My indoor lighting saga has been an ongoing thing since I started worrying about the logistics of indoor photography. There's BB life and AB life...that would be Before Blog and After Blog ;)
Before Blog life was serene and carefree - life was good. After Blog life is a chaotic mix of link parties, blog posts, blog hops, becoming and getting followers, worrying about rainy weather and whether or not I can paint or craft or other various artistic pursuits outdoors, and most of all - getting a good photograph indoors.
Flash is the enemy but it seems normal lighting fails miserably for photography. Or at least that's been my experience.
One solution was to build a
lightbox
which helped tremendously with photographing the small items in my
JunkyVagabond online shop. This only works for small items though; it doesn't help for larger items or room shots.
Enter Lightscoop! Veronica at
Life in The Thrifty Lane had a post about it and how it changed her lighting woes for good. Well, I snapped two up (one for warm tones, one for cool tones) and now life is a little easier!
Here are some pics for illustration:
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| No flash |
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| With flash |
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| With Lightscoop and flash - not so washed out |
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| No flash |
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| With flash |
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| With flash and Lightscoop |
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| No flash |
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| Too shiny! |
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| Much better! |
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| This is the 'warm' Lightscoop |
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| No flash |
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| With Lightscoop |
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| No flash |
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| With Lightscoop |
See the difference? The colors are better and not all washed out from the direct flash, especially on anything reflective. The Lightscoop is basically a mirror that bounces the light from your flash off the ceiling.
These were taken on a cloudy day near a window, but my office is always a little on the dim side. (Insert dim jokes about the office owner...lol) It's where I've been taking my (bad) indoor photos if the item didn't fit into my homemade lightbox.
Now I had to fiddle with the settings on the fancy-dancy camera which involved a lot of head-scratching and clicking of menus and options, but it does appear to have made a positive difference. I bet someone who knows how to use their camera would have an easier time with the settings.
I'll probably continue to use my little point and shoot for some things, but if I want a really good pic on a low light day - Lightscoop will save the day! Loving what this does for my photos! Oh, and as a caution - I accidentally used it outside taking a pic of my in-progress project
Isn't my project coming along nicely? LOL! That's all I can show you for now - I'm having some trouble with it. But this photo does show you how powerful the Lightscoop gadget is!
Oh, and I wasn't comped in any way for this post - I bought it and had to share it, it's that simple! If it helps others, wonderful! You can read more about it and find the Lightscoop
here.
Linking up with these parties:
Great tips for camera--its good to see the good and the bad and how not to use flash--I never have good pics with flash either. Have a great week! Patty
ReplyDeleteHi Jill! Thanks for joining my newbie party and sharing your tips and tricks! I love to learn more about photography!
ReplyDeleteI love exploring photography too - thanks for the tips, your photos look great!
ReplyDeleteGreat improvement...I need to get working on something like this!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I've never heard of that! It really is amazing!! I have flourescent lights in my studio room. It seems to help, but not like yours!!
ReplyDeleteI'm here from Debbie's party, and I'm also your newest follower!! Welcome to blog land!!
xxDaniella
Hi Jill, I saw your post over at Debbie's Newbie Party...very informative! I have never heard of this device before but I need all the help I can get with blog photos. I was taking pictures of Easter decorations/dinner yesterday and my family was rolling their eyes...as if to say "Can't we have anything go on these days without Mom taking a picture for her blog?"
ReplyDelete