Thursday, April 26, 2012

my studio lights

Since I mentioned that I have been using indoor lighting to take some of my outfit photos I have been asked quite a few questions about them. I thought that today I would show you my lights and my typical set up.

Here is what my set up looks like from behind the camera.
As you can see, I normally set up my camera facing our clipboard wall with the lights about halfway between the camera and the point where I will stand. I keep the lighting low so that it is not in frame and angled upwards so that the light bounces off our white ceilings. 
This kind of gives you an idea of what I see while I am taking my photos. 

Here is an example of what it looks like when I am standing in front of the set up shown above. 
I don't always have the lights between myself and the camera. When I take closer up shots I usually move the camera in front of the lights. I don't find that it really makes a difference where I put the lights in relation to the camera and myself. As long as they are not casting any weird shadows they are in a good spot.

Below is an example of what it looks like with the camera in front of the lighting.
In this next photo I was standing kind of beside, kind of in front of the lighting and it is the only situation that gives me consistently bad results. 
Yikes!

Here is a photo of what the actual lights look like. 
Ivan is my hero when it comes to finding lighting. As you can see from the sticker, these ones came from Value Village. If I don't have to remove those stickers I never do, I'm just trying to keep it real for the photo. Or I'm lazy, your choice. Ivan also found me some lights like this but with four bulbs. Both are great but these ones are easier to use because they are small enough to keep out all the time.  The bulbs that came with the lights are 375W, 115-120V and say 'Movie Flood' on them if any of that means anything to you. 

I really love my lights and I love the flexibility that it gives me in terms of taking photos any time of the day or night. If you have any other questions you can ask in the comments and I'll make sure to get back to you!

♥elycia

26 comments:

  1. Ooh I love your set up! I'm trying to figure out lighting at the moment for an online store I'm starting with a friend, so awkward trying to get it right!

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  2. Hi Elycia you take great outfit pictures. I was just wondering (and this isn't to do with lighting, sorry) at what height you have your tripod at? I'm trying to get into it but I can never set the tripod to the right height xo

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    1. I set my tripod between waist and chest height usually. Sometimes higher and sometimes lower though. Just depends what I feel like doing that day.

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  3. awesome post, awesome lights! i haven't seen many like that. Do you have to do any colour correction?

    Barnicles

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  4. They are awesome I really need to invest my house is dark dark dark! Love your dress and shoes in the shots BTW

    Take Care
    Nicolette xo

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  5. This is great! And has fantastic results, your pictures are always so well lit!

    xo
    http://kittysnooks.blogspot.ca/

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  6. Such a great setup!

    anepicliz.com

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  7. wow! you are amazing. your photo's are always incredible and you're so friggin cuuuuute.

    love that room too! best. ever.
    xo

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  8. Those looks great, I hope I have find some like that, I'll certainly be on the hunt!

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  9. matt wants to get a lighting setup! he also got a flash for the camera a few months ago, which we've been using with some really good results. when he first told me he was getting a flash, i was like... uuuhhhh, no. but now i realize how important a flash/ lighting can be when used properly. and yes, using it to do things like bounce light off the walls/ ceiling.

    your photos look great! <3

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  10. Wow this is so great! I can't believe you don't have to use any umbrellas or anything to even out the light. How awesome!

    - Sarah
    agirlintransit.blogspot.com

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  11. Your livingroom is bigger than my house, lol <3
    I will get pretty pictures like your one day :3

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  12. how do you ensure that you're the one in focus? i was attempting to take my own outfit photos in the house (at night) yesterday and had a flash stand with the lights facing the ceiling, but i kept finding that the background was in focus instead of me. (total newb question, i know.) do you set something up in front of the camera to focus on first and then move it and take its place? help, please!

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    1. I use a remote and I find it works really well. I have heard of people without remotes putting things in the place where they will stand though.

      The remote I have is nothing fancy, I don't think it was that expensive and it is one of my favourite camera accessories!

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  13. I'm dying to get my hands on some studio lights! It'll be a good set up :D

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  14. Wouw ... only such a little lightning ... and such a big result.

    How many watt have these bulbs?

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  15. Awesome lights! Thanks for sharing :-D

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  16. Ohh how cool! I'll have to convince my mister to find me some nice lights for my photo shoots :)
    xo Heather
    http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/

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  17. I've wondered how you got such good lighting indoors. That's for shedding the light on your secrets (haha.) With my kids it would be way easier to take photos a night, this might be a good solution for me. Thanks for sharing!

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  18. Thanks for this - lighting is so difficult! My room has bright red walls and doesn't get any natural light, it's hard to make things look right in there.

    Unrelated to lighting but I am curious about something - what kind of camera do you use for your vlogs?

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    1. Most of my vlogs were just filmed with the camera on my MacBook Pro using Photobooth. The more recent ones though I used my Nikon D7000. It looks much better that way!

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  19. this is such an amazing post. I had no idea!! Thanks for sharing your tricks. :)

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  20. this girl just got on ebay and is going to buy one of these STAT.

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  21. That a pretty rockin' set up! I love the results that you get from it with your indoor outfit photos.

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