration)
    • used to eliminate backscatter
    • illumates subject not the water between the lens and the subject
  • diffusers
    • what do they do?
      • look at your shadow on a foggy/overcast day. What do you see? (a faint or nonexistent shadow, because the light comes from many directions)
      • look at your shadow on a bright sunny day. What do you see? (a crisp dark shadow, because the light is a point source, the sun)
    • a diffuser will cause your strobe to loose a stop or two depending on the translucency of the plastic.
    • the water can act as a diffuser also. (a powerful strobe further away)
  • backlit
    • can bring out detail in translucent subjects
    • used with colored translucent plastic panels and a slave strobe can provide blue negative space in macro shots.
  • snoots
    • they narrow the beam down (kind of turning your strobe’s wide beam into a spot)
    • can make dramatic shots
    • aiming is critical
  • reflectors
    • used when shooting macro with a single strobe
    • a plastic slate wrapped in crinkled aluminum foil
• Practice (& Visualize) on dry land
  • what you’ll need:
    • 2 small flash lights
    • a few models (house plants, plastic bugs/lizards/frogs, etc.
    • a piece of colored transparent film
    • some thin white plastic (grocery bags)
    • a rubber band
  • exercise #1
    • arrange your models on a table in a room that can be totally darkened
    • tape the colored plastic film over the bezel of one of your flashlights
    • turn on the uncovered flashlight
    • turn off the room lights
    • pretend your eyes are the camera’s lens and your arm is the camera system’s strobe arm
    • position your eye where you would want the camera lens to be
    • experiment with the lighting
      • from the side pointed at the subject
      • from the side pointed straight ahead or angled in slightly
      • from above your eyes angled down directly at your subject
      • from above your eyes angled down slightly at your subject
      • from directly above your subject
      • from behind the subject
    • pay close attention to what the beam of the flashlight illuminates and how the shadows appear
    • what looks natural to your eye?
  • exercise #2
    • tape the thin white plastic over the flashlight’s bezel (diffusing the light)
    • repeat exercise #1
    • what did you see that was different?
    • look at the shadows when using it.
  • exercise #3
    • remove thethin white plastic from your flashlight
    • turn on the second flashlight (the one with the colored plastic wrap) Note: the plastic wrap allows you to see what each strobe is illuminating.
    • hold a flashlight in each hand
    • experiment with lighting positions
      • a strobe on each side pointing in toward the subject
      • a strobe on each side pointing straight ahead
      • one strobe above, one to the side
      • both strobes above and to each side
      • one strobe behind the subject, the other above
    • what did you see? shadows?
  • exercise #4
    • put the thin white plastic on the bare flash light
    • repeat exercise #3 using the diffused flashlight as your “fill” flash
    • what did you see?
  • exercise #5
    • experiment with different subject to strobe distances by moving the flashlight(s) closer and further away.