Sunlight / shadow

[Robin Kater]

Hey everybody,

 

My name is Robin, I'm a photographer and I'm new here since I'd like to experiment with artificial light to create a natural look in my photographs (even in the winter months)..

 

I was wondering how it's possible to get a light that is like direct sunlight /afternoon sunlight (like in the pictures) with shades and shadows.

 

I was thinking about setting up two lights. One with a spot and maybe through a diffusor directly pointed at the model and one next to the first light bouncing to the white wall... then I thought about blocking the light with panels and maybe set some plants or so in the way to get the shadows.. is that a right approach, or am I completely wrong ? :D

Ah, I'd build it in a studio with about 10 x 5 metres and 4 metres height.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you !

Thank you very much in advance.

 

Robin

 

 

 

 

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The sun is a very hard, sharp source from very far away, so a light that is full-flood, not spotted, but very big and bright creates a more convincing sun effect. Spotting the light works better for a backlit sun effect or maybe a patch in the forest. If you soften it, it would be like sunlight on a semi-hazy day or going through a lot of atmosphere. It's generally warmer than the skylight filling it in.

 

Skylight if very soft (so a very large diffused source) and fairly cool, and from overhead depending on where the sky is relative to the subject. The warm sun itself might also fill in from whatever direction it is bouncing off of, low from the ground for example.

 

The hardest thing to create is the dappled sunlight coming through tree leaves effect, where you end up with lots of out-of-focus circles of sunlight moving around, because that's caused by the sun being so far away that the gaps in the leaves act as little lens apertures creating a blurred image of the sun on the ground, like pinhole photography. But with a very hard, sharp light from far enough away, you can create the normal patterns of leaves and tree branches falling over the subject.

[Sandy Tworkowski]

Robin, those are remarkable photos. I agree w/ what David had said. I would only add that you need to look up your color temps for sun and sky. I used to work in TV at 3200K, nominally, but would use booster gels on soft lights for sky. The real color temps are much higher, as you know. Also, do not forget to use bounce light from cards on the floor in certain cases. Reflected light is a magical tool that can add a great degree of reality to your work. There are many instances that require a predominance of light coming from below. You will see this if you keep it in mind. As you develop your eye, you will be saddled w/ seeing many things in the world that the layman does not see. You will never lose that ability. Good luck.

[David Landau]

Hi Sandy,

 

We often use gobos in an ERS theatrical lighting unit to achieve this effect. The Source 4 is a very hard light that can project a pattern which you can then make sharp or soft by running the barrel. There are literally hundreds of patterns you can buy, from a wide variety of trees and leaves to a wide variety of window styles and just random "break-ups". You can buy source 4 ERS lights rather inexpensively, one place is usedlighting.com. The patterns can be purchased from a variety of sources - Rosco and Apollo are the two biggest manufacturers. They are rather inexpensive.

 

The color temp i 3,200k and the spread of the pattern is determined by the distance between the light and the subject and the barrel angle. The higher the number the wider the spread. If you are working in a still photo studio, the chances are you'll need a 50 degree barrel on the light.

 

As others have mentioned, using bounce cards from below to fill in the shadow area produces a more realistic feeling contrast. This can be done with either plain white cards formcore or beadboard depending on how soft you want the bounce.

 

Have fun.

 

https://www.usedlighting.com/categories/used-lighting-more/lekos-ellipsoidals

http://us.rosco.com/en/products/family/gobos

[Sandy Tworkowski]

Thank you David. Exactly the info i'm always looking for. Thank you very much. I've had very little chance to use ERS. I like their ability to project a sharp image or sharply delineated light.

Edited November 13, 2016 by Sandy Tworkowski