Today we’re going to look at a simple lighting setup that you can easily do at home to add a professional look to your still life shots, eBay ads, product photos and anything else you can think of. I’ve used the vegetables I just bought at the market for this, but the principles will be the same for anything you care to substitute.
Setting up for this shot was quick and easy. I came back from the market with a bag full of vegetables and basically dumped them onto a piece of white seamless. To the left, I placed a flash on a lightstand pointing into a bounce umbrella. A couple of test shots showed too much shadow on the right, so I placed a sheet of white cardboard on the right to act as a reflector to throw a little light back into the shadows. I didn’t want to completely eliminate the shadow – if I did, I could have placed another light there, or moved my camera left light to a more overhead position.
Here’s the lighting setup. The diagram is from www.kevinkertz.com who makes a lighting diagram file available for sharing of setups. It’s a layered PSD file and you can move things around until it shows the lighting setup you need.
As long as you have some means of getting the flash off-camera, all you really need is an umbrella and you can replicate this. I used a bounce umbrella but you could just as easily use a shoot-through. In fact, I normally use shoot-throughs when I incorporate umbrellas – the umbrella I used can be used as both a bounce and a shoot-through. The only reason I chose to bounce was because I was too lazy to remove the black/silver backing from the umbrella. For my Taiwan readers, convertible umbrellas are available at Keystone for under NT$1000 – I think I paid $700 (US$20) and lightstands for a similar price. And that’s really all you need, moneywise. You could even get away without using an umbrella and shoot through a white bedsheet or shower curtain. For a reflector, I used a sheet of cardboard and you could use the same as a background as well in place of the white seamless. I had an Elinchrom Skyport as my flash trigger – for those wanting to do things cheaper, there are a variety of very cheap RF triggers, affectionately known as Poverty Wizards, available for US$20 or so on eBay, and as a bonus for those in Taiwan, these triggers are available in most camera stores for a few hundred NT$. You could also use PC cords or TTL cords.
For these shots, I set my camera and flash to manual. I used the Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a 50mm f1.8 lens and 550ex speedlight triggered by the Elinchrom Skyport. The flash was set at 1/8 power, and the camera was ISO200, f5.6 and a 1/200 shutter speed.
As usual, any comments or discussion is welcome.
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Craig Ferguson Images | Cultural Photography. One of the key aspects of life that we humans identify with is culture. We label people, places and events according to our ideas of what they are, ranging from the broader scale defined by tradition and place down to the small scale subcultures and tribes. Craig Ferguson Images is consistantly creating new visions in the field of cultural photography. From traditional festives and customs to modern, urban subcultures, Craig Ferguson Images is in touch with the changing world. From our base in Taipei, Taiwan we are perfectly positioned at the crossroads of the ancient and the modern.
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Fun stuff, it's been a while since I've taken out my flash… I need to make some time to experiment!
Thanks Todd. The spring rains should be starting soon, so there'll more than likely be a few wet weekends – you can spend a few hours playing around.
great stuff craig!
Thanks a lot Andres.
Super cool, Craig. I'm just starting to play with off camera flash. There's a two strobe set with umbrellas and softboxes I want to buy, but bringing it from HK back to the mainland is a customs problem.
Wet weather here too this weekend. I think I'll play around a bit. Thanks for the tips.
Stevo, you could start with just the umbrellas and an extra light. It might not be too hard to get through customs, particularly if you pick up a used flash as the second light. If I remember correctly, you already have a 580ex, don't you? All you'd need for a second light would be something that has manual adjustments. Using it remotely in manual, it doesn't need to be a Canon flash. You should be able to find some cheap Nikon SB26 or SB28 in HK that'll do the job. Stick one in your camera bag and customs may never know.
The umbrellas aren't the problem, it's the big strobes that customs doesn't like. If I get to the electronics district this weekend I'll ask about stands and umbrellas. I understand the cost of used flashes has gone up since The Strobist has become so popular.
very nice Craig. i like how you showed us some links to the products. perhaps you could do an article and give us an equipment list and a budget to put together a good basic lighting setup.
Thanks MJ. I'll look at doing something with a basic equipment list for basic setup's soon. In the meantime, you could look at a previous post that showed all my gear – with your knowledge and experience in photography, you will probably be able work out what the basic stuff is, although there are no prices. http://www.craigfergusonimages.com/2009/02/tools-...
If you are thinking of getting any gear, I can take you to the place where I get mine from – it's not the most obvious place to find.
Craig, i went to my local camera store (where i bought my D80) and asked about umbrellas and stands. the boss went to the computer and brought up the Keystone website. he ordered everything i wanted, and gave me a 10% discount off the listed price. can't beat that for service! so as soon as it comes in, i'll have an umbrella (with removable black backing), a stand and a clamp that will hold my SB-800.
Great tutorial Craig! I'm picking up a lot of new tricks from you. Thanks for including the links, too. However, what is Keystone? I must have missed something along the way.
Let me correct my previous statement. Where is it?
Thanks for stopping by Carrie. Keystone is on Dongxin Rd, Taipei, on the corner of Civic Boulevard. It's in the Carrefour building – City Hall MRT is the closest station, about 5-10 mins walk away. If you ever want to go, let me know and I'll take you along, even if it's just to browse.
Awesome. Thanks Craig. I've never even heard of it before. I'd love to head over there with you sometime. I'm ready for some new gear.
I am eternally jealous of both your professional skill as a photographer and your really nice camera (at least I assume it is) that shows such awesome technical details in your shots.
Thanks for the comment jenna. I'm glad you like what you see here. A little knowledge and practice goes a lot further than an expensive camera – I could shoot the same shots on an entry-level camera and get the same results. Thank you.
I agree – with one caveat. That's essentially true for the vegetables, but if I were to, say, go to the Kaohsiung MRT's new fancypants station with my Canon Powershot A520, compose one of those shots exactly as you did, at the same time of day and under similar lighting conditions, mine still would not come out as crisp and clean. They'd still look fantastic, but there would be a difference to the discerning eye. That's all I mean by having a nice camera. My boyfriend has a Canon E05 that I love to play with, and when I take the exact same shot with that and with my Powershot, yes, I do see a technical difference.
True. There are only a couple of point-and-shoots that I'd call cameras, the rest are not much more than toys. Fun toys, yes and great to play around with. When I said entry-level I meant basic SLR/DSLR.
Mostly true, but POSs have come a long way. The new Canon G10 is pretty amazing for a non-DSLR. I'm thinking of picking one up.
The G10 is one I'd class as a proper camera, as is the Nikon Coolpix p6000 and a few others. They are fantastic cameras.
Jenna: I don't know, I experienced the opposite. When I bought my Canon 400D DSLR I found my first images were horrible compared to my old Sony POS. A talented photographer can do amazing things with a cheap camera. Having an "expensive" camera didn't help me until I learned how to use it.
You make a good point Stevo. My above reply actually left a bit out – I should have included point-and-shoots with manual controls and hotshoe in my basic camera definition. If it doesn't have those at a minimum, it's not a camera IMO.
My POS does have manual controls – and though I know a thing or two about photo composition, I know absolutely nothing about using those controls. Canon makes a good camera, in my opinion, regardless of the model, but even an amateur like me can get better photos out of an E05 than a Powershot. Why not just bring the E05 everywhere? For one, I hate the fact that you can only view through the viewfinder, not the screen, and the viewfinder isn't very clear. Also, I don't like the bulk of the thing, and it sticks out rather conspicuously ("Steal me! I'm expensive!" and "Look, I'm trying to take a candid photo!") in places like India. It's great fun to use around Taiwan, though.
I see where you are coming from jenna. There are plenty of good tutorials available to learn the basic controls on your camera. If you are interested, I'd be more than happy to give you a quick lesson one day.
I've been to India 3 times for a total of almost 16 months there and had SLR with me each time and it's never been a problem. Theft during travel is more opportunistic than anything – thieves generally don't target particular goods, rather, they look for opportunities to steal whatever they can from people they perceive as being rich – which is basically anyone from a "rich" country. You're just as likely to be a victim of theft with a point-and-shoot as you are with an SLR.
I'm actually the opposite of you with the viewfinder – it feels very weird to me to use an LCD screen and hold the camera at arms length.
I mention the above because I've been to India four times (once for a semester), and know one person whose pro camera was stolen and one who had two little digicams stolen over the course of the same trip. Crimes of opportunity, yes, but the opportunity is greater when the large camera bag is in view. But nevermind – the main reason I prefer to bring tiny cameras to India is that I've found it a lot harder to take candid photos with bulkier pro cameras. (Yes, I've tried). It's possible, but…I'd rather have a camera I can hide in the palm of my hand when walking in through a market.
I wouldn't say no to that quick tutorial someday!
Ahh, you need a Leica.
Ahh, you need a Leica.
Cool, that's great service. Todd's been posting a few shots lately on his site that show what can be done. Once you get them, we'll have to get everyone together, grab a couple of models and have a day playing around with various setups. Do you have any radio triggers or will you use Nikon CLS? I have an old set of radio triggers that are a bit crappy but work most of the time – if you want them you can have them.
oh i forgot to mention that i'm going to try to use the Nikon CLS. i'd be interested in trying out that old radio set you mentioned. very kind of you.
Craig, since i haven't shot a model in a long time, that sounds like an excellent idea!
I'll throw them into my bag now and give them to you on Sunday. They're the same ones as Todd uses.
Craig, thanks for donating the radio trigger set to me! i got my shoot-thru umbrella, stand and clamp. i haven't had time to play with it much yet due to work issues taking up my time. i hope i can fool around with some product photos soon. thanks again!
I'm sure you'll get some great shots. Set your camera at 1/250 (or whatever it's flash sync speed is – they vary), ISO400, stick the strobe on M and 1/8 power and aperture on f5.6 and go from there.
Craig, what light meter do you use?
I don't use a light meter. I have some settings I usually start with (listed above) and I take a couple of test shots. Looking at the histogram on the camera, I can then adjust the settings as needed. A good rule of thumb to remember is that the shutter speed governs the ambient light and the aperture the flash. Good luck.
There's not a whole lot of difference between them, most of the time. A shoot-through umbrella can be positioned much closer to the subject. Without getting too scientific, based on the inverse square law, the closer the light is, the more powerful it is. As a result of the extra power, you can dial in lower power settings on the flash (keeping some in reserve) which means faster recycle times for your batteries. (Check out Eneloop if you want a really good NiMH battery – about NT$500 for 4 and they hold their charge a lot longer than standard NiMH batteries). It also makes the apparent size of the light bigger which means softer. Softer light is usually what we want. In a two light setup (and ambient is counted here) you can create better separation between the subject and the background. This means you can light it differently if you want. I'll do a more complete post about this concept in the next couple of weeks.
Bounce umbrellas work great when you can't bring the light in close, such as for small groups of people. And in a controlled environment like the shots in this post, either work fine.
thanks for the very clear explanation, Craig.
apparently lots of photographers use the built-in light meter in the camera.
ok, here's another of my Stupid Questions for you Craig:
when do you shoot-thru, and when to you bounce? what's the criteria for either method? thanks.
Chase Jarvis has a good post on his site about light meters.
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2008/04/dear-lig...
cool…i totally want to set up my own studio some time, but it's better to master one thing before jumping to the next.
Thanks Gee. It's good to master one thing at a time, but it's also fun to jump around as the mood takes you.