Compared to cars or boating, it's a cheap hobby. (See, it all depends on perspective!)Photographers must live in poverty in order to purchase all that equipment!
Compared to cars or boating, it's a cheap hobby. (See, it all depends on perspective!)
And hot rodders sleep in their garages...Photographers must live in poverty in order to purchase all that equipment!
The OP said he's doing in a class, so it wont be his lights.
But actually there's nothing particularly expensive about whats there 2 head kit - 2nd hand about £200, DSLR which you'd have anyway if you like photography, the rest of it are just reflectors or paper essentially.
This was just shot in my bedroom about 8 years ago with nothing more than a flashgun, a extended sync lead, my camera and 2 pieces of white card.
[url=http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2143/1727721710_b1a0819b7d.jpg]Image[/url]
Galileo thermometer by simbojono, on Flickr
Photographers must live in poverty in order to purchase all that equipment!
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This was just shot in my bedroom about 8 years ago with nothing more than a flashgun, a extended sync lead, my camera and 2 pieces of white card.
I'm not interested in studio work but I've been having fun in the lighting class. Spent a few hours in the studio tonight. I'll post the resulting image after I get it off the camera. This is a phone pic of the setup.
I think that is a great class, even if you don't want to do studio work. Bet any of us would benefit from learning about lighting as the same principles apply even outdoors doing landscapes or even casual photography of any sort.
Photographers must live in poverty in order to purchase all that equipment!
Yes it was the school's studio in this case but no cheap setup. I was using an Elinchrome 3000ws pack with three heads and probably $1000 in C stands.
And I wish more people understood enough about photography to do this...
I think this would be a fantastic class to take too.
Just out of interest, is this a 4 light setup? One left, one right, one above and one below?
Is the card on the rear right of the table blocking light or reflecting grey to the glasses for exaggeration of them? I saw that done in a utube video with glasses, reflecting light with grey card onto glasses that is.
Thanks for the memories.... Though I suspect my school days were a little bit more in the past than yours .......
Its because people don't learn on film any more imho. Learning to shoot in the studio on E6 film certainly made me slow down and properly think about what I was shooting and how I was lighting it.
Before shooting the E6 film, I used to use a polaroid back to check what I was getting, but even then, at £1 a shot, you didnt want to waste them, and then with the E6 medium format film costing £4.50 to buy, £12 for a process only (you got 10-12 shots on a medium format film with the Mamiya RB67 i learnt with), you certainly considered what you were doing in the studio.
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Thanks for the memories.... Though I suspect my school days were a little bit more in the past than yours ....
It's how I learned too.
You forgot the bit about leaving the set-up in place until the film came back from the processor. When I set up my own little studio (in the basement of the house) I was lucky to have a 1 hr E6 lab just a few minutes from the house. Shoot, drop it off, have a coffee and read the paper. Check the film to make its fine before breaking the set down.
That said..... I wouldn't go back to shooting commercially on film for anything. I have my camera tethered to a 32" TV screen of decent quality. I can see more detail on that thing than my client will ever see in the final shot. If focus is critical I can add some bright work lights and get a live view of the focus, and how it changes with aperture and focus adjustments. I can check the histogram with the SW that will be processing the image files (not the camera's histogram). If I'm shooting people I know when I've got the shot I want, or I can see when we were close and we can go back to that.
Ironically, though, I still think like I have film. My first thought is not "I can fix that in post".... I try to get it right in the camera. However, I do consciously plan shots where I know I will be adding something in post rather than setting up another light and balancing it to the rest. It's the balance of time setting up or time posting it.
I too learned on an RB.... lordy those were monsters. A classmate - a rather hefty fellow - loved those RBs. He put the handgrip on it and used it out and about, hand-held. It had so much mass, he could actually use quite slow shutter speeds with no or minimal shake. Personally, I went with the Mamiya 645. I loved the balance of film size to portability.
And the ability swap film on the fly. A little B&W, a little slow colour, and and of course the grainy look with very fast colour pushed. Nothing like not having to make up your mind until you see the film. Still have that system, though the cameras don't get used much anymore.
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This forum needs a film photography thread, I still shoot on holgas and 35mm when the fancy takes me
You should suggest it. Start a new thread in this forum to gauge interest, and to ask how to go about making a formal request if there is enough interest. You might be surprised.
There are the RBs, then the RZs. I don't the think the cameras are too expensive if you can find a good 2nd hand one. But my impression is the lenses are harder to come by. Mamiya even made digital RZ for a bit.
The RZ had the built in light meter, the RB you needed a hand held light meter.
Im pretty sure you can still get backs, they're made by Phase One who make Capture one as opposed to mamiya
I went from my Mamiya 645 to a PhaseOne camera/back... so I get to use all of my old lenses still. It tickles me that sometimes I am using lense that I bought used more than years ago on a fairly cutting edge digital system. I also have the basic focal lengths covered in modern glass, but sometimes those old lenses do the trick very nicely too. When the big shift from film to digital was occurring professionals were dumping their gear for a song, so I managed to get some very interesting speciality lenses for quite cheap.
Now I just need to use it more.... I still love the way that the PhaseOne/Mamiya camera works for me.
£600 each for those elinchrome heads..... Thats cheap for a studio flash
Check out profoto kit I learnt on that at one college and Bowens at another, the profoto kit was a cut above the rest.
The photographic department I run now, we use gemini espirits, cheap and tough.
Its because people don't learn on film any more imho. Learning to shoot in the studio on E6 film certainly made me slow down and properly think about what I was shooting and how I was lighting it.
I cant tell too well, but I think its a 2 light setup.
Large softbox on the right, shooting through that paper wall, and one underneath the table lighting the background. The paper wall on the left will reflect some fill in from the flash on the right, but I dont understand why they're shooting the flash from the right hand side through that other paper wall.
The two things above it I think are small reflectors, probably to provide some fill for shadow areas on the object, or just to balance the light on top of the object a little.
edit: just noticed the third light on the left.... be interesting to see the final result compared to what I think it would look like, I imagine it might be quite strongly backlit.
I think I woud have preferred a directly vertical view.