Chapter 2. The Lights

Revision 1.0 2006. Copyright by Tiono
Email: photoguide@tiono.com

Photography is about capturing light. If there is no light, then there is no photo can be made.
Therefore it is very important to pay attention to the light, the quality of light will be one of the determining factor to the quality of the images.

	Quality of light. What does that mean?
	The term "quality" here, is not referring whether the light is good or bad, but associated toward the suitability for certain type of photo-taking. A very contrasty light may be bad for a family portrait, but it can be very nice for an artistic portraiture. The quality of light is determined by four parameters: eveness, brightness, color, and direction.

.....	Eveness	If the light is evenly distributed (diffused), then the shadow will tend to disappear, or soft. This kind of light is called "soft light". On the contrary, if the light is not evenly distributed, but stronger in some direction, then it is called "hard light". The hard-light tends to create a picture with higher contrast. See the pictures below:

		The leftmost photo, was taken with evenly distributed light, while the rightmost photo was taken with a hard-light. See the difference of its shadow. The one taken using soft-light, has almost no shadow at all, while the one taken using hard-light has the most prominent shadow. The hard-light is usually useful in revealing textures on a complicated surfaces, and also in the high-contrast photography (we will see further about this at another chapter).

Brightness

Although the camera may be adjusted to maintain a correct exposure within certain range of brightness, but there is a threshold where the camera may not be able to record faithfully if the light is too dim. Insufficient brightness will result with higher noise in digital camera, or grain in film. This is undesirable for most photography, especially macro photography.
Therefore, to take a good picture of your miniature-models, the light must be sufficiently bright.

Color

Most of the objects, including miniature-models, do not emit its own light, but reflecting the light from other light sources. Therefore the color of the light-source will influence the resultant color. If the light is bluish, then the resultant color will be dominated by blue component. If the light comes from a tungsten bulb, then the yellow component will dominate.
Digital cameras allow the adjustment of white balance, why bother with the light color?
Well, the white balance adjustment is not a magic, it can not create colors which were not there in the first place. Let's say we have a model of F/A-18 Hornet in blue color scheme of the "Blue Angels". If we use white light (daylight) to illuminate the model, and take a picture, then we will get a F/A-18 in blue color. But if we use a red light, and take a picture, then we will get a black F/A-18. Why black? because the blue plane did not reflect the red light, so the camera rendered it as black (no light). Even if we adjust the white-balance, it will still be black.

White light has all color components.
To photograph your miniature-models, use only white light (day light). Avoid using halogen or tungsten bulb, unless if you want special effect. Fluorescent light should be used cautiously, because it will cause a greenish hue in the photo.

For those who want to know more about the physics and measurement of color rendition of light sources, please go to this link: http://physics.nist.gov/Divisions/Div844/facilities/vision/color.html

Direction

The directions of lights relate closely with the eveness. There is a term in photography called "soft-light". It is a diffused light, which is omni directional at the same intensity toward all directions. But if some of the lights have greater intensity toward certain direction, then we start to have a directional light (called "hard light").
In taking a picture of miniature-models, you have to pay attention on the light direction. It will affect the impression of the photo. See the different results on the photographs of a 1/35 scale figure below:

				Frontal lighting The light is coming from the camera's position, using a flash which is attached to it. Although the room light was bright, giving less harsh ambient, but the photo still looks flat. Frontal lighting is less desirable in photographing miniature-models.
				Side lighting A dominant light source was positioned on the right-hand side. Here we can see the photo comes with contrasty shadow on the figure, effectively enhances its texture and shape. This lighting is often used to create dramatic pictures.
				Dual lighting In this scenario, two separate light sources are used, placed at the right and left hand side respectively. Both light sources have the same intensity. The result is a nice photograph, we can see the texture and shape, without excessive shadow.
				Diffused lighting Two light sources and soft boxes create a very soft light, there is no shadow, and the figure is illuminated evenly. Soft lighting will works for most of the miniature-models, although it may not enhance the texture and shape dramatically.

The reflector

If you have only one light source, but do not want the contrasty outcome of a side lighting, then you need a reflector. The reflector is used to deflect the light from that single source, bounced toward the object from other side. You can use almost anything for the reflector as long as it is white color. A piece of paper is the most convenient, and good enough.
The reflector will almost imitate the dual-lighting setup, only that it will not emit light at the same intensity as the light source, thus the usage is limited just to lighten the shadow area. See the picture below:
A piece of white paper is being used as a reflector. The light source is on the right side, natural light coming thru the window, and the paper is positioned so that the reflected light will illuminate the shadow area.
This simple method works nicely.

Photographs on the left show the difference a reflector can make.
One photo was taken without reflector, just solely the light coming from the window. While the other photo was taken with a paper reflector (as shown on the above picture).
The one taken with reflector, is better, with the aircraft's body detail clearly visible.

So at the end, what kind of 'light quality' which is the best for miniature models?
There is no such thing as "the best". All kind of lights have its own character, you may choose the one suitable with the theme. The most important is: you understand about the quality of light, and able to use it as a tool to create pictures of your miniature-models.