Studio Lighting?

nikon90

Okay I have a studio lighting question. This is a cheap budget here, I am using little spot lights that I bought at the hardware store. They can use bulbs up to 150 watt in this picture I only used 75. My question is how do I get rid of the shadow? I have 2 lights I moved them every which way, nothing. One light was almost directly in front the other off to the left. I used my flash and still have the shadow. Do I need more lights or more wattage or both? I love photographing my husband's basses but I always get the shadow unless I lay them down and I don't want every shot to be laying down. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

wxwax

I'm no expert, but I think the issue is that you have a narrow beam of intense light. If you can diffuse it, spread it out, you'll remove the harsh shadows. Are you bouncing the light off an umbrella, at least? Big soft boxes seem to work well.

Others who know more may be more helpful to you.

mercphoto

shadows
Looks like your flash is causing the shadow. Are you sure you need the flash on? Also, using spotlights like at hardware stores is an issue. Each causes its own shadow. Using two won't cancel the shadows out, it just makes two shadows. You need to diffuse the light.

Get the bass farther from the background. Get the lights farther from the bass. Put something to diffuse the light inbetween, such as frosted glass, thin white cloth, etc. You will likely need to use a tripod and a long shutter after doing this, as the amount of light will drop, but its quality will get softer.

nikon90

Thank you for your suggestions. I'll try to figure out a way to diffuse the light and move the bass from the background. I don't have a lot of room to do this but I'll try anything to improve the pictures. I do have to use the flash because there is not a lot of light in here. I hope to buy a small light system in the future but for now I have to work cheaply. I'll check into the frosted glass or the cloth for diffusing purposes. Thanks again for the suggestions I do appreciate it.

FreeUps

Diffusion technique
Nikon , the best suggestion for diffusing light - at least that I can give you- is this: Once you buy yourself some diffusion sheets, remember one thing, its not the more diffusion you use that will kill shadows, its the further from the light it is that will kill the shadows.

It works like this: The further away the diffusion is, the more it will spread/diffuse the beams of light.

Do this: hold a nice sized sheet of diffusion in front of the light, move it around, see how it effects the harshness of the shadows. The farther from the lights you can get it, I.E. the closer the subject it is, the better. Once you get it as close as you can, if it's still not enough, then you can start doubling-over sheets.

I never double-over though. If the light is still too harsh, then I suggest investing in some umbrellas or bounce boards. Bounce boards and diffusion together are my best friends for studio shooting. I wouldn't survive without them.

I hope I've made a slight bit of sense, I find myself having trouble explaining through text. hehe sorry.

spockling

nikon90 wrote:

Thank you for your suggestions. I'll try to figure out a way to diffuse the light and move the bass from the background. I don't have a lot of room to do this but I'll try anything to improve the pictures. I do have to use the flash because there is not a lot of light in here. I hope to buy a small light system in the future but for now I have to work cheaply. I'll check into the frosted glass or the cloth for diffusing purposes. Thanks again for the suggestions I do appreciate it.

How bout this?
http://super.nova.org/PhotoClass/PhotoClass02A_01.html

FreeUps

good link. Thanks spock!