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Home >> Photography >> Digital Nikon D100 - Studio Lighting
Since purchasing the D100, I had seen one image that captivated me for the sharpness and clarity the photographer was able to obtain via his D100. The details were bleedingly sharp with all the facial details of the model coming out so clear, even on a small version posted to a web page. The model was dark-haired and the D100 and lens used brought out all the facial hairs, revealing a hirsute beauty. That type of detail was what I wanted from my own D100 images but try as I might, I was unable to obtain the same kind of sharpness and detail. From all the people pictures I've taken, I went through them to see what kind of details were apparent. The worse quality shots were those that were hand held in ambient light whereas shots taken with flash generally offered more detail, whether handheld or tripod mounted. Hmm...flash, something's up here. Time for a quick test session. When my cousin dropped by for a visit, I pulled out the lighting kit and set-up. I wanted nothing more than test shots and had no inclination whatsoever to recreate a Vogue cover shot, so the posing was fast and sloppy. The 80-200mm f2.8 lens was used, mounted to the tripod via its dedicated mount. The example shots below are from the lens zoomed right out to 200mm, providing the equivalent crop of a 300mm lens. The camera position was about five feet away from her seating location. A small softbox was located to the camera's right side (as you look at the model) and was used as key light. A second light with an umbrella reflector was located to camera left and used as fill. The key light metered at f11 by itself whereas the fill light metered at just over f5.6 (like I said, fast and sloppy enough that I did not try to get exactly f5.6). Together, the two lights metered f8.5 and that is the aperture I set on the D100 for the shot below. Both lights were slightly further back of camera position. The sample shot below is full frame.
So, yes, I was able to obtain some pretty good detail from the D100 when used with a studio lighting kit and generous Un-sharp Masking applied. It made me feel like less of a failure when my everday shots of people just did not satisfy for the rapier-like sharpness I was seeking. |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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I'm
not much of a studio photographer despite having a couple of small
monolights in my kit. I use the lights more for lighting a group than
for getting creative in a pseudo-studio environment with individuals
or couples.
