Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Not new to macro photography or photographing reptiles but I would like to know what type of lighting is working for everyone.
I'm checking into ring lights, ring light with twin slave units, even studio hot and cool lamps with the cloth diffusers. I've looked at the light tent / igloolite accessory as well.
So what works for you?

thanks
John Q

I'm not a big fan of ringlights because I don't like the doughnuts in the eyes.

I sometimes use an overhead diffuser box (16x12" with my flash head inside it. It gives very even lighting, but it doesn't look natural. Here's an example -

I am more prone to using some form of smaller diffuser directly on the flash head, either on or off camera.

Here's a shot (outside) with a tissue over the flash head -

I know rely on my Stofen Omni-bounce diffuser. It is small, lightweight and very field hardy (unlike most diffusers) and it gives good results, IMHO. Here's a shot with Stofen Omni-bounce
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

First off,...here's a better example of the lighting the Stofen Omni-bounce gives (the last one was a little harsh and I am not even sure I used the diffuser) -

Another handy tool for use in the field is a collapsible flexible lightdisk. I have a couple of the Photoflex translucent disks in different sizes.

My smallest one folds down and fits in my back pocket but expands to 12" diameter when open. They are great for cutting back the shadows in bright sunlight. I use them a lot in the field when I want to use natural light (no flash) but don't want the harshness of the bright sun. It is like moving into the shade, but you don't lose as much light.

Here's one with just the diffuser up...

and here's one with the diffuser up to block the harsh sun and a little fill flash (with the Stofen Omni-bounce diffuser on the flash) -

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

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Great info as usual Chris. I always look forward to your enlightening posts!
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