Behind the Set - Koko on a stick

[angel]

Here's a snapshot of a set I'm currently working.



The numbers are the light heads (some are out of frame so it's stand is numbered).

The capital letters are the power packs for some of the lights (others are mono lights, meaning they are power pack/head in one).

The lower case letters are the light modifiers.

This picture was taken without firing any of the lights so you could see the stands, power packs, etc. I simply took it with a D70 and it's on camera flash to show a flat picture od everything.

In subsequent posts I'll explain in more detail what some of the things do, why they are there and a bunch of things not in the picture like softboxes, flags, bounce cards and more heads that would only block you from seeing what there, but I'll explain that too.

I thought to just jump right in, take an advanced setup and after some description of what the freak is going on, show you how it would look lit up, doll posed and a sample cam angle for the actual series shots.

Have a look, ask questions if you like and I'll come back and post things like metering lights vs not metering. Using natural light to get similar results, camera, lens, whatever you like to discuss.

Credit to Koko Marino as our model. Hang in there!

Angel

[angel]

One of the first things when deciding what to use to light a photo is the final effect or feel you want in the shot. For this I'm shooting for hard edged and punched color.

You do not have to use 8+ lights to get an worthwhile effect. You do not have to use flash strobes to get a great photo. I chose this set since it has one of the most problematic situations (at least for me) that you may come across in any shot.

Let's begin. There's no formula or rules to photography, but when something doesn't look right, or could have been better, knowing the rules, how to bend them or work them to your advantage can help. Enough said about rules - they bore me. I'd rather start getting excited about the possibilities of what I can do with the elements, textures, pose possibilities that lie here - that's all ya gotta do. Just start visualizing.

I want streaks of color, deep shadow, light strip accents, bold colors. Why do I want these? As a challenge and to create something different. I always love when photographers do something different. A surprise, something unexpected.

Going bold I use glass, foil and satin as textures. You can do the same, but if lit evenly may not leverage the best these materials can do for you.

Likewise, if going glamourous, use softer materials, softer colors, softer lights.

So get a feel, pick you textures and set up anything.. doesn't matter. A chair, floor, wall.. use your textures to help with your 'feel' your going to relay.

Next post I'll continue and explain how different lights help your textures along.

Angel

[angel]

Lights. I've got a sample scene here using multiple strudio strobes. Don't think a high priced set of flash units will help make a great photo. I chose all these lights so I can pinpoint a bunch of problems I'll be having balancing and painting my lights. You may notice you will come across a similar situation to enhance a photo's shot and the above is riddled with problems so it may be likely we can get some tips from solving this scene's issues.

Number one with shooting realdolls is skin shine. It's very different from photographing real skin that it's becomes a major issue to resolve to get your doll looking real, especially under extreme lighting conditions such as high contrast shots like this one is planned to be.

Sure, you could lit very evenly and reduce the doll skin shine to a minimal, but why not also enjoy doll photos with high contrast and still keep your dollie looking real.

The sample set above will have as it's major hurdle: overcoming skin shine. And while shooting high color, high contrast another problem will also be present: imperfection magnification.

Imperfections in the skin, even on real models shot under these lights will make a dust speck seem enormous, pores huge, etc. Just like shining a flashlight across the floor - same effect.

To fix it, and why I have so darned many lights is that I need to light the subject soft, the rest hard.

To light something 'soft' means to provide little gradiation or falloff of light. This can be done by diffusing your light source or lighting your subject from enough angles to even out some of the deeper shadows.

Soft light can also be had from the sun. Sun can be both soft and hard. The hardest light is noon, softest in the morning or evening. Softening lights, even on camera flash can be done by shooting it through an umbrella, bounced off a foam core board, bounced off the ceiling or even shooting it through a thin white sheet.

Hard light is had by using flash without it bouncing around and providing secondary bounce light effects. Or by preserving the hardness by bouncing off highly reflective materials - glass and metallics are perfct for the job. The sample above is perfect for hard light since the walls are black and will not provide diffuse light, while the satin and glass will keep the hardness of the light.

So without studio strobes, consider the textures and mood or feel you're attempting in your shot and get your lights moving towards hard or soft to match.

[angel]

Depth. Getting a shot to have depth or look more three dimensional is the job of light vs shadow and focus vs blur. So you got your textures and hard or soft lights and it's time to add depth.

The easiest way to create depth is to create 3 planes of content. The forground, the subject, the background. The more you can separate physically the foreground away from the subject and the subject away from the background, the more depth it will have. Simple... but you can do some tricks to enhance the natural distance for a more dramatic or realitic effect.

Focal length of your lens is a tool you can use to create perspective differences to alter perceived depth. 55mm on a 35mm and digital cameras is the perspective of the human eye. Larger focal lengths compress the view, smaller ones decompress.

A large focal length compresses... what the heck does that mean? That means less of the background will be picked up in the shot and will seem to have magnified and moved closer to the subject. Seems like it would give a less depth effect until you realize that in this process the distance may be seen as less, however it has an effect on focus, meaning it can blur easier. Longer focal lengths flatten the overall look of your shot.

Shooting short (less tha 55mm) is used to make things in the foreground seem closer, those in the background seem further away - at the expense of more focus. This can be used to make a short model seem taller by shooting from a low angle upwards towards her head. At extremes the photo will look distorted.

The simple thing to take away from all of this.. shoot either long or short and you will have a creative look in your shoot. Shoot 55mm is fine... to document a family vacation or journalism. Choose whether your doll shot is leaning towards artistic or documentary and choose your focal length accordingly.

[angel]

SPECIAL NOTE

I try to jam pack this thread tight with info. It may prove useful referring back to this in smaller chunks or when discussing a particular problem - that's why I numbered the elements in the scene. And in case someone is shopping for a power pack, light kit, camera, slave trigger or looking for how to rim light, or set up a hair light, etc. I can refer to the numbers and letters in the sample shot.

Also fine if you skip all the text (I hate long descriptions myself) and just curious what one of my studio setups looks like. They ain't all that complex, but it sure is fun to fire a bunch of lights and hear that POP.

Without belaboring the descriptions, give me a bit and I'll post a final result shot. Sometimes that explains better than any text could

[zdrchango]

What happened to the conclusion? I am totally interested in the results as well as anything to do with lighting.

I'd like to hear more about remote triggered strobes and how that is accomplished. My cheapy digital dive camera has a remote trigger setting which I can use with flash activated strobes. It pre-fires the flash, which activates the strobes, so there is a delay before the picture is taken. I haven't seen this feature on other digital cameras, and I am in the market for a digital SLR.

[angel]

Whoa, has it been that long... omg. Apologize for the delay but anyhoo here we go... I didn't see replies and mistaken that for no interest.

The lights are triggered by connecting either a remote flash trigger or wired to the sync outlet on the pack or any one of the heads. The wire or wireless remote hooks onto your camera via it's hot shoe - that platform type landing connector on the top of any higher end camera. All the pro cameras have it and many of the consumer grades do not.

The light head or pack that has the sync outlet fires from the camera hot shoe connector and fires the rest via optical slave. The optical slave is what can see a pop of flash and inself send a fire signal to it's head or other pack.

I use Nikon SLRs. Expensive but for heavy duty shooting I suggest D-70 or at the top end (which I use now) D2X. A good used D-100 is a great buy - similar to the D-70 and built to last. Others similar are the Fuji S2Pro, S3Pro or the Canon line Mark IV, etc.

Those camreas are the semi-pro to pro end. You can get similar results going cheaper but you may find when you go to do more advanced things like custom white balances (to achieve accurate color or a certain color tone), fire studio equipment, or even want to explore lens of highest quality or special features (super wide angle, etc). Then you'll forever be glad you didn't shop at a consumer electronics store.

For starting out, even without great expenditures and using consumer cams, best investment would be a studio strobe kit. You can fire any light off the flash head of the camera, btw. A good starting kit would be a Novatron 3 or 4 head kit. Comes with stands, light heads, power pack. I have a few of those and they either blow up within a short time (warranty covers that) or they last forever. I have some packs here with literally millions of 'pops' run through them and still going strong.

[angel]

Why the delay in response... I switched the Koko face with a Britney one and named her Markie. Took a bit to attach the lashes and first round of eyeliner and find a suitable wig.

Another reason is I was diagnosed with a degenerative spine from a car accident 7 years ago. It got very bad recently and depressed the heck out of me. Found an excellent doctor and getting treatment to avoid surgery. I'm back enough to do the photos again and also decided after a long thought about it to shoot the dolls hardcore. If my back snaps like a twig I'd rather go out with a bang

[angel]

Any specific recommendations you need for a process or equipment, just ask. I try to explain a lot and give many choices but can narrow it down to what you may need to advance a level or three.

Another option for lights is Alien Bees flash heads.

In the photo above here's the equipment by numbers:

1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 are Novatron flash heads each connected to a Novatron power pack (the unit responsible for building up 600 watt-seconds of fire power to flash a pop of light).

A - Novatron 600-VR power pack
B - Novatron 600-VR power pack
C- Novatron 240 power pack

1 thru 4 and 7 and A, B and C is examples of using a power pack based lighting system.

5 & 6 - Photogenics 320 Studio Master (self contained flash head meaning the power pack and flash is all in the head)

8 - Alien Bees 600 Flash head (similar to the Photogenics).

5 ,6 and 8 are examples of lights which are self contained units each.

You can mix and match or go as simple as 1 pack, 3 heads or even 2 Alien Bees flash heads alone to get much better results than available light or on camrea flash.

a - light diffuser for the Photogenics heads
b - barn door light modifier (to control spill) can be attahed to the Novatron heads.

You'll find flash heads mounts are unique to a manufacturer so a barn door for one head won't fit on another manufacturer's head. Sux but no standards there.

[angel]

Here's the results, although only a headshot using the setup from above on a new character Marketa ("Markie"). Shot with Nikon D2X.

[Keithallen]

gorgeous photo!!!

It sounds like you took time and effort to create this wonderful photo, and it shows!!!

Bravo Angel!

[angel]

Thanks keithallen! That's encouragement to do more.

Here's trivia about the photo. There's one glaring mistake... I have not painted her eyebrows yet. Isn't it funny how you don't notice that?