{"id":1191,"date":"2011-10-02T14:24:09","date_gmt":"2011-10-02T19:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2012-04-13T19:51:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-14T00:51:26","slug":"seeing-and-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/?p=1191","title":{"rendered":"Seeing and Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> What you do affects the way you see. I don\u2019t suppose this comes as any particular surprise. And yet I often find that I forget that I see through a filter of commercial photography. This means that my images are designed to read quickly. As I have been learning more about Indianapolis I have been seeing photographs that are very different from my way of seeing. There are a couple of reasons for this: first I am going to several camera clubs. This means I see other peoples\u2019 photographs more often, which is good. Of course I look at a lot of student photos at BetterPhoto, but a lot of those are wig head shots. Another thing that is changing my way of seeing is that I am still lost a lot of the time. So I have to watch where I am going. I expect that my images might begin to change in the next few months.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The tools you use change the way you see. I can remember using a tripod for every shot as an exercise. Shooting this way slows you down and makes you pay attention to composition. Using a view camera changed the way photographers see, because you were always viewing the image upside down and backwards. Instead of paying attention to the overall composition I paid attention to the relationships between parts of the composition. I miss view cameras. One of the best sorts of tools to change the way you see is light. With lights, even just a dedicated strobe, you can change the relationships between sunlight and shadow. With a couple of mono lights you can create light that defines a subject in a new way. You can simulate room light by using soft light from above. You can make something completely different by lighting from below or by using a snoot. Of course I hope you are interested in learning how to use light, that\u2019s the subject that I teach. You can take my class<\/a> at BetterPhoto, or, if you\u2019re near Indianapolis you can take the workshop<\/a> I\u2019m giving in a couple of weeks. One of the questions I often get, in my classes, is what should I buy? First, start with just one light. If you get several lights, at one time, you\u2019ll have a tougher time learning to make it work. This is the list I give people in my classes:
\nAlien Bee B1600 or Calumet Travelite 750. There are other good brands as well. The important thing is getting enough power to enable you to use lights in a variety of ways. You can always reduce light output, but you can\u2019t get more than you bought.
\n50\u00ba or 60\u00ba metal bowl reflector. This is the standard reflector, usually 6 to 8 inches. It spreads light over the angle covered by a normal lens.
\n1-45 inch umbrella, white satin with a removable black back. An umbrella with covered ribs would be better. The size and style of umbrellas is important.
\n2- light panels with 2-white cotton or white nylon covers. Also get or make a black cover and a sliver cover. Instructions for making light panels\u00a0 are at the Camera Design<\/a> page on my website<\/a>.
\nLight stand. At least 8 feet tall, 10 is better.
\nPerhaps a background stand and a neutral muslin background.
\nGet a chinese Radio Slave. You can get these from eBay, search digital radio slave. Look for one that has a plug headphones or a guitar. For more on connections check out this article<\/a>. The radio slaves from China are very attractively priced.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When you get a second light, you may get something with less power depending on what you shoot.
\nI would also get: A second metal bowl reflector, the same as above.
\nBarn doors and\/or snoot Light stand, as above
\n2- umbrellas, one matching the one you already have, and the other a 60 inch umbrella.
\nVery short light stand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you add a third light I would get Metal bowl reflector, as above.
\n1 more light panel with a gold cover.
\nLight stand, maybe with a boom arm.
\nBarn doors or snoot if you didn\u2019t get it before.
\n45 inch umbrella.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m still doing experimenting with marketing here in Indianapolis. Yesterday I went out and shot a charity event. While this isn\u2019t the kind of thing I do often, it can be a good way to meet some new folks, and hand out a few business cards. I\u2019ll be going to a couple of camera clubs this week. I need to check out the chamber of commerce here in Indianapolis. Of course I am still sending out e-mail, over a thousand sent out so far! I really hope you can take my workshop<\/a> but if you\u2019re not around Indianapolis you can take my class<\/a> at BetterPhoto. I also work with a few people privately using the phone and e-mail. Please contact me if you\u2019re interested. And let\u2019s not forget the book: Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting: A Guide for Digital Photographers!<\/a> I hope you take good photos. Thanks, John<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tools you use change the way you see. I can remember using a tripod for every shot as an exercise. Shooting this way slows you down and makes you pay attention to composition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,16,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1203,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}