The Hi Lite Vinyl Train

squaresies

Hello everybody!

I would love some advice on lighting the vinyl train with the hi lite box. I'm on the verge of chucking it out the window. Cannot manage to light subject and train without post processing (which I don't like). There must be some way to light it evenly with the background...

Any help at all will be very welcome

Michelle.

Carrigman

Apart from buying some extra lights I don't think there is.

The post processing is easy. See:

http://www.lastoliteschoolofphotography.com/hi-key-adjustments-in-photoshop

Regards,

John

squaresies

Oh well I am embarrassed to say I have also bought some extra lights, and I still can't achieve my seamless background

I am getting a line all the way across my picture where the train meets the background. I didn't have this problem with the normal paper background so I don't know what is going wrong. Thanks for the link John, it's worth a go!!

McN

Was told at a demo for these that if you roll some tulle(not sure right spelling) light material that is used in dresses and put it along the join it helps. Of course I haven't got one yet so if it works you will have to come back and let us know

oshead

squaresies wrote: »

Oh well I am embarrassed to say I have also bought some extra lights, and I still can't achieve my seamless background

I am getting a line all the way across my picture where the train meets the background. I didn't have this problem with the normal paper background so I don't know what is going wrong. Thanks for the link John, it's worth a go!!

Nothing's going wrong Michelle. If you want to do seamless white then you need a seamless white bg. You're probably expecting too much from the hilite.

Seamless white highkey requires at least 18ft from photographer to the bg to do it correctly straight from the camera. You need at least 3 lights and a very controlled environment to pull it off. If you have that space then good on you, but it's not too portable.

On the other hand, The hilite is by no means a perfect solution for getting a highkey look but it gets you almost all the way there. The main advantage of the hilite is the ability to use it in a very confined space. It allows you to get portable with two lights within a 12 foot space from photographer to background. Use it for events or family home shoots etc, and expect to do a little adjustments when you get to the computer.

In short, If you plan to stay in the studio and do have the space then go with seamless white, thats what I do and it works a charm. If you want to bring it on the road you make a few concessions but can't beat the portability and compactness of the setup.

McN wrote: »

Was told at a demo for these that if you roll some tulle(not sure right spelling) light material that is used in dresses and put it along the join it helps. Of course I haven't got one yet so if it works you will have to come back and let us know

MnN, Is it not tradition to demo something at a demonstration instead just telling about it? This probably would 'help', but at some point the material would end and train would start. Same problem me thinks...

squaresies

Righty, thanks to you both!

So, I purchased the hi lite to work in smaller spaces which I am familiar with. I moved to a bigger space which is a little overwhelming for me now, and decided I could now use the train for the full length images
: it did seem like a good idea at the time .

The space I have is 16 x16 ft. I haven't even tried the paper roll there yet.

Well, a sigh of relief here Oshead. I had been watching tutorials about it and listening to others saying how simple it was to light, but actually not seeing any final images to make comparisons to my efforts. It is definately super for head shots etc though I must add.

I did expect to do a little touching up post camera, but the floor and background are completely different shades. I haven't found a way to light the floor to be a real white without blowing out the skin tones.

oshead

I photographed a 21st birthday party a couple of nights ago. Because the light is controlled I shot in jpeg. I delivered about 300 images on the white bg and was able to use the lightroom adjustment brush in auto mask mode to kill the edge between the train and bg. The same can be achieved in PS using the Dodge tool on highlights. Took me less than an hour to do all of them (about 100 full lenghts). The foreground is left a bit off white to help ground the subject. Otherwise they'd look like they were floating in space.

My setup here is one light in the hilite on the right and another behind a 60' umbrella on the left. One could try and light the ground behind them but it's not worth the effort because they are only 2 and a half feet from the bg. Any light would have to be very precise and not spill on the subjects... meh


These images aren't gonna win any prizes, but when you need to churn out 300 shots in 3 hours, if you can reach this standard they will sell.

squaresies

Thanks for posting the images, Oshead. I see what you're saying about the foreground. You can see the difference with the processing. That little fella is very cute I'm on my laptop right now, but the colour looks good and not too contrasty as appears in mine.

I will have another go with the dodge tool, it wasn't easy for me to use without spilling onto the subjects' clothes. I'd really love to get it right so that I can offer that service.

This has been really helpful!

oshead

With the Dodge tool I create a Large soft brush and the settings I use are Range: Highlights, Exposure: 10% and Protect tones unchecked.

Carrigman

What is also good about oshead's images is that the subjects are not floating in a white space - there is a recognisably different tone at their feet than there is at their upper bodies. Having a uniform white tone is not desirable as it is unnatural.

smelltheglove

For seamless as oshead said you would be looking at a paper roll. I've done a few of these without too much trouble, when possible using 4 lights but I have done them with as ting as a 5ft paper background and 1 light in a small studio set up. They do require some tweaking afterwards so if space allows then you would be looking for 2 lights to the front and one preferably 2 to the back, these back 2 would highlight the backgroudn to give you the high key effect.

As mentioned above for the highlight I would imagine tulle would offer an easy solution to the seam problem. With regards to dodging if you can use photoshop well I would recommend a magnetic lasso tool to select the body parts or clothing parts you do not want affected by the dodge brush and select inverse so you are only using the brush on the forground which is not lit.

squaresies

Thanks Rachel for the tips,

I think as Oshead said before, maybe I was expecting too much from the hi lite. I was looking for a way to be able to get it right with minimal photoshop. I am just a bit of an advocate for getting things right straight from the camera without PS but maybe it's just not possible with the train

Back to the paper I guess.

Michelle.

smelltheglove

squaresies wrote: »

Thanks Rachel for the tips,

I think as Oshead said before, maybe I was expecting too much from the hi lite. I was looking for a way to be able to get it right with minimal photoshop. I am just a bit of an advocate for getting things right straight from the camera without PS but maybe it's just not possible with the train

Back to the paper I guess.

Michelle.

I do agree, paper is the best way to go, I had 2 shoots yesterday where I used a material white backdrop and the considering the time spent fixing creases and folds I will be using paper in future.