Lighting For Snappy

When you use a camera with Snappy, whether it is to snap images on a copy stand or live subjects, there is no more important consideration than how you light your subject. While we can’t give you all the knowledge that you will ever need to know about lighting here, we can offer a few helpful tips. Most video grabs suffer from either not having enough light or having the wrong light.


What Type of Light is Best?

You should always try to use 5600K daylight colored-lighting whenever possible. You can find daylight colored lighting of all sorts at your local camera or photography store, as well as a wealth of information about lighting in general. You should avoid using fluorescent lighting as a rule (unless it is daylight-colored), as this type of lighting makes it difficult to reproduce accurate flesh tones in your snaps. While fluorescent can be too green, incandescent light can be too red. You will also want your light source to be as even and glare-free as possible for the best results. If your camera has a white balance setting, refer to the manual and set it up for your current lights.


Lighting for a Copystand

When you want to snap an image from a flat source, such as a photograph or a transparency, you will probably want to mount your camera onto a copystand. There are several different ways of lighting for a copystand depending on the nature of your medium.


Lighting for a Transparency

A transparency can offer some of the best-looking snaps possible. To take full advantage of this medium, however, requires a light box, a device that will light the transparency from behind. You should put the light box underneath the copystand-mounted camera when you take the snap, zoom all the way out and move the camera as close to the transparency as you can and still focus. Another useful suggestion is to use a shroud of black cloth over the whole copystand/lightbox setup in order to keep any stray light from getting in. The name of the game in lighting is control; the more you have, the better your results.


Lighting for a Photograph

Photographs are a little more challenging to deal with than transparencies, but can still yield excellent results when lit properly. It is very important that the photograph be as flat as you can make it, and that your lighting is very even.

Most copystands come with arm-mounted light fixtures; these should be positioned to light as evenly as possible; avoid hot spots on the photograph. You can often flatten a photo nicely by weighting down its edges with books or other heavy objects. Photographs are sometimes very glossy; this can play havoc with your lighting efforts. If this occurs, try making sure the photo is as flat as it can be made, and that your lighting is as even as it can be; if that doesn’t solve the problem, you might want to try some matte spray (your local photography or camera store should be able to help). Matte spray should reduce the amount of glossiness of the photo without you having to use less light.

Control is every bit as important when lighting a photograph as it is with a transparency. The black cloth shroud approach is especially useful if you are using Snappy in a room with fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting and daylight-colored lighting don’t mix very well and can produce results where the flesh tones are off.


Lighting for a Live Subject

The rules for lighting live subjects are completely different than those for photos and transparencies. Here, you have much more freedom to experiment with the lighting.

Traditionally, live subjects are lit with three lights: the key, fill and back lights.

The key light is usually the brightest light on the subject. It is usually set in front and to one side and/or slightly above the subject. Its purpose is to serve as the main source of illumination of the subject.

The fill light is usually set up on the opposite front side of the subject as the key light. Generally speaking, the fill light is not so bright as the key light and serves primarily to soften the shadows that the key light creates.

The back light is usually set up behind and to the bottom of the subject, in such a manner as it is not pointed directly into the camera. The back light is usually less bright than either of the key or fill lights; its purpose is to separate the subject from the background, and provide highlights.

There are limitless variations on this basic lighting scheme, you will probably need to experiment a little to find a style that suits you. Hook up a TV or monitor to Snappy's Video Thru so you can see how your lighting changes effect the picture. Play highly recommends that you spend some time in your local camera or photo store if this is a subject that you are interested in. There are many very informative books and videos on the subject and experts that can answer your questions. Use these resources so you can take the best snaps possible!


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