Learning from eachother - Studio light

[Dalkarls]

I came to think about a site called http://guessthelighting.com/ that I visit from time to time. It's a realy good site if you want to look at some famous photos and figure out how they are lighten. Thing is, most of the images are done by professionals who have quite alot of fancy toys which are out of atleast my budget.

You can still produce good images with limited light, the trick is how you use them and offcourse how much work you put into post production to cover the lack of light.

But I just wanted to check if there is any interest in sharing own photos here on the forum and let people guees how it was done before the photographer released the setup? Bad or good idea?

 

[Hoogle]

I like ths idea

 

[sprucemagoo1]

If I had a decent camera I would, but all I have is my horrible phone.

 

[dv8_fx]

Interesting site. I see no problem sharing photos here. Would be a good to exercise on lighting for everyone to get involved and learn something.

I, like spruce , use a phone. and a cheap digital camera.... lol

 

[Tom Mann]

I think it's a wonderful idea, and you absolutely should give it a try, but I am worried that you won't get much participation. My experience is that only a very small number of the participants on PSG are at a level where they have given any thought to lighting, and I doubt anyone that I have run into here even have a single hot shoe flash that they might be able to take off camera, let alone a basic 2 or 3 strobe portrait setup.

Tom M

 

[dv8_fx]

We won't know till we try , Tom...

 

[Dalkarls]

There seams atleast to be an interest going so I think it's worth a go even if not everyone is using a DSLR camera and have a bunch of flashes. I personally have a older Nikon camera and I allways try to stick to 1-2 flashes and maybe some styrofoam boards to bounce the light if I lack flashes. I like "MacGyver" solutions by converting stuff I have at home to diffuse the light in different ways instead of buying things that cost way to much, anyhow! I can start by posting the first picture tomorrow from my latest shoot which was a "lookbook" session.

 

[Hoogle]

I feel insulted Tom I do not portray myself as a pro Photographer in any way but my knowledge of it as a passion has grown quite strong I may not be having a full set of AlienBees or any major brand studio lighting setup Nor do I have anything close to a studio setup. All though I would like to venture into portrait photography and currently I am doing a deal with a client that does have all this equipment and he is a pro photographer I am doing some work for him and in return he is letting me use his studio and assist with some of his models etc to take my own pictures.

I do have Nikon 2X Sb600 and Sb800 and just about to Order an Sb900 with a set of Pocketwizards where I set them up to do off camera flash I also have cables that mount to the hot shoe. I also have some light modifiers. And I am aware speedlights do not give the same effects as actual strobes but I believe they can be just as flexible if not more so and I believe the likes of Joe Mcknally would agree with me.

But Then without much actual Portrait experience I do however use the speedlights for illuminating scenes etc.

I do not get paid for my Photography except maybe helping out a friend of a friends wedding type thing But it is not my main career and with active subscriptions in Kelby and lynda.com and owner of many dvds from the likes of Karl Taylor watched hundreds of hours of how to light people and objects etc from strobes to diffused natural light and reflected I still believe I would stand a good as chance as any at guessing lighting setup.

But I also see your point There is a lot of theory and knowledge floating around but until you put it into practise it is worthless. And that is 1 thing I would like to work on is getting a nice Photography Portfolio I tend to take pictures edit them and then delete them whenever I do a computer clean up because I am not a keeper I dispose of everything apart from maybe a couple of my favourite shots that I may get printed and give as a house warming present to a friend or something.

So yes I would be interested in participating in this thread and eager to guess anything you can throw at me. If I guess wrong then I will at least provide my theory in why I think it was lit like I may be suggesting.

As long as we have someone who can upload plenty of the criteria images I am sure most people here can guess which direction the light is coming from etc. Admittedly not many people here may be able to tell the difference in lighting between say a grid and softbox or a beauty dish or even the material of reflectors but I think it would be fun and a good way for people to learn.

 

[Tom Mann]

@Hoogle - Don't feel insulted . You were precisely one of the people I was thinking of when I said, "only a very small number of the participants on PSG...", instead "no one on PSG...".

Cheers,

Tom

 

[ibclare]

I like this idea. I can't personally post any photos worth considering, but I'd be happy to participate in the analyzing game!