For the amazing photographers we have on the forum

[reeve105a]

I was wondering if you any of you amazing photographers on the forum could show some pics of how you set the scenes for your photos showing what equipment and backgrounds you use.

[royalpython]

I'll sort something out after lunch hopefully and provide links to what i use for the lights etc, but by no means want to see as classing myself as amazing lol :)

[royalpython]

I've got a picture of a typical set up, but no time to post the pictures. I'll have it sorted later on tonight. :)

[royalpython]

First one is Polypropylene Sheet - Specialist Paper & Board - Paper, Card & Board - Art Shop - Fred Aldous as a backdrop (being held up with bottles lol), and perspex for the foreground.

The speedlights are on cheapo £10 tripods from Asda, with interfit strobies softboxes, which need a flex mount fitting for your specific speedlight.

If i'm on a white surface, i try and make sure my camera doesn't expose the white as grey now, because this ends up under-exposing the subject. So... If your camera has a histogram and shows where the highlights are over-exposed, you will know if the subject is over-exposed - A general rule i find it the darker wild types should end up with a perfectly white background, but snakes like ghosts, albino's etc... will probably leave you with a light grey background, due to making sure you don't over-expose the snakes. If you do this on a black surface, depending what effect you want, might determine how much light you want in the background/foreground. Because the perspex is A3 size, i generally don't use this foreground much for snakes, and normally opt for the polypropylene sheets because they are much bigger.

Softboxes are great... but light tents act the same way and are generally reasonably priced.



This one shows how i'd use the polypropylene sheet, and use it also as the backdrop.



This two pictures below show what i do once the pictures are taken. Histogram in my view is a really important piece of the puzzle, and any questions about these two pictures, then feel free to ask. Camera screens are not completely accurate (hence the use of histograms), but because my computer monitor is calibrated, i just use the camera's screen as a guide, and a histogram for me is the most important bit. The better the exposure, the better the picture generally, as you don't have to recover much colours/detail and recovering it can introduce noise.

Click the links for full sized JPEG.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18995321/tutorial%20P1.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18995321/tutorial%20P2.jpg

[drchino]

Great post :)

[royalpython]

Glad you like it - i should have previewed before posting so i could correct my grammar though lol.

[cobbsie]

Very nice! I errrm always wondered what the histogram stuff was on my camera!!

[SiUK]

Originally Posted by cobbsie

Very nice! I errrm always wondered what the histogram stuff was on my camera!!

Me too, what I need is an understanding DSLR cameras for dummies.

[Boa_Barney]

I like the great outdoors as a back drop


"Painted" Reflection by That Weird Guy!, on Flickr