Hi everyone,

Recently I've been wanting to improve the lighting of my photos.
I'm using natural light from two windows(which the background is up against)with exposure compensation settings on my camera so the photos aren't too dark. The problem I'm having with this is that the photos seem too inconsistent in terms of lighting. So what should I use as a better light source? I know that it would be good to use fluorescent bulbs but thats pretty much where my knowledge of it stops. Also, I'm not looking to buy anything very expensive so methods that are cost effective would be appreciated. Just as an example here are 3 photos of mine which are all slightly different in color.







Thank you for any help

Evan

Does your camera have a White Balance Settting? If so, is it set to Auto? Daylight?

If set on Auto, the camera has to read the light entering the camera and figure out what to use. If it is set to daylight or cloudy or anyother setting, it's forcing the camera to chose one.

May I suggest an experiment? Set up a model, set the White Balance to any setting and snap a photo. Then change the WB and snap another photo. Do this for every WB setting your camera has. From this you should be able to figure out which setting to use.



another question, were all the photos above taken during the same session? Did the sun set or come close to setting during the session? That may have something to do with the change in light as well.

I ended up buying two Compact Flourescent Lights that had a color temp of 5000K (I think natural daylight is around 5600K). If shooting at night, try using daylight balanced bulbs. The photos below had my Sony H50 WB set at Flourescent3, EV=+1.0, flash off, white paper background and a timer and tripod.



The photo below was shot with a Natural Daylight Balanced Ott Light, Sony H50 WB set at Daylight, EV=0:



This photo was shot in early evening with all lights off and the camera WB set to Daylight:



and the same model with the Ott Light on and the settings unchanged:



The upper photo is closer to what the model looks like to my eyes. I know that doesn't really help. But remember, it's a digital camera. You can shoot hundreds of photos and use only the ones that come out good.

Hope this helps,
Val

Hi,

The make of the camera is a Kodak Easy share M380 and it does have some white balance settings.
They consist of Auto, Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Open Shade.The photos were not taken in the same session, but they were all taken in early to mid afternoon. The problem I am having with light is that I take my photos in front of a window and too much of a shadow is cast on the model due to the light from the window. If I move my photo setup between two windows where I take my pictures there is extra light cast on both sides of the background and the center is too dark. I was wondering what lights would be good to eliminate the problems of shadows coming from extra light from the windows. I will also try the white balance test to see if that changes anything. Also, the model is Dragon's Jagdpanther late production smart kit.

Thank you for the help.

Evan

Natural light is the best light to use when taking photos of models. But the weather is beyond our control. Because you have no real control over the light source and the weather, you may have to select different WB settings for that day of photography.

To supplement the natural light from outside, the least expensive route are the Daylight Balanced light bulbs. I bought a pair of daylight balanced Compact Fluorescent bulbs from the local drug store for about US$14. They screw into a standard light socket and are very bright. I am able to use just these lights while taking photos at night. I also use a white piece of paper as a reflector to get the light to bounce up into the darker shadows if I have any.

The more expensive route is to buy a pair of daylight balanced Ott Lights. These go for around US$80. I have one that I was using before I found the Daylight Balanced CFL's. If you are using thelight from two windows, the Ott Light could fill in the middle.

I hope this helps, Evan.

Cheers and Aloha,
Val

Hi,

For the top two photos it was sunny and the bottom photo was cloudy.
I looked at compact fluorescent daylight bulbs and I think thats the way I'm going to go as they're cheaper than the Ott light.
Another question, what would be a good stand for the lights as I don't know how else I could use them for my photos without some sort of stand to use.

Thanks for the help.

Evan

...then any clip on lamp or any lamp that accepts screw in light bulbs should do. I guess I live in an old house (built in 1965) that has lights in the ceiling that accept screw in light bulbs.

Hope this helps,
Val