AboutDave Nyce Expertise I have used SLR cameras for 30 years and have taught classes on photography at work for my co-workers. I had a darkroom for 20 years, but now am using mostly digital cameras. I can answer questions on equipment and techniques for photography, but am not an expert on specific model numbers of cameras or accessories.
Expert: Dave Nyce Date: 1/7/2005 Subject: Lighting
Question I take portraits just for family and friends. However, I'm not really good with lighting. Is there an "at home" cheap way to get good lighting results without buying all the professional kits? Also, I'm trying out digital and the company that I ordered a chroma green backdrop from said to light my backdrop and subject equally - how do I do that?
Answer That's one big advantage of using a digital camera: you can view the picture on the screen before you even release the shutter if you are using constant light. That allows you to adjust the lighting in real time if you are using constant lighting. If you are using flash, you can take the shot and review immediately to look for shadows and even lighting of the subject and background, and adjust if necessary. Then erase any shots that are not well-lighted.
If you have enough table or pole lamps with 100W bulbs, you can adjust the positions of the lights and the spacing between the subject and the background to get even lighting. If you get substantially more light on the subject than the background, you will get shadows.
So, the main thing is to get enough light on the subject to show the details and color, and then to make sure that there are no shadows (on the background, or for example, a shadow on the face, cast from the nose).
If using a camera-mounted flash, it is usually better to bounce the light off of the ceiling. If shadows still exist, you can try hanging a white sheet (or photographic umbrella) in front of the subject (behind the camera angle) on the side having the shadow. If you can't get that to work well enough, you'll have to get a slave flash to illuminate the background.
