No pictures - A Serious Question

Bilsen

Hi all,


I'll be starting to move indoors for the winter :cry and I have a question for them what know.


How do you choose your Aperture value for indoor lighting??:scratch


I know how to meter the strobe/flash with my L 358. However, being an outdoor shooter it's a bit backwwards for me since, unlike outdoors, I can adjust the lights and power. So if I can adjust the strobes to give me a set Av value (say at SS 1/200th), what goes into choosing f5.6 as opposed to f8 or f 2.8??


Also, if I use a 2 light system, how do you decide on the different f stops between the two?

I realize this is probably a more complex question that it seems but I'm genuinely curious to hear what you indoor people have to say.


Thanks.

Zerodog

It all works the same. Especially with lights. You are controlling it. It depends on how much you want to balance ambient. Just like outside. You will just need to play with it to try it out. I shoot the same as I do inside as outside. I know that I need to shoot at 1/200 or less. I then choose my aperture based on the DOF I want. Then adjust the ISO and lights to make this happen. If I need less DOF and run out of ISO I just start adding ND filters. There is no 1 answer for any of this. So much depends on your lighting setup, modifiers, distance, reflections and bounced light. It also depends on your camera too. What ISOs can you tolerate? Too many variables for a straight answer.

Bilsen

That's actually a pretty straight answer. Thanks you.

Bryce Wilson

Bilsen wrote: »

Also, if I use a 2 light system, how do you decide on the different f stops between the two?

The answer to this, at least to me, depends on what you are lighting with the second light. Fill, hair, background, highlights, rim, etc.

Bilsen

Well what I've got so far is that for hair and rim use a stop less (ie main = 8, fill, hair, rim = 5.6) and if lighting BKG go 1-1.5 stops higher than main. Sound right??

Bryce Wilson

If using second light for fill on full length and three quarter poses, I like a three to one ratio. Maybe even a touch less. It softens shadows but still gives you nice shape. All the vintage kids shots you see from me are done with two lights in the three to one ratio.

As far as hair light is concerned, some depends on the color of the hair in conjunction with the color of the background. I use less on a blonde and more on a dark brunette.

Hackbone

Like Bryce said, a 3 to 1 ratio gives pleasing open shadows. Now the question here is what gives a 3 to 1 ratio? A one stop difference between your main and fill is 3 to 1 with the main being the more powerful. Ex Main @ f8. And fill @5.6 You will blend/adjust this with ambient light to your needs.

On the hairlight a blond needs less light than a brunett so chimp there to get the correct effect.

If you have a person with a rough complexion or facial bumps watch out for the kicker. It will bring them out and retouching is a devil on those.

To meter with the Sekonic I sort of aim the dome somewhere between the main and fill.

Hope that is what you are asking.

Bilsen

Bryce and Hack, THANK YOU.

This is exactly the specific type of information I asked for.

I'm still listening.

BrettDeutsch

All the info above is good, but for this one I'd suggest a book, DVD, etc. (depending on your learning style). There's so much more to studio lighting than can be explained in a quick post. And there are tons of good tutorials out there.

Bilsen

Thanks Brett.

I have a couple of books on the basics and I've done a couple of workshops with pros on basics.

My best way of learning is screwing up and doing better. I did that last year and got incrementally better as the winter progressed. Hopefully I'll get farther along this year.

Sam

Forget all the above. Here is the real answer:

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</td></tr></tbody></table>Sam

Bilsen

Sam

So the total answer is 6.63546 ???

coolpinsky

ha ha 6.63546
Bilsen - I see, you are pretty good - so just do some tests and will be ok