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As featured in our Fall 2004 Catalog...

Studio Lighting... Be Aware of It!

To all the young photographers I offer this advice about lighting. First you have to be aware of it. This is your exercise: Take the time to sit in your favorite room, coffee shop, beach, mountain top, studio, a park bench, somewhere you're comfortable. Some time during day the light creates an ambiance which makes that place look beautiful. As a photographer this is the moment you wait for.

I believe all photography is about recognizing this particular light. Certainly landscape photography is all about waiting for that time of day when the light is spectacular. And the same must be said of indoor or studio photography.

Most of my work is done indoors. When possible I make use of the light coming in from my windows. But I can't always rely on that. So my basic lighting consists of studio strobe with a large soft box and lots of foam core board to reflect and bounce this light around. The light and reflectors are moved until the ambiance is as if the light were coming in from my window. And that's pretty much it.

This simplistic approach works for me. I watched a photographer use 24 pieces of lighting equipment to do a head shot. I've watched another photographer take pieces of a mirror he had purposely broken, embed them in pieces of clay, then carefully aimed them to reflect light on individual pieces of jewelry being photographed. On a grand scale: the High Value Definitive stamps of England. I had to visit each of the castles representing each country; England (Windsor), Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Caernarvon), Ireland (Carrickfergus), in advance of the photographer to determine the best time of day to photograph these castles. To me, photography is the study of light, not just taking pictures.