The lighting setup (for lighting)

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

01/18/2024 09:10:35 AM · #1

Drat!! I thought I had saved all of the files to show how I built up the set for the lighting challenge. But I didn't. :(

Here's the explanation anyway. (It's done on an outtake of the shot, because it shows the setup better)

Challenge entry:

For the lighting challenge, I wanted to really challenge myself. I had found the window and I always wanted to try a moon in the window with cat shot. The problem is: it wasn't something that could be done from any of my existing windows.

I didn't really have time to be doing it -- we were getting ready for a trip, but I did it anyway. It is not how I envisioned the shot, but so many times what you get is better than what you envisioned, if you have patience and fortitude!

The challenge: I wanted the moon in the sky, with stars, and the cat with a great backlit silhouette.

1. I started with the moon. I actually got a cool moon nightlight from my sister-in-law. It's a 3d printed moon. I had purchased a little one for my kids and my husband, but hadn't played around with it for a photo shoot. I started with that. The biggest problem is I had no idea how to hang it in the air. I wasn't getting great shots of it when it was sitting on the table, so I gave up on that idea. If I had stuck with it, it would have made the stars work better, however. I just didn't have the time. So I gave up on the moon light.

2. Jeff poked a bunch of holes in a large piece of cardboard so I could try to get stars. I setup up a strobe with a large softbox directly behind the cardboard so that the light would come through relatively evenly through all the holes.

3. Since i had to give up on the moon light, I still needed a moon. So we cut a circular hole in the cardboard. That gave me a moon, but it wasn't nearly bright enough. It didnt cast enough shadows - even though I used a separate strobe just for that hole.

4. So I needed another light. I put it up above, pointing downward.

The window was too dirty, so the backlit really showed the dirt and the stars were too subtle against the brightness of the dirt.
There wasn't nearly enough backlighting on Cleo.
I did have to add blur to the moon in post processing -- because it had very sharp edges

Thoughts on AI, since I could have done this so much easier:

This is the problem I have with AI: I could have just taken the photo of the cat in front of the window and told it to add a moon, and it would have even added the shadows.

But just because I thought of something, did I create it? That would mean I could tell Jeff to draw or paint a cat in front of a window with a moon and since I thought of it, it is my artwork, even though Jeff did all the work. Trying to get Cleo into the right spot on the window was harder than any of the lighting could ever be.

I've been using AI to extend the canvas, and it's been wonderful. But I figure I can do that myself with photoshop tools, so I'm taking the shortcut. I like how AI removes an object better than I can do it, but it's still something I could do with enough time and effort, so I use it. But adding elements that I didn't photograph or create seems to cross a line, imo. It's not my work.

There is absolutely no AI in this image.

Message edited by author 2024-01-18 13:12:35.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

01/18/2024 12:40:10 PM · #2

Originally posted by vawendy:

YAY!!!

What you did is the distinct difference between human and AI generated.

AI could have produced moons & stars from the vast inventory of inputted information and images.

It could NOT have made the deductions, corrections, and solutions necessary to create that scenario in the way you did.

I have to laugh at the fact that this is an entirely fabricated image.

As someone who's been here for a day or two, I could easily be convinced to be outraged at the winning image being man entire fabrication.

BUT.....as someone who accepts AI as another tool in a long line of tools that humans concoct to make life easier, I'm impressed.

Truly IMNSHO, I very seriously doubt that the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and the outright ability to adapt to a situation on the spot will ever be comparable to the human ability to do so.

Maybe it's just because I've been fortunate enough to be involved in situtions where I had to think, act, and adjust my responses on the spot that I openly welcome the potential of a possibly better way to do things or add a new tool to my arsenal that could save me time and aggravation.

YMMV...

BTW, congrats on your blue, however you got there.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

01/18/2024 01:14:19 PM · #3

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Originally posted by vawendy:
Thoughts on AI, since I could have done this so much easier:

This is the problem I have with AI: I could have just taken the photo of the cat in front of the window and told it to add a moon, and it would have even added the shadows.

But just because I thought of something, did I create it? That would mean I could tell Jeff to draw or paint a cat in front of a window with a moon and since I thought of it, it is my artwork, even though Jeff did all the work. Trying to get Cleo into the right spot on the window was harder than any of the lighting could ever be.

I've been using AI to extend the canvas, and it's been wonderful. But I figure I can do that myself with photoshop tools, so I'm taking the shortcut. I like how AI removes an object better than I can do it, but it's still something I could do with enough time and effort, so I use it. But adding elements that I didn't photograph or create seems to cross a line, imo. It's not my work.

YAY!!!

What you did is the distinct difference between human and AI generated.

AI could have produced moons & stars from the vast inventory of inputted information and images.

It could NOT have made the deductions, corrections, and solutions necessary to create that scenario in the way you did.

I have to laugh at the fact that this is an entirely fabricated image.

As someone who's been here for a day or two, I could easily be convinced to be outraged at the winning image being man entire fabrication.

BUT.....as someone who accepts AI as another tool in a long line of tools that humans concoct to make life easier, I'm impressed.

Truly IMNSHO, I very seriously doubt that the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and the outright ability to adapt to a situation on the spot will ever be comparable to the human ability to do so.

Maybe it's just because I've been fortunate enough to be involved in situtions where I had to think, act, and adjust my responses on the spot that I openly welcome the potential of a possibly better way to do things or add a new tool to my arsenal that could save me time and aggravation.

YMMV...

BTW, congrats on your blue, however you got there.

I figured it was a lighting challenge. So I used it to try to create complex lighting situation.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

01/18/2024 01:41:23 PM · #4

Originally posted by vawendy:

I figured it was a lighting challenge. So I used it to try to create complex lighting situation.

Well I like it 'cause it's a cool image.

Take that! LOL!

LevT

Olympus OM-1

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

01/18/2024 02:24:05 PM · #5

Well done oon the setup and lighting Wendy, I'm impressed. But I am even more impressed by your uncanny ability to pose your cat the way you want it. How do you talk her into it? I have a beautiful black cat too, but she would never do it for me. As a matter of principle, I think.

01/18/2024 02:39:49 PM · #6

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Originally posted by vawendy:
I figured it was a lighting challenge. So I used it to try to create complex lighting situation.

Well I like it 'cause it's a cool image.

Take that! LOL!

I love how it turned out. It was a case of it not going as I had planned, and being terribly disappointed while I was processing. But since I had worked so hard on it, I kept going, and I love the blue and yellow tones to it. It sucked in color and in straight b&w, but it seemed worth saving.

People say you can't polish a turd. But if you work on it long enough, it will fossilize and then it polishes really well! :)

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

01/18/2024 02:41:46 PM · #7

Originally posted by LevT:

You just have to be willing to spend hours. give up and try again. That's just it -- it's easier to find a cat sitting in a windowsill and happen on to the photo than to get one to actually do it! I expected Mo to be the easier target on this one, because Cleo is constantly on the move. Be he wanted absolutely no part of it.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

01/18/2024 08:50:48 PM · #8

Thanks for taking the time to share ...

Originally posted by vawendy:

People say you can't polish a turd. But if you work on it long enough, it will fossilize and then it polishes really well! :)

:-)

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

01/19/2024 12:33:46 AM · #9

Originally posted by LevT:

She lies.... It's a stuffed cat.

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

01/19/2024 07:50:00 AM · #10

Originally posted by NikonJeb:

Originally posted by LevT:
Well done oon the setup and lighting Wendy, I'm impressed. But I am even more impressed by your uncanny ability to pose your cat the way you want it. How do you talk her into it? I have a beautiful black cat too, but she would never do it for me. As a matter of principle, I think.

She lies.... It's a stuffed cat.

It's funny you mentioned that. I realized that it was impossible to figure out lighting with a moving object, so I found one of my kids' stuffed bears, but it was brown instead of black. I was thinking I needed a stuffed black cat! Moriarty pretty much was always in the same position, who would know the difference!! :P

noraneko

Canon EOS-7D

01/19/2024 02:38:40 PM · #11

Wendy, your cat photos continue to amaze me. I have a fat little black cat and have yet to get a truly good picture of him. He�s the epitome of sweet, though.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

01/20/2024 07:11:29 AM · #12

Originally posted by noraneko:

Wendy, your cat photos continue to amaze me. I have a fat little black cat and have yet to get a truly good picture of him. He�s the epitome of sweet, though.

Black cats are the best!!

kasaba

Canon EOS-80D

01/20/2024 07:24:05 AM · #13

Thanks for the set up and story behind it.
I (most of the time) have started to enjoy working out lighting set ups. I really suck a bit at it, and what makes matters worse I suck, really suck at physics, so for me it is ALWAYS trial and error - lol. but it's fun. the cut out board is so clever!! I had not seen that coming. I thought your main light was "the moon" with a reflection or fill in light perhaps at camera/ below camera