lighting

12 years 3 months ago #180934 by Psmurf
Hello all it's been a while .....

I have a question what is a good distant to place lights when shooting still life I don't have have great lighting just regular house lighting can't afford good lighting right now


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12 years 3 months ago #180936 by Henry Peach
A lot of things might affect where you want to place your lights, but here are two off the top of my head.

The closer your lights the larger the relative size of the light source compared to the subject. The farther away the smaller the size relative to the subject. Smaller light sources are harder light than larger light sources.

The inverse square law tells us light drops off 2 stops every time you double the distance. If your light source is closer you will notice the drop off in a shorter distance than if they are far away. For instance if your lights are 1' from your subject then 1' behind your subject would be 2 stops darker. If your lights are 10' from your subject then the light 1' beyond your subject will hardly be any different.
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12 years 3 months ago #180954 by Rathers

Henry Peach wrote: A lot of things might affect where you want to place your lights, but here are two off the top of my head.

The closer your lights the larger the relative size of the light source compared to the subject. The farther away the smaller the size relative to the subject. Smaller light sources are harder light than larger light sources.

The inverse square law tells us light drops off 2 stops every time you double the distance. If your light source is closer you will notice the drop off in a shorter distance than if they are far away. For instance if your lights are 1' from your subject then 1' behind your subject would be 2 stops darker. If your lights are 10' from your subject then the light 1' beyond your subject will hardly be any different.


:agree: There is no set distance. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve.


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