How to Suck at Photography as Well as I Do, Part 1: Lighting

4:00 PM on 02.17.2010   |   Jason Millward

First a quick word of warning. The information contained within is very likely to be incorrect and nonfactual. I am going to straight up admit to being a novice in the world of photography. That being said, let's begin.

Prior to joining the Tomopopulace, I never gave much thought to the idea of photographing my action figures. I was always happy to keep them on display for visitors to check out and hopefully admire. Jump into this larger world of people that live nowhere near your home and sharing the love of toys becomes difficult. Photography makes it possible.

Shooting pics of your toys can become an expensive hobby that may seem daunting to get into. With a little creativity and a minuscule budget, however, it can be open to anyone at all. Hit the jump to find out how to inexpensively take control of the most important tool in photography: lighting.

My first project at Tomopop was an introductory blog of sorts. Knowing that my good friend Tom Ruffo was a shutter bug, I came to him for help. He's spent a ton on his camera and equipment. He loves getting out and photographing nature, and he's flown from Austrailia to China with that SLR attached to him like a new appendage. Shooting indoors in a studio-type environment, though, was a completely new thing to him.

Somehow we made it through using only the lamps and lightbulbs that he had in his basement. The shots looked alright, but the lighting was the sore spot. Everything had a yellowish cast to it. The warm color temperature that a standard incandescent bulb produces tends to make photos come out very orange.

For my next project, I hit up the local not-Walmart and gave myself a budget of $50 to come up with a makeshift lighting kit that would give us better results. I ended up coming significantly under budget. I've refined it a bit since then and I'd like to share with you the results. Keep in mind that while I did have Tom shoot some of the equipment pics with his fancy expensive Canon SLR, all of the figure pics are using my not-fancy Kodak M340 point-and-shoot digital camera. And unlike most of my work, I didn't manipulate a single image in photoshop aside from adjusting the sizes.

Here is the equipment that we used. Some of this stuff you'll already have lying around your house. What you'd actually purchase shouldn't run you more that 30-35 dollars, and possibly much less depending on what look you're going for.

This is a super cheap work-room light. They run about seven bucks at my local Meijer. They have a decent cord-length (15 feet, long, I think) and a spring loaded clamp. They can essentially be mounted anywhere (backs of dining room chairs are a good spot), and have adjustable swivels. Incredibly versatile, and incredibly cheap. Any desklamp would also work just dandy, as well. I generally keep three of these on hand, though you could manage pretty well with just one if you work it right and use reflectors.

GE's daylight temperature compact fluorescent bulbs: the key to eliminating photographic jaundice. These guys give off the same color temp (6500 degrees Kelvin) as the daylight, bringing much more cool, blue light to the party. Those yellow tones go right away and your other colors will get some extra pop. Right now, I go with 40 watt equivalent bulbs for my fill lights and a 60 watt equivalent for my main light source.

By equivalent, I mean that they create as much light as a 40 or 60 watt incandescent bulb. Since fluorescents use much less electricity, they only really use roughly a quarter of the wattage. And since wattage is a measurement of power not light intensity, CFL's are labeled by the equivalent wattage number. That big "40" in the top right corner is what you're looking for there. This 2 pack of forties ran me a little over a fiver. The 60 watt was roughly four bucks. A big side-benefit is that they produce much less heat. This is important. I'll explain later. It involves the aluminum foil.

A cheap tripod with expandable legs and a pivoting head could set you back at least $20. I have one. They're great. You will want to have a tripod. Fortunately you won't need that specific kind. This guy here is perfect for figures. It will hold the weight of a tiny camera like mine, and it's legs are flexible allowing you to get many great angles.

They're better for shooting figures than a standard tripod because of their size. You can put it right up next to your subject much easier than a large, bulky tripod. Oh, and I should mention the best part: this little fella ran me under 3 dollars. Not even on sale. Worth every penny!

So, that foil I was talking about. Cover the lamp with a layer of foil and evenly punch tiny holes throughout it's surface. This is going to help to help diffuse your light. It may seem counter-productive to do this. After all, isn't more light better? Technically, yes. But too much focused light is a very bad thing. It will cause hot spots on reflective surfaces. It will also create very harsh shadows. This tends to make your toys appear small and plastic-y. Sometimes that can be used stylistically for effect. Most of the time it's to be avoided.

I want to spell something out before you attempt this at home: DO NOT TRY DOING THIS WITH AN ORDINARY (NON-FLORESCENT) LIGHT BULB! The trapped heat from a standard bulb could prove to be very dangerous. Don't do it. Period. I do not want your house-fire on my conscience. Even while using these low-heat florescent bulbs, NEVER LEAVE THEM UNATTENDED. Just don't. No Freddy Krueger-looking corpses in the Tomopop community, comprende?!

Let's put it all together and see what we come up with. First let's check out some pics using only a single light source.

These pics were all taken using a single lamp. This is going to give you a cool film noir look with heavy shadows. I'm a big fan of this effect. Maybe too big of a fan. Moving the distance between the light and subject, as well as the angle will give you different looks. See the difference between the first and third pics in what was essentially the same angle?

Throwing a less powerful light directly into area where the shadows fall will help to balance things out. It softens the contrast between the highlights and shadows and brings out more dimension and detail from your figure. It also make them look much less like a Frank Miller drawing.

Instead of using a second light, you could also use a reflector to bounce light back from a single lamp. Sometimes I'll use the glossy side of a sheet of poster board or foam board. It's a cheaper alternative to a second light and can be more versatile on occasion.

I brought in a third light for these last pics. In the first photo, that extra lamp casts some nice rim-lighting along the edges of Yotsuba's shadowed side, giving her nice separation from the background. In the second photo, I used it to further reduce the shadows and to help illuminate the background.

I'm still learning myself how to get the best results from my lighting, but I am liking the results that can be achieved by simple, cost-effective solutions. You don't need to spend an arm and a leg to make pretty pictures. Nor do you need a super high-tech camera. I hope that you'll use this guide as simply a stepping stone. I also recommend looking into online references on manipulating the light in your photos. I hear that libraries are good for that, too. Hopefully, you see that toy photography isn't really that far from your grasp. Now get out there and play. Maybe even enter a contest!