Storm Outside (49/365)

I'm finally getting my head around lighting. I bought a GODOX LED light, a 30x30 octabox and a 16" beauty dish over Christmas to teach myself studio lighting. Over numerous shoots (many of which I inflicted on my lovely lovely...) I couldn't figure out why the shots were wayyyy over-exposed. I chalked it up to the low ceiling and yellow walls of our living room.

Au contraire, mon frère.

Unlike flash setups that only 'pop' when you hit the shutter, LED lights are on constantly. They're like adding saffron to your food - a little goes a long way. It never occurred to me that I was using too bright a light for the environment.

I decided to try taking a bunch of photos at different light intervals. I started at 15% luminosity and worked my way up to 70%, judging how the shots looked at each stage.

That alone was a game changer. I realised the yellow living room with the low ceilings will bounce light around like nobody's business, but if you keep the LED between 15-30%, it does exactly as you want it to.

I got this shot using a single beauty dish with a diffuser, a black reflector board, and my trusty 35mm prime lens. I pulled back the highlights because the skin was quite hot out of the camera, and darkened the glare on the reflector, but otherwise, this was straight out of the camera, pretty much.

It was never the environment, it was always the lighting. Good lesson to learn.

(Today's update was brought to you by the letters C-O-V-I-D and the number 19. Photo of the Day was filmed in front of a live studio audience of a stuffed panda named Federico.)