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Photography Guide > The Shoot > Studio Lighting

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STUDIO LIGHTING


The studio lighting you select will depend on the type of subject you will be shooting. For medium to large sized objects, the primary light source, the "key" light, is placed 6 to 9 feet away from the subject and off to the side. The second light, the "fill" light, is placed about 50% farther away from the object than the primary, and off to the other side. Photo umbrellas are frequently used as "bounce" reflectors to widen the beam and thereby soften the light. Therefore the tips of the umbrellas should be pointed away from the subject.

For small objects like jewelry and electronics, we use a setup that consists of a continuous studio lighting system and table top photo tents in various sizes.

  • Ambient Lights: The light that is in a room before you use any additional lights is called ambient light. It includes light that comes through the windows and from any permanent light fixures in a room. In most situations it is best to turn the room light off in order to avoid tinting of the product picture. Just leave enough room light so you can see the subject in the viewer of the camera. If the room light is casting a tint, look for a darker area.
  • Continuous Lights: Continuous lights are ideal studio lighting for most product photography. They are simple to use and deliver a "what you see is what you get" result. Make sure that your camera has auto white balance control or set the white balance to "interior" mode. We recommend at least 1000 watts of light on the subject using two or three lights. Don't forget to place one of the lights to the side or behind the subject to remove unwanted shadows.
  • Flash Lights: Flash lights are more difficult than continuous lights because the light is very bright and can easily saturate a digital camera. Most digital cameras are very sensitive and strobes are only recommended when a great amount of light is required. These strobe lights will not work well in small spaces like office environments. In addition, you will have many trial and error configurations to optimize the studio lighting.

    Our Continuous Flood Studio Lighting kits are better suited for digital photography of medium to small objects.

    For optimal results illuminating large objects, we recommend having two or more of the Flash Lights to reduce shadows and improve image detail. One of the flash lights is connected to the camera trigger output and set up as the primary (key) light source. The other Flashes are set up as "fill" lights. With three lights, one or two are placed in front of the object and the others are used to "backlight" the object and/or the background to completely remove shadows and add "hair" highlights.

Ultra Soft Studio Lighting 
studio lighting for professional photographersOur ALZO digital photography tents are commonly used in catalog photography for imaging highly reflective objects particularly plastic and metal, or when an "ultra soft" light effect is desirable. Our tents are constructed of a pure white nylon fabric supported by a sewn-in spring metal wire frame and includes Velcro fasteners for liner and cover attachment. Our tent is a 28" cube that compresses into a 16" disk for storage. Maximum recommended object size is 20" x 20", but that is a bit tight. Photo tents are the most cost-effective studio lighting solution and the easiest way to produce professional product shots.
SELECTION, QUALITY, LOW PRICES AND SUPERIOR SERVICE
Our selection of studio lighting equipment includes both individual components as well as complete kits. If you can't find what you need please contact us so that we can help you with your photography studio lighting needs.
 
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If you are having difficulty getting the perfect image with any of our equipment, we will set up an equivalent configuration in our facilities and solve your problem, then email you the solution, including images of the equipment used. If your problem is related to a digital camera issue with a camera that was not purchased from us, we will attempt to help you and may recommend a camera upgrade.

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