Lights for Step and Repeat at Festival

[enisha_garrett]

<p>We take promo pics and print them for guests at events. We are having a terrible time getting the lights and the backdrop right. We are in the shade under a overhang. We take pics all day into the night.<br>

Please see the pics in the dropbox. We have a Canon T3i and some standard lenses. Any advice is greatly appreciated. <br>

<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v2m4hyrrqzikfxi/AACyiUzEQWIDocd58Ue-3ktKa?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v2m4hyrrqzikfxi/AACyiUzEQWIDocd58Ue-3ktKa?dl=0</a></p>

[dhbebb]

<p>For security reasons I never download files from a unknown source.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Only Canon users are likely to have the codecs or software installed to open those Canon RAW files. Please be sensible and upload some small jpeg samples.<br /> And you're doing professional event shoots with a Rebel T3i and don't know how to light them? Have some respect for your customers.</p>

<p>Based on the one image I opened. Get some lights - any lights - and a couple of softboxes or umbrellas, learn how to use the WB control on the camera, learn how to throw a messy background out of focus, fill the frame with the subject and learn how to frame a shot.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Hi Enisha,<br /> <br />What you're trying to do is not simple but it's not overly complicated either. I'm going out on a limb guessing that you are not in the photography business but rather want to take photos of events that you are hosting/planning/covering and want to have them look professional?</p>

<p>Easiest way is of course to hire a professional photographer to set it up and shoot it for you. Option number two is to hire a photographer to teach you how to set it up and how to shoot something like this and have it look good. Photographers doing workshops and teaching others are the ones to look for option number two.</p>

<p>Regarding the background lighting. You want relatively even lighting and the easiest way is to 45 degrees cross lighting. That means that the light ends up high (8 ft or more) at either side of the photographer and aimed towards the subject and down. You are striving for even lighting of the backdrop and having the light placed so that you can't see the reflection of the light in the backdrop from the photographers position. You check the evenness of the background with a flash meter.</p>

<p>You can use hot lights (regular lights) or strobes. For still photography, strobes are better because you get more light in a shorter amount of time. That means that even if the subject is not standing completely still the subject will be sharp in the photo anyway. Strobes also allows you to limit the effect of the light around you, meaning that it will make no difference if you shoot in day or in night as the strobe light will overpower the surrounding light for a 1/100of a second. Stuff like this can be rented in most major cities. You need two strobes 500-600 Ws and a radio trigger on the camera to active the strobes.</p>

<p>Looking at the camera, there is no simple setting that will let it do it's work automatically. No camera is able to do this - no matter what it costs. It's because the camera don't know what you want so it have to guess. As different people step in front of the camera with different clothes, it will guess differently. That's why some shots will be to dark, or bright, have a yellow or blue tint.</p>

<p>There are two things that the camera can't figure out, one is the color balance aka white balance and the other is exposure. White balance is best set using something called a custom white balance. Basically you put up something truly white on the backdrop and take a photo of it, filling the frame. Then you tell the camera that you want it to look white and it will adjust it's colors. From then on out all the images will look right when it comes to color.</p>

<p>For setting the exposure the camera has to be in manual exposure mode if you want consistency. If you are using strobes you can shoot all day and night without probably having to change the settings. Easiest is to set the exposure using a flash meter. You can also set it by taking shots of something white making sure it's as bright as possible without clipping the highlights (which you check on the camera LCD preview).<br /> <br />If you want a consistent look you also have to shoot the subjects the same way. Usually there are a couple of different ways to frame people in the camera. One is to do full length shots in which case you can see the entire subject. Distance to from camera to subject also needs to be consistent since it affects the perspective. For the ed carpet the photographer usually uses wide angle lenses and stand very close and have the camera at eye height. This is because of space considerations but it has become a look in its own. It gives severe perspective distortion (big head, small feet) so from a portrait perspective it would be a big no-no. From a classic perspective full length shots are taken by stepping back (not too close) and the camera at roughly the subjects waist level.</p>

<p>All of this is pretty basic stuff for a pro photographer but not so easy if you don't know what you have to do to get it right.</p>

<p>Your camera and lenses are probably OK for a job like this as the work lies in setting everything up the right way and getting good shots. A pro would use a better gear though. Which allows faster and more reliable focus and often better handling. This might also be an situation where shooting tethered might be useful. In that case the images you shoot end up directly into a computer nearby where you can print them and also do social media etc almost live. Then you can have another person or two helping the photographer.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

[michaelmowery]

<p>Why don't you tell us what lights you are using. I saw a picture of something that looked like a constant light source. You need to use strobe lighting. A speed light would have done a better job. Horrible pictures. I see why you are concerned. Unfortunately it is after the fact and I doubt your clients will hire you again.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

My advice is: get a tall stand (9ft. Max height at the minimum), an AC (Mains) powered monolight, and use a small to

medium softbox or umbrella on the monolight.

 

As much as I like using TTL controlled flashes (both small battery powered

ones designed for hotshoe use and the newer monolights) this is not the situation that tjey will be most useful in as you

want consistent exposure from one frane to the bext and you want AC/mains power because you want very fast recycling

time.

 

A radio trigger system will also be useful to eliminate as many cables as you can.

 

If Mains/AC power isnt available a high capacity battery with a built-in inverter like the Paul C. Buff, inc Vagabond

Extreme Lithium works great as an alternative power source. If you are not in the USA you will need a batteryand inverter

compatible with your local mains voltage.

 

If you do not want to use flash look at a high quality LED lighting source designed for photography.

[dhbebb]

<p>I have now viewed four of your pictures. As I am sure you're aware, pictures such as image 98 taken with direct undiffused flash look really horrible, the diffused light of images such as 72 and 164 is a lot better, but if you rely on ambient light, particularly if this is coming through canvas or any other material with a color, you are very apt to get color shifts, also the light may on occasion be too diffuse to the point where colors look muddy.<br>

Studio strobes on stands would be the ideal solution (in a studio!). In event photography, photographers are often obliged to work in cramped conditions with members of the public close by and where there is a real risk of people falling over stands etc. The ideal compromise would be a portable flash which offers TTL (through the lens = fully automatic) operation with your camera - ideally this flash should be mounted on a bracket so that it is around 18 inches to 2 feet away from the camera lens and should be equipped with a softbox attachment (diffuser) anything up to a foot square. If you have the chance to observe other event photographers at work, do so - you will find most of them are using equipment such as I have described. Since using a softbox involves a certain light loss, you should select a portable flash which has plenty of power. Power is expressed in numbers called guide numbers, a good number to look for would be 50 or higher</p>

[dhbebb]

<p>@ Enisha Garrett: Since your original posting 4 days ago, I and a number of others have gone to some trouble to offer advice. Are you reading any of this, or are we wasting our time?<br /></p>

[dhbebb]

<p><em>wasting our time?</em><br>

Certainly looks like it after 9 days without response from OP!</p>