Camera Questions..

[deltakiloworks]

Hi Crysta, did you use a macro lens with your G10 to achieve that shot? I understand the G10 came with a tele-converter. Thanks.


Amazing pictures btw.

 

[Midknight xrs]

Zon, what you could do for that is actually just a few natural colored lights in a white room reflecting off the walls. I'm a natural light person, so f-stop, aperture and iso are the more important parts for me. using a flash is just ugly. for a home made diffuser, you could use a white cloth, maybe muslin, and diffuse it from there. otherwise, just work on the proper settings for low light situations.

 

[MattInNYC]

Great answer, Matt. Any opinion on setting up light tents? Trying to find the right bulbs to set up a photo station in a very dark house. Would like to go flashless and rely on the lights and maybe a homemade diffuser at most. I'm terribly cheap and love DIY...

Thanks zonbonzovi. When it comes to lighting I actually do prefer speedlight flashes indoors, they give you more control of lighting power, and allow for a lot of other options such rear curtain, high speed sync, multiple flashes in a single exposure... etc. For an always-on hot light setup when shooting video, my friend and I use something like this http://www.adorama.com/JTHL2000PLK.html

However, for your DIY setup, you don't really need any special kind of bulb as long as your camera's white balance is correct and all the light is coming from the same type of source. Standard household incandescent bulbs are just fine, you just want to set your camera's white balance to tungsten. Of course if you want to you could get a daylight balanced bulb like this as well http://www.amazon.com/ePhoto-Photography-Daylight-Fluorescent-balanced/dp/B0041SS07W

One thing I've done before when shooting animals in tanks is use a couple of those table top clamp lamps (the kind with a jointed arm), if you have one on either side of the tank you can maneuver them around and control your lighting pretty well. As far as diffusers, there are an endless variety you can buy at places like B&H or Adorama. Sticking with the DIY plan though, you can also just tape a piece of standard white printer paper over your light source, adjusting the distance as needed, and get a pretty effective diffuser that won't affect your white balance. An actual light tent or light box is great for static subjects, but unless your tank is really easy to move around or you plan on having the animals out of the tank, movable lights are probably better. Hope this was helpful.

 

[Crysta]

Hi Crysta, did you use a macro lens with your G10 to achieve that shot? I understand the G10 came with a tele-converter. Thanks.


Amazing pictures btw.

thanks
just a steady hand and a good subject, no teleconverter here

 

[MattInNYC]

using a flash is just ugly.

I'm all for natural light too, I'd much rather shoot outdoors in daylight. I can't agree with that comment though, using flash is only ugly if you have no idea how to set up flash. Most commonly when it's not diffused at all, pointed directly at the subject, and overpowered. If it's done properly it will look like natural lighting.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Thanks Matt & Midknight. I prefer natural light over anything else, as well, but my home state hides the sun during winter for budgetary reasons. I've messed about with every cheap bulb available(the "outdoor" bulbs didn't cut it...not enough ambient light), mirrors, homemade reflectors and even bought one of those indoor construction lights(hot and still not enough but great for painting your wall:laugh.

I'm secretly expecting a low end ring flash for Xmas but will try your suggestion of multi natural lights and if that doesn't work...drop some coin.

I've been trying to emulate photos in the latter part of this thread as we rock the same setup, sans 1000 watt bulbs: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?123509-Ice-Cold-Milk-Picture-Thread/page6

In summer, no problem. Otherwise...

Cheers!

 

[kgrigoryev]

Thanks a lot. You are right about the point and shoot camera doing the job. I wanted to ask more about how much light you need and what kind of artificial lighting is safe to use.