Lighting the EZcube
Lighting is normally the single most important element
in successful product photography. After
all, improved lighting is the main reason for using an EZcube. Lighting an object inside of an EZcube is
relatively simple. Nevertheless, it does
require a couple of important decisions. First is choosing the type of light source:
sunlight, incandescent light, fluorescent light, etc. Next, if using an artificial light source,
you will need to decide which sort of fixture or light stand to use in order to
position the lamps. The following should
help you to decide what light source and what sort of light supports to use.
Daylight as a light source
Sunlight is
an inexpensive source of light, but you have probably already discovered that
unless it is foggy or hazy day, direct sunlight is normally too
"harsh" to be useful for product lighting. Direct sunlight (ie light without a diffuser
like the sides of the EZcube) creates very sharp and often undesirable shadows.
Direct sunlight can also cause glare from the subject. The EZcube softens
and diffuses sunlight creating nice soft shadows while reducing or eliminating
the glare.
When using
sunlight as a light source it's best if possible, to take the cube outdoors.
Orient the cube with the opening facing away from the sun. (This is the opposite of normal outdoor
photography in which you would typically try to keep the sun behind the camera
and in front of the subject.
If you will
be working indoors with sunlight as the light source, you should position the
cube near a large unobstructed window. (Obstructions may create unwanted
shadows). Keep in mind that if the light
from the window has been reflected off of nearby buildings, trees or other
objects it will pick up the color of those buildings, trees or objects. The same applies to sunlight which has
reflected off of the walls or objects inside the room. (If the light striking
the cube has picked up color, the white fabric of EZcube will not remove that
color, it will transmit the color onto the subject unchanged.)
Another
consideration when using sunlight as a light source is to be aware of the fact
that the color of sunlight will vary considerably depending on the time of
day. Early morning or late afternoon
sunlight has a yellow or orange color cast compared to the
Simple artificial
lighting
Sunlight
may be an inexpensive source of light, but unless you normally have great
weather and want to limit your shooting to the daytime, it has some obvious
limitations. In addition to not always being available, sunlight provides
only a single light source. You will find that using multiple sources of light
allows you to have more control over shadows and highlights. Multiple light
sources can also allow your image to have more of a three dimensional
appearance.
The most
basic lighting setup is to light the cube with similar lights from two sides.
The lights are normally slightly in front of and above the object. For most subjects all of the light striking
the object will normally pass through the fabric of the tent. (Actually you might be thinking that the
simplest light source would be your camera’s built-in flash. In fact, an on-camera flash will probably not
produce a very good product image. For an explanation of why an on-camera flash
is not a good light source for most object photography, see the section below
on strobes and flashes).
Try
positioning the lights in different ways to see the effects it will have on
your image. Keep in mind that moving the
lights further from the cube and the subject may create slightly harder shadows
and moving the light source closer will soften or even eliminate the shadows.
Because different lighting effects are sometimes not very obvious until you
actually take some photos, it can be helpful to take a few shots and examine
them as you try different light positions.
How the
lights are positioned (professional photographers call this “modeling” the
lighting) will have a big impact on your final image. Many professional
photographers keep notes to remind them later which setups work best.
Choosing a light source
Artificial
light is produced by many different types of lamp. Which of these lamps you
choose has a big effect on your images?
The most important difference between the various sources is the color
of light which they produce. Although a
standard incandescent light bulb appears to produce white light, it actually
produces yellowish colored light that appears to be to our eyes. However, to a film or digital camera light
from a standard light bulb is yellow. To
our eyes a standard fluorescent bulb also appears white. To a film or digital camera most fluorescent
bulbs appear greenish or bluish. If we
use standard incandescent or fluorescent bulbs as a light source, they will
distort the color of the image we are taking.
Should you
chose to use standard light bulbs, either incandescent or fluorescent, there
are a couple of ways of dealing with the color distortions they introduce.
Digital Camera White
Balance
Most
digital cameras have a feature which attempts to compensate for the color
distortions created by standard light bulbs.
This feature is called white balance.
By setting the appropriate white balance on a digital camera, much of
the distortion can be removed. (See your
camera’s instruction manual for more on setting the white balance). You may
find that because the color distortions introduced by incandescent or
fluorescent bulbs are quite complex, a digital cameras’ white balance setting
may not remove all of the distortion.
Color adjustment
with software
Another
method to correct for the color distortions introduced by standard incandescent
or fluorescent light bulbs is to use the color adjustment features of image
software. Nearly all of the software
programs designed to modify digital images (programs such as Photoshop or Paint
Shop Pro) allow the colors of images to be adjusted. Some of these programs are quite powerful and
make it relatively easy to correct colors.
Again however, the fact that the color distortions introduced by
standard light bulbs are quite complex they may not be completely corrected
with software.
Daylight Balanced Bulbs
The best
way to reduce or eliminate the need to color correct images is to use color
corrected light bulbs as the light source. Both incandescent and fluorescent
bulbs are available in color corrected versions. We recommend using daylight
balanced, compact fluorescent bulbs.
These bulbs will normally fit standard light fixtures but produce three
to four times as much light compared to incandescent light bulbs using the same
amount of energy. And since the compact fluorescent bulbs use much less energy
they operate much cooler than incandescent bulbs. Daylight balanced compact
fluorescent bulbs are more difficult to find than standard bulbs and they typically
cost $15 to $25 each. However, they are
by far the easiest light source to work with.
The higher initial cost of these bulbs is offset by the fact that the
bulbs last for thousands of hours and use so little electricity.
Don’t mix light sources
When using
multiple light sources it is important to make sure all the lamps have the same
color balance. As we mentioned above, it
is possible to correct for some color distortions with a camera’s white balance
or with imaging software. However, it is
nearly impossible to correct for color problems caused by using multiple light
sources.
This means
that if you are using daylight, use only daylight. Don’t use window light and then supplement it
with artificial light. When using
artificial lights, all the lights must have the same color balance. Don’t mix incandescent lights with
fluorescent lights. And even when using
only incandescent or only fluorescent bulbs, make sure all the bulbs have the
same color balance. (Different size
bulbs can be used, but the color output of their light should be
identical).
Unless you
have a specific creative reason for doing so, using bulbs with different color
balance on the same subject is likely to lead to undesirable results. Sometimes the light colors are mixed
inadvertently. For example if overhead
incandescent lights left on while shooting an image with daylight balance
bulbs. Some of the light from the
overhead lights may “leak” onto the image.
Supporting the lights
There are
many ways to support lights for tabletop photography. The type of light support you use won’t have
a direct impact on the quality of your image.
However, the type of light supports you use will make a big difference in how
easy it is to set up and reposition the lights.
The least
expensive lights are desk lamps for the small EZcube and clamp lamps for the
standard EZcube. However, you will
quickly discover that desk lamps and clamp lamps can be very frustrating to
adjust precisely. Desk lamps are not
very stable and have a tendency to flop over. Clamps lamps tend to slip. Both desk lamps and clamp lamps have a
relatively limited range of height adjustments.
If you
don’t have any other lights and you are anxious to start taking some pictures
then give a couple of desk lamps or clamp lamps a try. You may find that they
fit your needs well. However, after your
desk lamps have fallen over a few times or your clamp lamps have slipped you
may want to invest in better light supports. There is a reason professional
photographers don’t use desk lamps and clamp lamps as light supports. The pros discovered that they would waste
lots of time trying to balance desk lamps or trying to keep clamp lamps from slipping.
Unless you are going to take table top product shots on a very occasional
basis, you will probably want to invest in a proper light support system.
We have
found that standard photographer’s flood light stands are the best light
support. Photo flood light stands are
easy to adjust, they are quite stable and they collapse and fold up for easy
storage.
Photo flood
lights with daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs make a great combination
for lighting an EZcube.
Positioning the lights
There is no single position which will work best for
every subject and situation. However, the majority of subjects will look good
if two lights are used and the lights are placed on either side of the
EZcube. We normally position the lights
slightly higher than the subject, with the lights shining down towards the
subject.
For most subjects all of the light should be diffused by
the fabric of the EZcube rather than come directly from the light. An exception to this rule would be when
shooting glass, porcelain, or some other very shiny surface when it is
important for the glossy surface of the object to appear in the image. If diffuse light is the only source of light
when shooting glass or porcelain, the surface of the object may appear slightly
dull. To put the shine back into the
object, either move one of the lights forward enough that some of the light is
hitting the object directly (not diffused by the fabric of the EZcube) or add
an additional directed at the object from in front of the EZcube.
The exact lighting effect you try to achieve will
largely be a matter of your own preferences.
For most subjects you will want soft shadows with enough highlits that
the depth or dimension of the object is apparent in the image.
Feel free to experiment with different light
positions. The biggest advantage of
using continuous lighting is that you can “model” the image by moving the
lights around to see the different lighting effects. Digital film is free, so don’t hesitate to
try different light positions. As
mentioned before professional photographers often take notes so that they will
know what lighting setup worked best or what lighting setup didn’t work in a
particular situation.
What about strobes or flashes?
You may be
wondering why we haven’t discussed strobes or flashes as light sources for the
EZcube. Using your camera’s on-camera
flash will not allow the EZcube to diffuse and soften the light before it
strikes the subject. Also, because
on-camera flashes are located so close to the camera lens, they will often produce
very strong glare. Finally, because the on-camera flash is coming from the same
Off-camera
strobes and flashes can work well with the EZcube and many professional
photographers use them. However, for
most folks strobes or off-camera flashes are more expensive and much more
difficult to work with than the continuous light sources mentioned above. Unless you have already made the big
investment in the time and money required to purchase and learn to use strobe
lights properly, we would suggest you use one of the continuous light source
like those mentioned above.
Disadvantages of Flash lighting vs. continuous lighting
!
With flash lighting you can’t really tell what
the lighting looks like until after you have taken the picture
!
Continuous lighting allows for “What you see is
what you get” modeling
!
Flash lights must be synchronized with each
other and with the camera shutter
! Flash lights are more generally much expensive than continuous lights
Strobe lighting can be useful when
!
The subject is moving
! The shot requires extra light in order to increase the depth of field by reducing the cameras aperture
!
You already own an expensive multi-head strobe
system
There are a couple of applications in which
professional quality strobes can work better than continuous light
sources.
If the subject is moving, then the short duration
of the strobes flash can help to “freeze” the subject. Even a relatively slow moving subject will
cause a blurred image.
To get the most depth of field requires a small
aperture (lens opening). A smaller
aperture means more light is required for the image. In many case the additional light can be
obtained by simply increasing the exposure time. However, there are occasions where the
exposure time cannot be increased enough to produce the required amount of
light for a small aperture. In those
cases, the intense light of a strobe light is useful. Often times a strobe will not solve the depth
of field problem though since most of the digital cameras on the market do not
allow the aperture to be reduced ennought to produce the required depth or
field or require the additional light of a strobe.