Studio on a Shoestring

Studio Lighting for Dolls and Other Small Objects

Interview with Kenya Mason

Phenomenal lighting from the tiniest of studios…and perhaps the beginning of a new interview series.

I love Flickr. It is one of my favorite avoid-what-I-really-need-to-be-doing distractions.

I love great lighting too, and get really excited when I see well lit, carefully crafted images.

Insomnia can be your friend.

Occasionally sleep eludes me and I seek the solace of beautiful imagery.

That was a really poetic way to say when I’m whacked out of my mind due to not being able to sleep, I wander the house in a daze late into the night and in between peeping thru the neighbor’s windows and shooting cheese down my gullet from an aerosol can, I do a little web surfing.

It was just such an occasional in which I stumbled across the Flickr photo stream of one Kenya Mason aka aneky43251.

Studio Lighting for Dolls and Small Objects

[…]

Perhaps I should start a new series…..

“Rattling informative and superb complex body part of content, now that’s user pleasant.”

User pleasant.

Consider it added to my vernacular.

Basics of Metering – The Simple Truth

I just received an email from a reader who is experiencing some confusion about how to use her light meter to calculate a lighting setup.

I have written several lighting tutorials, like this one on Low Key Lighting, but this seemed like a good opportunity to do a little refresher course for everyone. To set the stage, here is the email from my reader, Sharon:

Hi Deborah,

Please can you help me with metering in the studio.

See below, totally confused and getting orange skin tones?

Incident light meter reading, from the subject point the meter at each individual light (all lights on), main, fill, rim, back lights ? Please can you give example, of each lights aperture and what I would put in my camera, aperture to use?

Or from the subject, point the incident meter towards the camera with all lights on?

Many thanks,
Sharon

What Are We Trying to Light?

Using a Light Meter

I am going to break it down into very simple terms. If I can wrap my mind around the basic physics of a thing, I can understand that thing.

When we are setting up and metering lighting, what are we trying to do? Measure the light falling on the SUBJECT.

Therefore, the light meter should be placed in the same position as your subject, with the light sphere/dome aimed towards your CAMERA position. Check out the lighting diagram in my High Key Lighting Tutorial.

Why? Because you want to light the SUBJECT and you want the subject to look best through the lens of the CAMERA.

But HOW Do You Meter From the Position of the Subject?

Well, you could wait until the subject shows up and ask them to sit/stand/lay where ever it is you intend to photograph them. Then you could ask them to hold the light meter very near their face, aimed towards the camera.

However, if you’re not very experienced yet, that method could be a little nerve wracking. Or maybe your subject doesn’t have opposable thumbs. What then?

I like to set my studio up for a shoot the night before. I use a very tall bar stool with a big box stacked on top, high enough to approximate the height of my subject. I lay my light meter on top of the box, with the sphere aimed at my camera, then I fire my lights and take meter readings.[…]

Keep $25 in your pocket!

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Aside from being an incredible value, this could be the best Christmas gift you ever gave yourself.

Great new travel photography book – Rabari – Encounters With the Nomadic Tribe

It would not surprise anyone who knows me well at all that I am a complete geography nerd. Many long years ago, when I was but a young thing, I was quite sure of what I wanted to be.

I envisioned myself, camera in hand, heading off into the wilds of….anywhere.

I could see myself traveling the globe, exploring little known places, meeting some of the world’s most exotic and obscure people and sending all that footage back to The National Geographic Magazine.

That’s not quite how things fell out, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel a certain leap in my chest when a copy of that august and venerable magazine lands in my hands.

Considering my serious, decades long, National Geographic addiction, imagine my delight upon receiving an advance copy of Rabari – Encounters With the Nomadic Tribe.

[…]

Settled in and ready to work!

After living and working in the Atlanta area for the better part of the past 20 years, we’ve relocated to the mountains of beautiful western North Carolina, near the Asheville area.

After several months of settling in, taking care of business and getting the lay of the land, the new Asheville commercial photography studio is now open for business. Check out the new website design at deborahwolfe.net.

Focus on commercial photography.

After spending more than a decade primarily photographing The Great American Family, I am now focusing on my real passion – commercial photography.

The new Asheville Commercial Photography Studio specializes in architectural photography, interiors photography, exteriors photography, product photography and food photography.

Life is good!

Just thought I’d throw that last part in because I believe it’s very important to focus on what’s right in our lives and gives thanks for those things. In that spirit…..LIFE IS SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD and the future’s so bright I have to wear shades!!!