How important is lighting a subject

something I have wondered about a it is something never really had a go at.

being lit from the left


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being lit from the right



both unedited straight from camera

So did a little experiment a few minutes ago, just before it got dark. I prefer the second photo.

The camera was on a tripod and not moved even down to using a radio trigger for shutter release
The flashgun I had in my hand triggered again remotely by radio trigger as well.

So the only difference was produced by me moving the flashgun from one side to the other.

The difference amazed me and also satisfied my curiosity.

From now on when using flash I will do from different sidesf

Re: How important is lighting a subject

I know I'm not in your league but I have been interested in photography for a good many years. Went on the back burner when my children were growing up. But, on retirement, I started to get back into it. That and the dog get me out walking which is not a bad thing.

I generally don't use flash these days. In my experience, it can flatten images. I like natural light even if it requires longer exposure times.

Re: How important is lighting a subject

Besoeker
make no mistake I am my own worse critic with the photos I take, never seem to get that "perfect" shot.

My big fault is I rarely use a tripod which does help a lot.

when I see others photos makes me realise I have a lot to learn.
Like you I only really started again when retirement was on the horizon, So started to build up a bit of kit while earning.
One thing I will never say is someone takes poor/bad photos.Why because if they are happy with the pictures that is all that matters.

If asked and I can help with the little knowledge I have then I will, but being self taught I may not follow the normal rules.


One thing about photography it is always developing , new camera-new lenses- new editing suites the ist is endless.

I do say is have a main interest in one subject be it wildlife- architecture- portraits or whatever, and just tinker around the others

Re: How important is lighting a subject

The best advice I ever got regarding lighting was for indoor portraiture, which I used to do a lot of in the dim and distant past. It is rule of thumb advice not a hard and fast rule.

Speaking very generally the lighting set up was two lights at about 45° each side of the subject and ignoring background lighting and assuming both front lights to be of equal power. One light would be the main lighting source the other a fill in allowing some light shadows to give the subject texture. The advice was that the distance from the subject of the secondary light be measured one Fstop greater - nothing to do with exposure just the scale. (it's all to do with logs)

IE if the main light is 2.8/3 mtrs from the subject then the fill light should be about 4 metres. If the main light 4 metres then the secondary light should be about 5.6/6 metres. Obviously this works the same for metres, feet or yards it is the ratio that is important. As a rule of thumb with a little fine tuning for each situation I found that very helpful advice for creating good looking portraits with just the right amount of shadow.

Another tip was for the use of bounce flash which gives a much more natural effect (probably rendered useless by modern gear) but in essence it said measure the total distance from the flash to the subject via the object it is being bounced off then add one stop. ie distance from flash to ceiling to subject then add one stop.

Again worked very well with a white or near white ceiling but a wise idea to bracket for other colours.

This of course was from the days of 35mm photography. There you go.

Re: How important is lighting a subject

that is good info bruce Thank you. At the moment I only have one flashgun so can't put your advice into practise. The radio trigger sits on top of the hotshoe so I can't even used the onboard camera flash. I suppose flashguns would be used mainly for portraiture where lighting is important, that is not my particular "thing" at the moment that is.

Re: How important is lighting a subject

I used lamps for portraiture not flash; in those days photofloods were bloody expensive and used a lot of power but still cheaper than electronic flash - I think I might still have the stands and the reflectors in the garage (not sure). I had a home made power box which had a switch - in one position the lamps were in parallel for the shot in the other they were in series thus reducing the power and expense.

I also had several lens filters for tungsten and florescent lights when using colour film (again might still have them somewhere)

No reason why you couldn't use a couple of flash guns and the same principle, I just never did.