I've been a professional photographer for nearly 30 years
and a photography educator for more than 12 years now
so i've seen pretty much everything when it comes to common mistakes relating to
first-time studio lighting users. From shying
away from understanding the physics of light
to relying on a light meter. Here are 9 mistakes
you should try to avoid when using studio flash or strobe lighting.
So let's get started number 1: Not understanding the physics of light.
Photography can be considered both science and an
art with basic principles of physics governing the practicalities of
recording light directing and modifying it as well as
human biological visual responses and emotion to an image
contributing to the outcome and success of that image.
If you really want to understand how to use studio flash
you do have to make the effort to understand the physics of light.
The term physics may sound scary but it doesn't have to be
you don't have to understand everything but there are a few
key concepts that will serve you well useful concepts include the inverse
square law, angle of incidence, angle of reflectance,
hard light and soft light, direction of light,
color theory, diffusion and specularity, reflectance and dispersion. All of these
principles I cover in great detail on KarlTaylorEducation.com.
Number 2: Being afraid to experiment. When it comes to using natural light.
People seem to have no problem experimenting with side lighting
backlighting and different times of day but when it comes to studio light
many photographers want a formula and an instant success
instead of experimenting to see what results they can produce
they often want to know that if they use a particular light
in a particular position at a particular power setting
that it will work and guarantee success. The truth is it isn't that simple.
I often get photographers asking what power settings I used,
or for lighting diagrams of a shoot, but none of this
matters unless you're shooting in the exact same scenario
with the exact same equipment, shooting distances,
modifiers, space, reflectivity and the same
subject - even the color of the floor would make a difference.
These sort of questions demonstrate that people are too afraid to fail
but we need to fail to learn. You shouldn't be afraid to experiment with
your lights, it costs us nothing to take as many
images as we want, so there's no need to rely on the same
go-to lighting setup time and time again. Number 3:
Relying on a light meter. For some reason even though we're working in the digital
age many photographers still rely heavily on using a light meter to tell
them how their images should look. If you want to get creative you
shouldn't be taking directions from someone
or something else. Having moved away from film
it costs us nothing to experiment and take multiple images until we're happy
with the result. Your eyes should be able to tell you
everything you need to know about the exposure of an image and your
creative vision should determine what camera settings to
use and the amount of light you need. Learn to see the light and you will be
amazed how your creative skills and knowledge of lighting develop.
To learn how to determine the correct exposure in an image without using a
light meter, I recommend watching our measuring light
and achieving the correct exposure class where I demonstrate how to do this
without a light meter. Although I used to use a light meter
when I started my professional career I haven't used one in about 15 years
since I stopped shooting film. There are two main reasons for this
which are creativity and speed which I talk about more in a
video and I'll provide a link below. Number 4: Lighting from the front.
The first thing so many photographers do when they first start with studio
lighting is to stick their light in front of the
subject, take the photo and then wonder why everything looks so
boring and flat. The direction that light comes from can
have a big impact on how an image looks. Typically
side lighting emphasizes texture and form
and contrast while front lighting produces
flat two-dimensional looking images. This is one of the first things I
show you in my introduction and understanding light class
and it's an important concept to understand.
I don't tend to use frontal lighting as my key light when shooting
more often i use side lighting or back lighting as the strongest light in the
image both of which help enhance form and
texture. You'll see how food photographer Anna
Pustynnikova and I commonly use backlighting in our food
photography classes and how I often use side lighting to
shape products such as lipsticks or glasses and many other products.
Number 5: Relying on shutter speed. Another question I often get asked is
what shutter speed I'm using for a shoot. Once you understand the relationship
between shutter speeds, apertures and studio flash, you'll
realize that it's not the shutter speed that freezes motion
when using studio lighting but rather the flash burst itself.
This is often something that confuses those new to studio photography
but it's a very important concept to understand.
When it comes to freezing motion using studio lighting
flash duration is much more important than shutter speed
as studio lighting can attain bursts of light
exceeding 1/10,000 of a second allowing you to freeze the fastest
moving subjects. Number 6: Lighting from too far away.
A lot of the time I see new photographers using their lights at some
distance from their subject as if they're too scared to get
close but sometimes if you want the best results, the only option is to get very
close. Often when I'm shooting whether it be
product or portrait photography I'll have the light right up next to my
subject, even almost touching. Remember the
distance of the light away from the subject will have a great
impact on the final result. In some instances due to reflective surfaces and
softness you'll need your lights very close, in
others you'll want the light further away to
better control the inverse square law and then the size of the light becomes
more important. If your light is too far away you'll be
unnecessarily limiting yourself and making things more
difficult than they need to be by creating uncontrollable reflections
on gloss surfaces. These very important principles are
covered in depth on karltaylereducation.com
where I explain the important relationships
of distance and size of the light. Number 7: Not understanding the
importance of shadow depth. Shadows are extremely
important in photography and visual perception, they are the
element that provides contrast and depth as well as mood. There are very
specific techniques such as global illumination
and controlling shadow fill and colour that have a huge
impact on the quality of your images. Most photographers don't fully
understand these principles and tend to ignore the quality of
shadows. Again I have extremely detailed
and in-depth explanations on how to control shadows for effect
and emotion on Karl Taylor Education. These concepts are just too involved to
explain clearly in this short video. Number 8:
Choosing the wrong modifier. It goes without saying that the choice of
modifier for a shoot has a big impact on the final result which is why
it's so important that you don't just grab the nearest softbox and assume it
will work. Think about what you're shooting, the
shape of the subject, the type of light that you need and the
mood you're trying to convey to help you determine which modifier you
should be using. For example if you're shooting a bottle
of wine, a small octa-box wouldn't be the best choice. In
the same way a parabolic reflector wouldn't be appropriate if you're
shooting reflective sunglasses. If you don't have the best modifier for
the job, think about how you may be able to modify your light source yourself
to make it work. For example, if you have a large octa-box but need a strip box
you could try flagging it and making the light
smaller to the size that you need. This problem-solving approach leads me to my
next point. Try to understand why we have different
modifiers and their purposes. Knowing the tools
goes a long way. Number 9: Using lack of equipment as
an excuse. This is something I've discussed in
depth in previous videos and i also addressed it in a previous
live show, 'The one light challenge product shoot', in
that live show I proved that it was possible
to create a high-end product shot of lipsticks using
just one light. Product photography is a notoriously challenging genre of
photography and people often feel you have to have
an endless amount of studio kit to achieve professional results. While I
do sometimes use five, six or seven lights
for product shoots, I also sometimes use only one or two,
it does depend on the shoot. When you actually understand
modifying light you can even create images that look like studio lighting
that didn't even use any studio lighting. Such as this shot that I created with
only natural light but through knowledge I was able to make
it look like studio lighting. Learn to think
about how you can apply knowledge to get the most out of your
equipment and overcome certain problems, that may
require moving your lights to overcome light fall-off dictated by the inverse
square law, using long exposures to combine multiple
lights, or even modifying your modifiers to make
them work better for you. Think logically about what you're trying to
achieve and try to solve one problem at a time. When you work this
way you'll find things suddenly seem much more manageable. If
you've found yourself making any one of these mistakes that's
okay, learning about studio lighting can take
time. Even the best professional photographers
will tell you they're still learning the main thing is
to keep practicing and working on your skills. At
KarlTaylorEducation.com we can fast track that learning curve
and vastly improve your lighting skills, thanks for
listening. Get my completely FREE photography
course with no sign-up required. You can also access our FREE
90-page e-book! Just click the link or go to
KarlTaylorEducation.com