Digital Light Kits

[Heidi Maiers]

Mike,
Now I'm in your area of vast knowledge. Today I finally took the plunge and bought my first real photography light (I had been using my living room lamps to this point).

Knowing what little I do about lighting requirements for sculpture, I saw what looked to be just the thing for my needs - a kit by Photoflex called the "Basic Digital Starlite Kit." This kit has a silverdome instead of an umbrella and produces a very soft, but bright (500 watt) light. I am anxious to try it out.

What is the difference between using an umbrella and a dome for diffusion? Does anyone use this type of light with digital cameras for resource photos? If so, how do you like it?

[Mike McCarty]

Heidi,

No vastness here.

I don't use artificial light to light my subjects. My initial thoughts would be that lighting a sculpture would be no different than lighting a real person, except for the blinking part.

Do you mean that your flash shoots away from the subject and onto (instead of into an umbrella) the surface of this dome (which would be wrapping away from the subject)? If this is the case I can see where most of the light would be diffused away from the subject creating a much softer effect.

My guess is that, as with most of these artificial set ups, it's a matter of doing it over and over again (adjusting the distance - subject to light) until you get the desired results, and then you just don't move it. This is the real benefit to these systems. Once they are in place you just move the subjects into place and it will replicate the results over and over.

I'm not going to be much help in this regard, I know that others use these types of systems and may come along to comment.

[Michele Rushworth]

Heidi, I'm familiar with umbrella systems where you can either shine the light through the fabric (if translucent) or reflect the light off the interior surface of the umbrella (if it's kind of a silvery surface).

I don't know what you mean by a "dome" system. Is it a Softbox? Can you post some pictures of what you have?

[Marvin Mattelson]

The silverdome is a light panel. Essentially it is a silver lined reflector that has a rectangular opening which is covered by diffusion material. It gives off a similar effect to a north window. The size of a light panel and the distance to the subject are the factors which determine the quality of the light that hits the subject, same s a real window. Smaller light sources give more apparent modeling effects while larger light sources give a softer more even effect and things appear flatter. The further away the lightsource is from the subject the sharper the edge of the cast shadows. However the cast shadow edge is also softened if the lightsource is larger.

The effect of an umbrella is similar to that of a light panel, again depending on the distance to the subject, the size of the umbrella and the material inside the umbrella.

Photoflex claims that the light you purchased doesn't give off as much heat as other 500 watt bulbs. Since you're shooting sculpture it probably wont be an issue, that is unless you plan to shoot unfired soft clay or plastellina. They could possibly melt? For shooting people 500 watts might be uncomfortable and make them sweat.

[Heidi Maiers]

Thanks for your input Mike, Michele, and Marvin.
Yes, that is it exactly Marvin. Seems like it will produce similar results as the umbrella system. Of the large and small setups offered, I purchased the smaller one which hopefully won't flatten the objects.

I don't plan on using if for unfinished works, but I had planned on using it for the resource photos of the subjects. I'll have to remember to set it back far enough so as not to blind or overheat them or I will end up with squinting sculptures.

[Marvin Mattelson]

Originally Posted by Heidi Maiers

I purchased the smaller one which hopefully won't flatten the objects.

I like a soft box better than an umbrella. The smaller the lightsource the more modeling that it reveals. The larger the lightsource the flatter the result. Good luck.