First Time Practicing Studio Lighting - any basic tips ?

Hey guys, I just converted a room in my place to a studio. Its about 10ft x 10ft. Pretty tight.

I only have 1 single strobe (430EXII) and a Qbox 24 & 16” Beauty Dish. (2nd 430EXII coming soon)

As it stands, I’ll just start playing around and see what happens. But before I do that, do you guys have any “rules of thumb” I should go by? Like distance of lights from subject? Or how to avoid shadows on the backdrop in such a tight space?

Any just real basic guidelines you could offer before I go in there and drive myself mad, lol?

Thanks,
Matthew

Read read read....practice practice practice...

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com …-balancing-flash-and.html

Kechar wrote in post #12199054
Read read read....practice practice practice...

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com …-balancing-flash-and.html

while I understand that lighting possibilites are almost endless, and i can research till my fingers fall off, i was hoping for just a few basic rules of thumb for this evening.

Go get a piece of white foam-core board to use as fill reflector.
With that tight of space be aware of you walls and ceiling adding light to your subject. Cover white walls with black sheet/cloth, or use the walls as bounce fill.

Are you trying to shoot full body shots? Might be tough with only 10'. Would have to go wide and i'm sure you know what that will do. Not bad, but be aware of the effect.
If you are only doing portraits/head shots just get your light in close, fill in the shadows with a reflector.

I just looked at your site...nice work! I don't see you having any problems.

Consider shooting corner to corner. Then think about how to you the two walls as reflectors and background elements.
One light, reflector is good place to start.

Gotcha, thanks guys. I do have a 30 inch round white/silver reflector so I'll probably prop that up for fill and use my 24inch Soft Box first and get the hang of it...


How far away from the seamless paper background does the subject have to be to avoid shadows? Or are there certain angles the light souce should be pointing to avoid shadows on the background?

You don't have a lot of room to get the model away from the seamless. Especially not for full-body.
You can use something lying around as a GoBo to block the light from hitting the background and eliminating shadows.

Kechar wrote in post #12199584
You don't have a lot of room to get the model away from the seamless. Especially not for full-body.
You can use something lying around as a GoBo to block the light from hitting the background and eliminating shadows.

not sure what you mean here ^ can you expound upon please?

Thanks!

Don't evaluate your exposures by viewing the screen on your camera.
So many people starting out with studio lighting underexpose their photos...which leads to major white balance issues.

m.shalaby wrote in post #12199829
not sure what you mean here ^ can you expound upon please?

Thanks!

Yeah, thinking about it, I'm not sure a GoBo would be good for stopping shadows on the background as it would probably end up in the shot.

Angling your shots creatively can keep your shadows off the background, but you may still, inevitably, have spill. That's where you can use the GoBo to block it.

Like get a piece of cardboard, or the black side of a reflector, anything to block the light from your main and/or fill from hitting the background.

Kechar wrote in post #12199946
Yeah, thinking about it, I'm not sure a GoBo would be good for stopping shadows on the background as it would probably end up in the shot.

Angling your shots creatively can keep your shadows off the background, but you may still, inevitably, have spill. That's where you can use the GoBo to block it.

Like get a piece of cardboard, or the black side of a reflector, anything to block the light from your main and/or fill from hitting the background.

gotcha, makes sense... so "gobo" as in just any black piece of cardboard like item... ok.

m.shalaby wrote in post #12199961
gotcha, makes sense... so "gobo" as in just any black piece of cardboard like item... ok.

GoBo stands for Go Between.
I've seen people use everything under the sun so don't feel you MUST have something perfect and black. Try anything solid.

Kechar wrote in post #12200187
GoBo stands for Go Between.
I've seen people use everything under the sun so don't feel you MUST have something perfect and black. Try anything solid.

but wouldn't that just get in the frame? or cast a shadow itself?

Get a light meter.

m.shalaby wrote in post #12200505
but wouldn't that just get in the frame? or cast a shadow itself?

If you're stopping your only light from shining light onto the BG the entire BG will be shadow.

The gobo won't be in frame. If you pinch the light right near the modifier it should be far from it.

What you are doing by placing a gobo between your main and the BG is stopping the main from spilling light onto the BG. You should expect a dark BG pretty much. If you just let everything spill you will probably have all kinds of shadows on the BG. You may get some spill from your ceiling, walls, reflector, etc... But that spill may be really soft and subtle, and possibly unnoticeable. Spill from your main may be more intense and harsher.

It's going to be a trial process no doubt.