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Category: Questions with Sample Photos

Photography Question 

Matej Hochel 		 

B&W indoor photography - lightning & effects


 
  Example
Example
What light source/filter was used???

Matej Hochel

  
 
John, thanx for your nice answer. Here goes another question about indoor/ studio shooting - hope you (or anybody) can help me:
1) I am an amateur and have just a regular household tungsten light source. What's the best way to diffuse it?
2) How to get a sand-like diffused effect as in the example below? I suppose some kind of diffused light source and a diffusion filter were used. Could you make some comment concerning light and filters. (I know the scan is not a good one but I hope it'll be useful.)


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June 06, 2001

 

John A. Lind 		  First, diffusion creates an area source of light instead of a point source. Two common methods using studio lights are a "soft box" or a "reflector."

Soft box:
This has a (typically white) large translucent panel behind which the light source is placed. As the light from the source passes through the panel it is diffused by it making the panel an area source. Fire safety is a prime consideration in using a soft box with tungsten lighting; you need to ensure the heat from the lamp can escape outside the box and not overheat it.

Reflectors:
One of the more common reflectors is the umbrella. The inside of the umbrella is aimed at the subject and the light source aimed toward the inside of the umbrella. Umbrella reflectors have a reflective material (typically silver) on the inside; otherwise they are nearly identical in construction to a normal umbrella. The indside of the umbrella becomes the area light source.

Print texture:
Many print textures are created when making the print (not when making the negative) by using a "sandwich" technique in the print enlarger. The negative is sandwiched in the negative carrier on the enlarger with another piece of film or similar material containing the texture. Most often this is done by the photographer in his/her own darkroom, although I'm certain many pro imaging houses can create a custom print for you if you specify what you want.

BTW, the light direction in this image is clearly "side lighting" with the light source to the left of the subject at 90 degrees to the camera view. This lighting direction is commonly used for images of this type.

Suggestion:
Look for some books in a large bookstore or library on B/W printing techniques and on studio lighting; two subjects which can easily consume more than a single book to describe in detail.

-- John


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June 06, 2001

 

John A. Lind 		  Hmmmm . . . one other idea comes to mind for the "sand texture" in particular. A coarse texture can be created by using an extremely high speed film which has coarse grain structure. It can also be created by "pushing" a lower speed film to a higher film speed and "push processing" it. Some films are friendlier to this than others and "pushing" a film will increase contrast also. If looking to do this with film selection, you will have to read the data sheets on the films (about their granularity and pushing them) and then experiment until you achieve the prints you want. If you "push" a film, ensure the lab you use can "push process" the film. I don't know of any consumer labs that can do this, but most pro labs can and you will pay a premium for the non-standard processing.

-- John


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June 06, 2001

 
BetterPhotoJim.com - Jim Miotke

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Jim Miotke's Gallery 		  Hi Matej,

I like the instruction that is going on with this photo but I think that it was was shot by someone else. I am uncomfortable with publishing any work without the photographer's permission... correct me if I am wrong. As it stands, I will pull it soon.

Thanks.


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June 07, 2001

 

Matej Hochel 		  First of all, Jim, sorry for the inconvinience. Actually, I realized that it could be a problem immediately after uploading the image. On the other hand, you have to recognize that sometimes it's difficult to explain what effect you wanna achieve without an example. (Obviously, if you had your own photo with the effect you wouldn´t ask the question :o) Don´t you have any alternative solution for this problem? Anyway, I promise I won´t do that in the future. Sorry.

Now, John, thank you very much for your answer. If you don´t mind, I´ve got an add-on question concerning high-grain films. What kind of film would you recommend? I´m used to use Kodak all the time and know just the ordinary Kodak films. I use a b&w T-Max 400 but it´s far too slow, I supose, to produce a nice granular effect. Besides it, the t-max series has a t-grain tech(Actually, I don´t know exactly what it is but they say it´s low-grain even in high speed films.) So, what kind of film would you use to get the effect? What about its exposure? Thanx.

P.S. Unfortunatelly, I do not have any experience (neither equipment) in film developing, so right now I must forget about the push-processing on my own. But I do make b&w prints from time to time.


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June 07, 2001

 

Kris Haskins 		 
 
 
I have had good results in creating soft grained images with TriX. When pushed to 1600 it has round, not harsh, grain. To further inhance the effect I choose to enlarge the image significantly, either by using larger paper, or by only printing a small area of the negative. I guess this goes against most of what we usually think when making a picture, but here is what I might try: Use a normal 50mm lens and get about 10ft away (more for a full body shot). This will put all of your subject in about 1cm or less of the film. When this small part of the negative is enlarged to an 8x10 the grain should appear artistic and appealing. I would also try to create a lower contrast atmosphere than you are aiming at in the print. Remember that pushing will increase the contrast, and unless that is what you are looking for you may be disappointed. In most situations female skin looks more appealing with lower contrast (to a degree of course).


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June 07, 2001

 
BetterPhotoJim.com - Jim Miotke

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Jim Miotke's Gallery 		 
 
 
Hi Matej,

No problem about the photo. You bring up a good point. The only solution I can think of, though, is to get permission from the photographer but I know this can be difficult. Who is the photographer?


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June 07, 2001

 

Jeff S. Kennedy 		  Matej, I agree with everything John has said. I would like to add something to the discussion of diffused light sources. If you are using tungsten lighting an easy way to diffuse it and create a larger light source is to hang a sheet or some other translucent material in front of your light. The goal is to make your light source larger rather than just diffusing it. Placing a sheet or scrim in front of the light will achive this and give you that nice window light look. Of course you could just put the subject next to a large window too.


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June 07, 2001

 

Kris Haskins 		 
 
  Relaxed
Relaxed
An example of soft gain created by using small sections of the negative and pushing the film. Shot on TriX, this entire image was on less than 1cm of film, which I enlarged to an 8X10. Taken in my living room at a 'social function'.

Kris Haskins

  
 
Here is the image that I tried to upload to illustrate my response.


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June 07, 2001

 
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