Lighting that makes you swoon or cringe!

^^ got some for ya!

natural lighting in my living room actually turned out to be awesome.


whereas...lighting in my room at night= terrible!


canada outside on a mildly cloudy day.


some just outside, sunny day, but in the shade of a tree.


dorm lighting...flourescent.


sorry, they're all of zoe...lol just on on a roll with her i guess..! n.n;;

 

Here are a few pics I took last night of my little devils by the light of my bedside lamp. ^_^

 

Natural Lighting: Good and Bad

Bad natural lighting -- overcast, washed out:

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Artificial Lighting with Flash: Good and Bad

Poor Artificial Lighting with Flash -- stark and pale:

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Artificial Lighting with Lamps: Good and Bad

Good Photography using Artificial Light -- clear and warm:





Poor Photography using Artificial Light -- dark and unclear:

 

I love the way this picture of Kahlua turned out, and it was taken in a dark car in a dark parking lot with only the moon and my flash to light it



~Java-Wolf

 

I would love to see some candle light photos and hear about your technique - that can be a hard light to capture!

The lighting that makes me swoon is the lighting I use for 99% of my doll photos - outdoor, natural, open-shade lighting. And my favourite lighting of all is outdoor, open-shade lighting beneath a stormy sky!

 

I love natural lighting. I never use artificial lighting, so I have to rely on the sun to create the light for me. It takes a lot of patients waiting for the sun light to be just right. It makes such a nice atmosphere though.





If you would like to see the rest of the photos, the thread is here- http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167278

 

Few suggestions, if you aren't worried about the background setting use a light box. They can be built using pvc pipe and a white sheet. The sheet will help filter any harsh light that you may have.

Use the True Light bulbs rather than incandescent or fluorescent because they have a more blue tint to the light and simulate natural light better.

If you are using a digital camera, play with the settings on it.
I use a Cannon Powershot and I can adjust the lighting settings between daylight, cloudy, fluorescent, incandescent etc... I can also tell the camera to Auto Detect which helps at times.

 

I don't use a lot of natural lighting because in LA it's usually way too harsh and it's pretty difficult to diffuse it by myself.

So, 99% of my shots are artifical lighting.

However, that being said....



Two desklamps that I use for about 85% of my shoots.




One of the desklamps used.




Daylight, overcaste in Portland Oregon.




Daylight, Oregon and one reflected light back.




Full three studio lighting, three massive lights that are umbrella filtered.




Full sunlight, over exposed. Bad. Saved in photoshop.




Daylight, overexposed. Whee!

 

Wow! I was just surfing through all the photos here and had to take a double take of Zagzagael second pix of Angel..I though it was an actual person ..kudos to you and every body else for there fantastic eye candy

 

Mercy is like a Photography God. D: jeebus. ~

I like to take my pictures outside in sunset/sunrise settings. It's a pain waiting the whole day to get like 45 minutes of shoot time, but I think it is really worth it in the end result.

I want some studiolights...<_<;

 

Ai Kazi-That second photo of your girl is just gorgeous!

 

I agree!

This is an outdoor photo taken during sunset. That is a good time to take pictures although you don't have much time during...


This gives his eyes a watery look.



I always try my best to not make them look unrealistic....^^

 

awe! Thankyou ArcaneMuse!!

And Izam I practically stalk all your photo-threads *-* You always have such artistically pleasing photos! t

I've recently discovered that rainy days with a partial sun make for beautiful pictures

I want to try this candle light.. I'd love to see some pictures. (has always had problems with candles ; my backdrop caught on fire the last time i tried to do one DX)

 

^she's so lovely ^O^ I want to try candle light photos too but I'm afraid of fire hazard >_<

 

Thankyou Izam~! ^w^ ~

My friend actually used a tyle of this Plexi-glass looking thing on the bottom and was able to take some really nice Candle light pictures. ( I am going to try doing that this weekend to see how it comes out! XD)

 

That's really cool eleniel!

I'd love to see someone use a fireplace ~ It's close to that time of year... o3o ~ ~

 

It would be wonderful and super helpful if those posting these gorgeous photos would take a bit of time to explain their methods - setup, lighting angles, lighting source, camera settings, lens type!

Great work with swooning lighting!

 

Being a non-trained photographer without knowledge of higher techniques.. my methods are simple. I blame most of the decency in my shots on my camera, which has a Shneider lense. Other than that, I use the "self portrait" setting, which helps it to take the super closeups without much blurryness. Also, I use the viewy thingie instead of the LCD screen when taking pictures, due to my less-than-steady hands, so that my face can help keep the camera steady. When it's dark enough to need flash, I usually take the picture from a distance, with zoom, so that the light from the flash has oppertunity to diffuse a bit instead of turning my dolls into vampires. I also take a bajillion shots of the same thing over and over, with slight variance in angle and zoom level, so that when it comes time to upload, and I can pick and choose favorites, and allow for inconsistancy in quality.. so I very rarely have to go, "Damn, I really like that angle.. but it's blurry! D:" Other than that, my camera does most of the work. Not sure if that helps anyone, but there ya have it.

 

XD there is really no secret for mine~ I like to use a lot of natural sun and a telephoto lens (I totally cheat with these XP)

I do however fiddle with different f-stops and shutterspeeds...but I wouldn't be able to explain those without confusing everyone and then probably myself!

My tip is to find a nice lighting outside. Not too bright, but not too dark. It's that "middle grey" that really makes everything stand out

 

SUPER!
I love seeing these
I just had like a..doll collection refresh so I'm testing my new girls resin and light like crazy @_@
So i like to see what others have found.

Anyway...mine XB

TL light setting on my cam in a medium light room:


Yellow filter (what see trough paper can do XB )


What happens when i photograph into the sun?


Blue see trough paper XB (jup I'm to lazy for photoshop o_o" )


My huge work lamp.. i have a daylight lamp and a yellow lamp..
this case i used the yellow lamp (doh XB )

 

I had a play around with backlighting my boy over the weekend (using two daylight lamps, one infront amd one behind with a defuser between it and him) and got these:

 

River ~ THAT lighting certainly has me swooning. The second shot is stellar - diffusing will still give your all the lovely curves and edges, just not the harsh shadows! Well done!!!