Lighting skills of still life photography

Lighting Technology in Still Life Photography: Characteristics of Light

1. brightness

Brightness is the most basic factor of light, and it is the general name of the luminous intensity of light source and the brightness of light on the surface of an object. The luminosity is directly related to the exposure, so the luminosity is large and the required exposure is small; Low luminosity and large exposure. In addition, brightness also indirectly affects the depth of field and the clarity or blur of moving objects. Large luminosity is easy to produce the effect of large depth of field and clear image; Low luminosity is easy to produce small depth of field and blurred moving image effect.

2. Optical level

Light level refers to the irradiation direction of the light source and the position of the light source relative to the subject. In photography, the intensity of light determines the bright and dark position of the subject, and also affects the texture and shape of the subject. The light level can be varied, but when the position of the subject and the camera is relatively fixed, the light level can be divided into six types: front light, side light, back light, top light, foot light and scattered light.

3. Light quality

Light quality refers to the soft and hard characteristics of light. The so-called hard, that is, the shadow produced by light is clear and thick, with sharp outline and high contrast; The so-called softness means that the shadows produced by light are soft and not bright, with gradual outline and low contrast. Strong light has obvious directionality, which can make the subject have sharp contrast between light and shade and contribute to the expression of texture. Strong light often gives people a sense of fortitude and vitality; Soft light has no obvious directionality. It is suitable for reflecting the shape and color of objects, but it is not good at expressing the texture of objects. Soft light often gives people a soft and delicate feeling.

4. Lightweight

For the subject, there is often more than one kind of light when shooting, and the functions and effects of various lights are different. Light type refers to the action of various lights on the subject when shooting. Lighting types are usually divided into five types: main light, auxiliary light, outline light, decorative light and background light.

Main light Main light is the main illumination light of an object, which plays a leading role in the expression of the shape, outline and texture of the object. When shooting, once the main light is determined, the basic light and tone of the picture are determined. It should be noted that for a subject, there can only be one main light. If several light sources are used as the main light at the same time, the subject will either receive the same light and can't tell what the main light is, and the picture will be dull; Or several main lights produce shadows on the subject at the same time, and the picture appears chaotic.

Auxiliary light The main function of auxiliary light is to improve the brightness of the shadow part produced by the main light, so that the dark part also presents a certain texture and hierarchy, and at the same time reduce the contrast of the image. In the use of auxiliary light, it should be clear that the intensity of auxiliary light is less than the intensity of main light, otherwise it will lead to the effect of usurping the role of the master and easily appear obvious auxiliary light projection on the subject, that is? Clip the light? Phenomenon.

Profile light Profile light is the light used to outline the main body. Side light gives the subject a three-dimensional sense and a sense of space. Backlight and side backlight are often used as side light, and the intensity of side light is often higher than that of main light. A dark background helps to highlight the side light.

Decorative lights Decorative lights are mainly used to decorate parts of the main body or display the details of the main body. Decorative lights are mostly narrow light. Eye light, luminous light in portrait photography and flare of the first ornament in commodity photography are typical decorative lights.

Background light Background light is the light that illuminates the background, and its main function is to set off the subject and render the environment and atmosphere. Both natural light and artificial light can be used as background light, which is generally wide, soft and uniform. In the application of background light, we should pay special attention not to destroy the tone coordination and main shape of the whole picture.

5. Light ratio

Light ratio refers to the light intensity difference between the bright part and the dark part of the subject. The greater the light ratio, the greater the contrast between the bright part and the dark part of the subject; On the contrary, the contrast of bright and dark parts is small.

Usually, the intensity of the main light and the auxiliary light and the distance from the subject determine the light ratio. So there are two ways to adjust the light ratio when shooting: ① adjust the intensity of the main light and the auxiliary light. Strengthening the intensity of main light or weakening the intensity of auxiliary light will increase the light ratio; On the contrary, the light ratio becomes smaller. ② Adjust the distance between the main light and the auxiliary light and the subject. Reducing the distance between the main lamp and the subject or increasing the distance between the auxiliary lamp and the subject will increase the light ratio; On the contrary, the light ratio becomes smaller.

6. light color

Light color refers to light? Color? , usually also called color temperature. For black and white photography, light color is not very important. However, in color photography, light color is very important. When shooting, you must choose the lighting source whose color temperature is consistent with the balanced color temperature of the film, otherwise the captured image will appear color cast.

Lighting Techniques of Still Life Photography: Common Studio Lights

Advertising photography has very strict requirements on the reproduction effect of images, so many subjects are placed in the studio for careful lighting and shooting. There are two kinds of light sources for indoor lighting: tungsten lamp and electronic flash. Electronic flash has the advantages of high luminous intensity, stable color temperature, less heat generation and low power consumption. At present, electronic flash is widely used in advertising photography studio lighting, such as umbrella lamp, soft light lamp, fog lamp, floodlight and spotlight.

1. Umbrella lamp

Reflective umbrellas with different textures and specifications are installed on floodlights to become umbrella lights. Umbrella lamp is characterized by large luminous area, soft brightness and weak contrast.

Step 2: Soft light

Add a soft light cover to all kinds of flash holders, and it becomes a soft light. The light emitted by the soft light lamp is formed by mixing the direct light emitted by the flash lamp and the reflected light of the reflector, and then transmitting and diffusing through the soft light cover. Soft light lamp is characterized by providing average and sufficient illumination, giving soft light, but its directivity is generally stronger than that of umbrella lamp, its contrast is clear, its projection is thicker than that of umbrella lamp, and it has a good sense of hierarchy.

3. Fog lights

Fog lamp is a special kind of lamp. The lamp holder of fog lamp adopts a special flash head, and there is reflective glass in front of the flash tube, and the output light is both transmitted and diffused light reflected by the reflector. Fog lamps are especially suitable for shooting objects (especially those with high finish). Fog lights are characterized by providing very uniform and large-area lighting, soft light, excellent level of detail and color saturation.

4. floodlight

The floodlight is the most commonly used lamp, which consists of an electronic flash and a reflector. The light emitted by the floodlight is direct hard light with high brightness, strong directivity, large contrast and dense projection. In addition, the light value in the center of the light field is high, and the attenuation in the edge part is obvious.

5. spotlight

Spotlights usually have a specular spherical reflector behind the light source. The light projected by the light source is reflected by the reflector, focused by the front condenser, and emits a parallel beam. Spotlight is characterized by emitting parallel or nearly parallel beams with small light attenuation, high brightness, strong directivity, extremely hard light and high contrast.

Lighting skills in still life photography: lighting skills in the studio

In order to achieve the ideal lighting effect, in addition to following the lighting steps and rules mentioned above, special attention should be paid to mastering the following skills and essentials.

1. Control the light source area and diffusion degree.

The size of the light source area is directly related to the luminous characteristics of the light source, which affects the contrast of the subject. Therefore, controlling the area and diffusion degree of the light source can better control the contrast effect of the subject. When low contrast is needed, the light source area is large and the diffusion degree is large, so that the light coverage exceeds the subject; When Gao Fancha is needed, the light source area should be small, the diffusion degree should be small, and the light should be directional.

2. Ensure sufficient lighting brightness.

Sufficient illumination brightness enables us to freely control the required depth of field through the aperture. Although it can be solved by extending the exposure time or making multiple exposures in the case of insufficient illumination brightness, both methods will bring inconvenience to shooting. Prolonging the exposure time will easily lead to the invalidation of the law of exposure reciprocity, which will lead to the coarsening of film particles, the decrease of contrast and the color deviation. However, the use of multiple exposures requires that the positions of the subject and the camera do not move during the exposure process, and the calculation of exposure is more complicated, which greatly increases the difficulty of shooting.

3. Choose the appropriate lamp distance

First of all, the light distance directly affects the light intensity of the subject. The light intensity of the object changes according to the reciprocal of the square of the lamp distance, and the light intensity changes greatly with the lamp distance. In addition, the light distance will also affect the contrast effect of the subject. When the lamp distance is small and the light source area is smaller than the subject, the light source can be regarded as a point light source, and the contrast of the subject is large; On the contrary, when the lamp distance is large, the light source can be regarded as a surface light source, and the contrast of the subject is small.

4. Use as few lights as possible

In lighting, the more lights you use, the better. Using too many lamps not only complicates lighting, but also brings chaotic projection, which is often difficult to eliminate. Therefore, in lighting, lamps and lanterns should be used as little as possible, and reflectors can be used to fill the light when necessary.

5. Multi-purpose reflector

It is advocated to use more reflectors in light distribution, which is not likely to produce disgusting projection, but also because various reflectors can provide reflected light with different light properties, which is convenient for controlling the effect. The reflector can be used as both the main light illumination and the auxiliary light illumination of the dark part of the subject. It can even be cut according to the needs of light distribution and the shape of the subject, which can supplement some parts of the subject and control the light field well. In advertising photography, the number of reflectors often exceeds the number of lamps. For an advertising photographer, whether he can use the reflector flexibly and effectively is a sign of whether his lighting is mature or not.

6. Appropriate light ratio control

The control of light ratio in lighting involves the contrast of the subject itself and the contrast between the subject, companion and background in the picture, and also determines the color tone of the whole picture and the texture and detail expression of the subject. The control of light ratio in cloth light is generally based on the principle of truly expressing the inherent surface brightness, texture and color of the subject itself. For example, the white subject is to show its elegance and cleanliness, and the subject should be treated with high profile; The black subject should be deep and dignified, and the subject should be treated in a low-key manner. Of course, under the premise of not violating advertising creativity, photographers can also creatively control the light ratio according to their own personality and habits in order to obtain new ideas in lighting.

Lighting Techniques in Still Life Photography: General Steps and Rules of Studio Lighting

Studio lighting is not like natural light. Photographers can use skillful lighting skills to create wonderful lighting effects according to their own subjective ideas and performance needs. However, due to the subjective randomness of studio lighting, on the one hand, it allows photographers to maximize the effect of lighting, on the other hand, it also increases the difficulty of lighting. In order to improve the effect and speed of light distribution, the following steps and rules should generally be followed.

1. Determine the main light.

The main light is the dominant light source, which determines the main color of the picture. In cloth lighting, it is meaningful to add auxiliary light, background light and profile light only after determining the main light. In the process of determining the main light, we should systematically consider the brightness, intensity, coverage and distance to the main body according to the modeling characteristics, texture performance, light and shade distribution and the degree of separation between the main body and the main background.

For most subjects, soft light, such as reflective umbrella, soft light and fog light, is generally chosen as the main light. Direct floodlights and spotlights are rarely used as main lights unless the picture needs them to bring strong contrast.

The main light is usually higher than the subject, because the most comfortable and natural lighting is usually to simulate the light effect of natural light. If the main light is too low, the subject will form abnormal bottom light illumination, while if the main light is too high, it will form top light, which will increase the contrast between the side and top of the subject.

2. Add auxiliary lights

The illumination of the main light will make the subject shadow unless the photographic picture needs strong contrast. Generally, in order to improve the level and tone of the shadow surface, auxiliary light should be added when lighting.

The auxiliary light generally uses soft light, and its light level is usually opposite to the main light. Pay attention to control the light ratio when adding auxiliary light. The appropriate light ratio is usually between 1: 3 and 1: 6, which should be smaller for shallow subjects and larger for deep subjects. When adding auxiliary light, we should also pay attention to avoid too strong auxiliary light, which is easy to cause light clamping and produce redundant and awkward shadows. In order to control redundant shadows, in addition to making the intensity of the auxiliary light weaker than that of the main light, sometimes the method of appropriately lowering the light level or making the auxiliary light as close as possible to the plane seat is often adopted to project the projection to the rear of the subject.

There can be one or more auxiliary lights according to the needs of the picture effect. When using various lamps as auxiliary light sources, don't forget to use the reflector as much as possible, which can often produce unexpected good results.

Set the background light

The main function of background is to contrast the subject or render the atmosphere. Therefore, when dealing with background light, we should pay attention to both contrast and harmony.

When shooting small objects, it is often difficult to light the background alone because the subject is very close to the background. At this time, the main light doubles as the background light. In the specific control of the ratio of main light to background light, it can be controlled by selecting appropriate lamp distance, direction and illumination range, and it can also be blocked by various translucent diffusers or opaque shading objects at appropriate positions on the axis of main light and background to obtain appropriate brightness.

When the subject is large and there is enough distance between the subject and the background, the background can be illuminated separately. Background light generally does not interfere with the light distribution of the main body, and it is easy to control the coverage, brightness and uniformity of background light. In the specific lighting process, we should pay special attention to whether there will be parts with similar brightness between the main body and the background. And then what? Phenomenon, or require a large area of background brightness to be uniform, and whether the central and surrounding illuminance is indeed uniform. In both cases, don't trust your own visual inspection. It is best to use an exposure meter to seriously detect it, because the human eye is often insensitive to small changes in brightness, but the film will record it truthfully. In addition, we should understand that the background light of high-profile or low-key photos often taken is not as bright or as dark as we think. If the background brightness is too strong, diffused light will not only make the lens glare easily, but also affect the light effect of the subject. There is no need to control the background too dark when taking low-key photos. Generally speaking, it is advisable to control the background brightness to be 1 EV higher than the brightest part of the subject when shooting high-profile photos, and to control the background brightness to be 1 EV lower than the darkest part of the subject when shooting low-profile photos.

Step 4 add profile light

The main function of contour light is to produce a bright contour for the subject and separate the subject from the background. Side light is usually projected from the upper back or side of the background, and the light level is generally one level, but sometimes two or more levels can be used as needed. Side light usually uses spotlight, which is strong and hard and often produces strong projection on the screen. Therefore, when distributing the profile light, it is necessary to weaken or eliminate these messy projections. To eliminate or weaken these projections, in addition to adjusting the lamp position, sometimes skillfully projecting side light with the help of reflector will have unexpected effects. When matching side light, we should also pay attention to the light ratio between side light and main light. Usually, the side light is brighter than the main light. In addition, according to the needs of the subject, choose strong light or soft light as side light. There are usually two ways to get soft light. One is to put the umbrella lamp and soft light as close as possible to the subject, so that the brightness of the side light is higher than that of the main light, but it is often difficult to do so. The other method is simple, just use a diffuser in the spotlight to soften the light. One thing to be clear is that contour light is not necessary for every picture, and it should be added only when the picture needs it, otherwise it will feel superfluous.

Add decorative lights

Decorative lights are mainly used to decorate some parts or details of the main body, which is a local and small-scale use of light. The difference between decorative light and auxiliary light is that it does not aim at improving the brightness of dark parts, but makes up for the shortcomings of main light, auxiliary light, background light and contour light in shaping images. Eye light, night light, key projection light of the bright part of the main body, local lighting of the edge, etc. It is a typical decorative lamp. Generally, the light distribution of decorative lamps should not be too strong and too hard, which is easy to produce light spots and destroy the overall perfection of light distribution.

check

In the process of light distribution above, because of the addition of light, the light in the back is likely to have an impact on the light effect in the front. Therefore, after the light distribution is completed, it is necessary to carefully check the overall light effect, such as whether the light distribution is obviously missing or unreasonable, whether the projection shielding meets the requirements, whether the projection position is appropriate, whether the lighting of each light source interferes, whether each light source enters the viewfinder screen and causes halo, etc. Checking these details can be avoided.