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Lighting Tutorial ~ Playing with shadows

Jul 25, 2008

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    1. Lighting is something I really enjoy playing around with and this particular style is one I love to use as I adore the feeling of depth it gives. While I'm no expert I thought I'd take a pop at explaining how it's done.
      Since this is more about the actual lighting I haven't gone into great depth regarding post processing but I can expand on that if anyone wants me too.


      So how can you achieve shots like this?

      [​IMG] [​IMG]​

      While the effect may look it, it's really not very complicated to do...


      The background
      To achieve a black (or near black) background I use dark fabric, in this case it was a few layers of dark brown and blue chiffon but the fabic itself doesn't really matter as long as its not reflective. Velvet would be a good choice as it 'soaks' up the light. Card can also work, pretty much just anything that's a solid colour and non-reflective.


      The Lights
      While its more typical to use two or even 3 lights for portrait style photography, for these shots I only use the one light positioned at roughly 45 degrees off to the side of the subject. You can vary this though depending on the ratio of light:dark you want. Also be careful not to position the light too close as you'll run the risk of burning out the highlights (i.e. when the highlights are a bright white and loose all the detail, you can actually see this in the example photos). Keeping them at least a foot or more away from the subject should do the trick but it may vary depending on how powerful your lights are.

      The basic layout of lamp, subject etc is as follows:
      [​IMG]​


      Camera Settings
      If your camera is set on auto it will try to expose uniformly, or as close as it can, but we don't want it to do that as we want to preserve and even exaggerate the contrast here. There's no hard and fast rule for settings to be honest but if your camera allows you too I usually try to underexpose a little. So if you can dictate the shutter speed, now's the time to experiment ^^

      The settings I usually use on my DSLR for these shots are (when using a 'normal' lens i.e. around 18-55mm F/3.5)... iso 200, as wide an aperture as possible (f4-ish) and a 1/60 ish shutter speed or you can knock the iso a little higher to speed up the shutter speed, it's worth experimenting to see what works best for you.


      Post-Processing
      Never be afraid to tweak shots after you've shot them. Pro's do it, everyone does it. A photo straight out of the camera (especially those shot in RAW) are in essence digital negatives, every single photoshop effect (perhaps with the exception of those silly filters) where once upon a time done on film with chemicals. There's nothing new about it.

      Both the example shots actually only required minimal tweaking. The main tweaks I usually do are levels and curves to give the contrast that extra bit of punch and perhaps variations to correct a colour cast. Every shot is different though so I really recommend experimenting.



      I hope that helps ^^
       
      #1 River, Jul 25, 2008
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    2. This is amazing! Man I wish I had photoshop and a good camera.
       
      #2 SystemRose, Jul 25, 2008
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    3. You don't need expensive photoshop. There are lower cost (around $100 or lower) and free versions that, while you can't tweak the universe, do allow for a variety of adjustments and SFX.

      And almost every point and shoot these days has a P or programming function in which you can play with the aperture and ISO speed, or, at the least, have a numerical under/over exposure adjustment sliding control in the menus.
       
      #3 hobbywhelmed, Jul 25, 2008
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    4. Wow, thank you so much! I have just recently decided to start photography for my girls and honestly have no idea what I am doing ^^; This helps a lot; thank you so much!
       
      #4 ragdoll, Jul 25, 2008
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    5. This is extremely helpful :3 thank you for sharing River.
       
      #5 Aya Dear, Jul 25, 2008
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    6. Wow! Super helpful, river! This is really great!
       
      #6 Monika, Jul 27, 2008
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    7. Thanks for this, it's extremely helpful. :3

      Can I ask though, what type of bulb was in your lamp? And what time of day were these taken? (Like, was there daylight or not?)

      Thanks again!
       
      #7 Poppa, Jul 31, 2008
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    8. The bulbs in my lamps are daylight bulbs (i.e. with a colour temperature around 5500k-6000k), any kind of bulb should work you many just need to remove a colour cast if you're using an incandescent light bulb.

      If I remember correctly they where both taken with very little daylight.
       
      #8 River, Jul 31, 2008
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    9. Good tips, thank you for sharing!!
       
      #9 sophiesoliday, Aug 2, 2008
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    10. thank you so much for the wonderful tutorial!
       
      #10 Absynthe, Aug 17, 2008
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    11. It's really good tip.
       
      #11 its_me, Aug 27, 2008
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    12. I like this setup too, and use it frequently. Here's a couple that I recently took when I didn't even bother to get out the DSLR. I used an older 4 MP point-and-shoot... I set the exposure to -1, then just bumped the contrast a bit in PhotoPaint. The background was dark brown but it dropped off into black quite nicely.

      [​IMG]

      [​IMG]
       
      #12 The Elf Piper, Aug 27, 2008
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    13. Thanks for knowledge. Your photo is really good.
       
      #13 its_me, Sep 27, 2008
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    14. very helpful, im going to have to try it.
       
      #14 kumiyuki, Sep 27, 2008
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    15. Fantastic tutorial. I can't wait to get a chance to try it.
       
      #15 genie, Sep 27, 2008
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    16. Thanks for sharing your knowledge~ I'm going to try it.
       
      #16 whokn, Sep 28, 2008
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    17. One technical note:

      f4 would actually be as wide an aperture as possible. Apertures (the opening the light goes through, akin to the pupil in your eyes) get larger, the smaller the number (like measuring gauges of wire or body piercing jewelry).

      In this type of portrait photography, you do want a wide f-stop, like f4, as this will decrease depth of field and keep your backdrop nicely out of focus.

      Other than that note, it was a really great and useful tutorial! :) Thanks!
       
      #17 k-artist, Oct 5, 2008
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    18. To be honest just as a personal preference I often shoot my dolls at f1.4 with my 50mm... I'd say it's more a stylistic choice than a technical one depending on the look you're going for.

      I chose f4 as an example because when I'm using my kit lens that's as wide as it will generally go and it's more likely that most people will have a 'normal' or kit lens so it's a nice standard but like I say, the actual settings are down to personal preference. I suppose I just chose the wrong word with 'small' I was thinking small as in the number, I realise that the lower the number the wider the aperture. I'll fix that now.
       
      #18 River, Oct 5, 2008
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    19. Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!
       
      #19 chizzie_shark, Oct 21, 2008
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    20. -so- much love for this, thanks so much! My photography assignment for our school club this week was shadows, so I gave this a shot. It took a few dozen pictures to get the settings just right since I've never changed them before (XD, embarrassing I know) but I think I did okay :) I need a tripod though, I'm too shakey.

      [​IMG]
       
      #20 LexehAnn, Oct 25, 2008
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    21. wow river this is really neat! just the kind of pictures that really catch my eye

      i dont have a doll yet but im hoping to order one within the next month or two and while im waiting for it to arrive im going to buy a nice camera (mine = crap) will these pictures still be up in a few months? or do you break your links after a while? and may i ask what kind of camera you use?
       
      #21 octobercrow, Oct 26, 2008
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    22. Assuming photobucket don't delete them (though I can't imagine why they would) they'll be staying up so no worries there Octobercrow ^^

      Camera wise I use a Canon EOS 450d though at the time I did the tutorial I was using my old 350d
       
      #22 River, Oct 27, 2008
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    23. Great info, River. I have blundered my way into this effect in the past, but could never figure out later what exactly I did right. Thank you for spelling it out!
       
      #23 articula, Oct 27, 2008
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    24. River, I haven't read your thread yet... I just had to comment on your GORGEOUS pictures!!! (later) OK! I prefer natural light when taking pics but it's in part due to my difficulty with lighting. Now I am more tempted to experiment to try my hand at the more dramatic effects! Thanks!
       
      #24 Sukilala, Nov 1, 2008
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    25. Gorgeous picture-thank you for the lighting tips-will try this and see if I can 1/2 as good ;o)
       
      #25 Kellyann, Nov 2, 2008
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    26. Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing. I'll have to try it out once my doll comes in!
       
      #26 VisualK, Nov 21, 2008
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    27. I can't wait to try this out - once my doll gets here! <3
       
      #27 faerierain, Jan 1, 2009
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    28. Wow, I'll have to try this sometime!
       
      #28 Skitsofrenika, Jan 1, 2009
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    29. I hate to be argumentative, but nothing beats photoshop. I know that some people can't afford it, but they do offer amazing student discounts and I personally think it's worth it, if your serious about photo editing.
       
      #29 coonwho8canary, Jan 25, 2009
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    30. This is really helpful! Thank you for sharing! I will try it soon~~
       
      #30 megeko, Jan 26, 2009
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    31. This really helps! Thanks! My pictures were better instantly!
       
      #31 Tobi, May 29, 2009
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    32. thank you that is fantastic! :D
      quick question though! did you produced these photos in a low lit room though? or with the lights off. Or merely in a normal light room and it was the light and background that did all the shadows?
       
      #32 PnkJesta, Jun 11, 2009
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    33. Sorry for taking so long to reply PnkJesta, I did it with the lights on. I'm not exactly sure of the proper technical way of explaining it but because you're exposing for the lamps, which should be much brighter than the ambient light, it shouldn't have much impact on the over all effect.
       
      #33 River, Jun 17, 2009
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    34. thank you so much! I've been wondering how lighting works, I have a small knowing of it but this helped a lot ^^
       
      #34 delfiea, Aug 12, 2009
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    35. Just out of curiosity, do you generally use a tripod to take all your shots?
       
      #35 sylvian, Sep 23, 2009
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    36. I very rarely use a tripod to be honest. As long as your shutterspeed's fast enough you shouldn't really need one but with shots like the ones in this tutorial chances are you might since it's low light conditions.

      As a general rule of thumb, if you're using an SLR as long as your shutterspeed is faster than the focal length of your lens (around 1/60 sec minimum for a 18-55mm or 1/300 sec for a 75-300mm for example) handshake should never really be an issue so it's not really necessary to use a tripod.
       
      #36 River, Sep 24, 2009
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    37. This seems really helpful. I'm gonna have to try it out when I get a chance.
       
      #37 TheDarkMellon, Sep 30, 2009
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    38. I wish I'd understand all you were saying but actually I don't ^^;;;
      What I understood is:
      - the faster the shutterspeed, the smaller the chance to have blurry photos due to handshake
      - the wider the opening of the lens, the shallower you obtain on your photos

      as for focal length and the rest, I'm afraid these are for reflex only (I even doubt the points I understood and quoted above can really be tweaked with a numeric camera é__è )
       
      #38 clefdecristal, Oct 8, 2009
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    39. Unfortunately that's the nature of the difference between SLR's and Compacts, you'll always have far more control with an SLR so it's a matter of finding work arounds when it comes to compacts. Or if you find it far too limiting, upgrading.

      Yeah, the faster the shutter speed the less chance of blurry photos because the shutter moves faster than your hand, so it wont pick up the movement but if you're getting really bad handshake then either try introducing more light or use a tripod.

      In regards to this technique it's more about getting more light into the camera as the wider the opening in the lens (the aperture) the more light will get into the camera and so the faster the shutterspeed.
      'Shallower' I'm guessing is referring to the depth of field, which is also an effect of having the aperture wide open but a shallow dof really isn't as important here as getting a decent shutterspeed.
       
      #39 River, Oct 11, 2009
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    40. Thank you for the confirmations and all.

      When you say upgrade, the only way is to buy another camera, isn't it? Unless it is possible to upgrade just by adding an objective on your compact?
       
      #40 clefdecristal, Oct 12, 2009
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    41. I mean by buying a new camera ^^;
       
      #41 River, Oct 12, 2009
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    42. Thank you for this tutorial! I've taken photos a while now and always have to adjust levels, contrast, color balance, screen layer, overlay layer etc. I've finally figured out that lighting could possibly fix some of my woes. So, thank you so much!
       
      #42 Jen<3, Nov 20, 2009
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    43. Thank you for this, this is a great help!
       
      #43 Kyouki, Aug 10, 2010
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    44. Love the effect. I might have to go do some experimenting... I know all about bringing enough light into a picture, but have never dabbled with taking it away.
       
      #44 asianed, Aug 11, 2010
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    45. [​IMG]
      Gabriel, a light experiment by Mystaia, on Flickr

      Thanks for sharing this River! ^_^
      I gave it a try... but I'll have to give it another try again some other time. ^_^
      Next time I'll use a better fabric and maybe take his top off... heeheee!

      ~*Mystaia
       
      #45 Mystaia, Sep 6, 2010
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    46. Thank you for this tutorial, I've had a play and I think I need a little more practice! I'm pretty happy with a couple of the pics though:

      [​IMG]

      [​IMG]
       
      #46 Emmaboo, Sep 7, 2010
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    47. *wails* Thank you so much!!! *taking her Nikon D90 and huge black drape* This is avery VERY helpful tip! ^0^
       
      #47 NayaHaefnir, Nov 1, 2010
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    48. I've been looking Everywhere for thing type of photo tutorial! Thank You for sharing this! ^-^
       
      #48 Renearla, Jun 23, 2011
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    49. Very helpful stuff! I hope there are more tutorials (like how to properly diffuse light).
       
      #49 writerm, Aug 1, 2011
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    50. Thank you for this wonderful tutorial.
       
      #50 yessaid, Aug 27, 2011
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    51. You.... you have no idea how much I love you right now...
      I've always wondered how they did this!
      Thank you so very much....! :aheartbea
       
      #51 oninochi, Sep 11, 2011
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    52. I hope you don't mind but I added your tutorial here.
       
      #52 Zettai_Yoru, Sep 21, 2011
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    53. Oh I sooo like pics like there *__* The tutorial is really helpful for a newby with Reflex Camera like me XD

      I tried to take pics like these with a simple "cheap" digital camera(a sony steady-shot) and this are the results:

      [​IMG]

      [​IMG]

      [​IMG]

      I think they're not too bad considering the camera I've used. The only important thing is, to avoid shaking as good as possible <.<

      I will retry with my reflex camera and see if it will be better *_*
       
      #53 uchan, Oct 21, 2011
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    54. Uchan, your pictures are so nice! You give me hope yet for getting some decent shots out of my crappy digital camera. *_*
       
      #54 Zabb, Oct 27, 2011
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    55. it's too bad I don't have my camera with me right now XD I'm excited to try this.
       
      #55 SukiMuffin, Dec 1, 2011
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    56. WOOW! This tutorial has helped me so much!!! Thank you! I just love these type of pictures, they create so much mood :)
       
      #56 CherryGirlRox, Dec 16, 2011
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    57. Thank you ever so much for this tutorial, I was trying to achieve this effect the other night and it failed miserably! I cant wait to do a set up and try again.
       
      #57 Soulgirl, Dec 16, 2011
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    58. I should try this one, very helpful information :) thank you
       
      #58 MsLena, May 21, 2012
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    59. good tip thank you ><
       
      #59 davi, Mar 29, 2013
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    60. I did this a bit ago with one of my girls. I took a few of them but I'll just share this one xD

      [​IMG]
      ... by { Jenny Taylor }, on Flickr
       
      #60 jennspeaks, May 31, 2013
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