Photoflex Community Discussion

My light stand will not collapse all the way, what am I doing wrong?

2012-06-28T15:55:59+00:00

When collapsing your light stand, first lower all the sections of the center riser section.
Make sure the collar for the very bottom of the riser section (at floor level where the 3 leg braces connect at the bottom) is tightened at the very bottom of the riser pole, such that none of the riser pole extrudes below it. Sometimes this collar is adjusted to let the center riser pole touch the ground for added support, however if the stand is collapsed while this section is extruded, the legs will not be able to fold all the way in.
Then loosen the top collar for the leg section (where the 3 legs meet the stand) and slide this collar up.
This will collapse the legs neatly against the vertical riser.

I am in need of a shooting enclosure that is good for glass picture framed art. what is your suggestion?

2012-06-18T23:09:12+00:00

To photograph a glass covered picture, you need two lights from each side at about 45 degree angles. The lights do not and should not be too close to the subject. In this way there will be uniform exposure over the artwork. A shooting enclosure would be a nightmare.
The lens of your camera needs to be parallel to the artwork. Unless you have a camera that has a lens shift function, like a view camera, your camera will reflect off the glass. Therefore, it is best to use a telephoto or slightly telephoto lens & cut a hole in black artboard or black felt like material, so just the lens pokes through, to minimize any camera reflection and block any light or reflective material from appearing in the glass, as it will act like a mirror. A simple lighting kit like the First Studio Portrait Kit DP-FSPTKT would be fine, and you would not need to use the umbrellas for this application, just the light heads. Then at another time, you could use the umbrellas for a portrait or similar. Or you could get the kit with the shooting enclosure First Studio Product Kit DP-FSPDKT, which you could use for other types of products. You will also need a tripod for the long exposures and be sure you white balance your camera.

I will be shooting pictures of fine art work with various sizes. What lighting kits would you recommend.

2012-06-18T22:59:51+00:00

If you are just shooting flat art, then the size of the Light source will not matter. What is most important is to have even illumination over the entire work of art. This is usually best done with 2 Light sources at 45 degree angles to the flat art and a good distance away from the art, so that the meter reading at any point on the artwork is the same. Then be sure your camera is color balanced to the light. Any of the two light kits for either the StarFlash (Strobe lighting System) or Starlite (continuous lighting system,) will work fine. You may want to consider what other photography you will be doing, as SoftBoxes tend to be preferred for close-up portraiture & product photography.
If your art has any 3-dimentional quality, like an oil painting, then you would benefit from larger SoftBoxes, though you would still want to move them a good distance away from the art, so the meter reading is the same at any point in the image area.

I am using your First Studio Umbrella kit and getting an orange cast to my photos. How can I fix this?

2012-06-11T22:28:46+00:00

A color shift that is not what you intended, would be caused by your white balance not matching the scene.
If you are using digital:
The First Studio Tungsten lights are around 3200 kelvin and exposing your camera with a setting for daylight or strobe, which is around 5500 kelvin would cause this.
If this is the case, just set your camera for the indoor tungsten setting or manually around 3200 kelvin.
It would be a good idea to study white balance and learn how and when to use custom white balance (for critical work or mixed lighting).
If you are using a film camera:
Film is designated as daylight or tungsten. Using Daylight film and tungsten lighting will create the effect you mention.