Tuesday, August 28, 2007

FUN with a fill card

In my forum on Etsy "Do you need Help with anything Photo -Digital Related?", I mention fill cards a lot .
They are very easy to use and everyone has them around.

The one I used here is really low end... a couple pieces of cardboard -one painted black and the other with a piece of white paper taped to it.

The first one is called a *Positive fill* (This is a White card folded in half ).
This just bounces light into the shadow areas of your subject and adds a highlight into anything shiny. This is perfect thing to use when shooting on a black background because the black surface sucks up all the light.




I shot the above ducky in shadow light. There was barely any light coming in on the fill card when I was shooting. The more light on the card, the more fill...simple, huh?

The next is *Negative fill* ( This is a Black card folded in Half)
This is perfect when shooting on White, because the white surface bounces SO much light around, it can wash out your subject and take all the shape away.



Sometimes you might need both cards... or you might want to wrap a little tin foil around one to add a bit of PUNCH!

I suggest getting all of them together and messing around with them to see what each one will do for you.
Also, look at them on your computer to see the results, because it is hard to make any decisions while looking at he little screen on the back of your camera.

STAY INSPIRED!
Mikiep

8 comments:

Michelle said...

excellent! thanks so much, i will try these tips the next time i am shooting.

Stacey said...

Thank You so much! I am going to go make some fill cards now.

Raven said...

Has anyone told you how HOT you are?
Oh, and you give great advice too!

hee hee

xxx

Desirai said...

lol and here I was thinking I'd be the first to tell him how hot he is!

No, but seriously... You're hot! lol

There are such subtle differences in the shots, I'm not sure I'd know when I should use the white or black fill card.

I've been so frustrated with photography lately. I bought a light tent on ebay in hopes of taking better photos of my merchandise and either I'm too dumb to figure out how to set up the lights right or the lights I bought really suck. My photos still come out pretty crappy. I try to fix them as much as I can in Photoshop but there's only so much saving I can do. =(

Anyway, I'll be looking forward to more photography advice. =)

Anonymous said...

This is a great blog! Thanks for providing such great info!

The rubber ducky reminds me of a song on Sesame Street... "Put Down the Ducky!"

Unknown said...

Found you on Etsy, and I swear I am putting your shop on all my blogs, etc. Love it, love it. I have just become your personal stalker (except without actually stalking). Man, that was weird.

----- said...

great advice Mike, you really make it seem easy!

Sukanta Seal said...

thanx for share your experiences