plans for SIT modules

Techniques and equipment.

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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby innermostphoto » Feb 22, 2011 11:17 pm

Thanks Hal. I appreciate your response.

Here are some examples .

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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby NZcaver » Feb 22, 2011 11:40 pm

Nice lighting, Bob!

Do you ever snoot your lights, and if so what do you use?

In the shot with the two people in front of the waterfall, did you use a flashgun or LEDs to add the highlights on the left side of the person on the right? Nice effect.
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby LukeM » Feb 23, 2011 8:49 am

Bob, very impressive, and strobe-like color rendition! Especially loving that first photo. If it weren't for the motion blurred water it would be hard to guess the use of LED's. Consider me inspired. :kewl:
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby innermostphoto » Feb 23, 2011 8:21 pm

Thanks, however I am not sure what you mean by "snoot"? You mean like bard doors in studio photography? Explain.

In all of the photographs only LED lights were used. No electronic flashes or standard lighting equipment were used. The motion of the water is of course caused by long exposure and is a definite advantage over a flashbulb whereas the bulb would be 1/30th sec vs. the LED at 8 sec at 50 ISO. I can create the same image with flashbulbs however the water would not have the silky smooth affect.

Still experimenting with these though. I see a few advantages to LED lighting and water motion being one of them. Once there are no more flashbulbs around I suspect the technology will be much beyond what we are playing with whenever that time arrives.



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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby NZcaver » Feb 23, 2011 11:15 pm

innermostphoto wrote:Thanks, however I am not sure what you mean by "snoot"? You mean like bard doors in studio photography? Explain.

Basically the same idea, yes. Though when I occasionally do it (using flashguns), I improvise with other caving items such as packs, pieces of closed cell foam padding, etc. Anything that limits the flood/spill of the lighting. I was thinking it could also be useful in some situations with LED time exposures.

I asked about the 2-person waterfall short because of the light on the left side of the person on the right. I assume that was from another LED source, located out of the image to the left of the foreground? Apparently you're very good at getting your models to stand perfectly still for time exposures. Sometimes I have trouble getting mine to stop grumbling long enough for me to fire the flashguns. :wink:
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby innermostphoto » Feb 24, 2011 9:14 pm

I meant BARN doors and yes you are correct but I usually use the edge of the light as such. I thought that is what you were referring. Like you I have used packs, rocks, hands, just whatever is available that works. And you are correct about another light source in the two person waterfall shot. Each person is holding a LED light and they grumble quite regularly! Actually, I am the demanding one. We start shooting and I am told I get bossy and I suppose I do (well, I know I do). Still, I am fortunate to have a crew that tolerates me and likes creating pictures underground!

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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby innermostphoto » Feb 24, 2011 10:21 pm

Oh and I beat them on a regular basis too!!! :boxing:

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Last edited by innermostphoto on Feb 25, 2011 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby NZcaver » Feb 24, 2011 10:43 pm

"The beatings will continue until morale improves." :laughing:

FYI - the website link in your signature line and on your profile both have typos in them. Thought you should know.
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby pub » Feb 25, 2011 3:53 am

LukeM wrote:Bob, very impressive… Consider me inspired.
Me too Bob, it makes the brain cogs turn full speed, lots of possibilities. Kudos! :clap:

NZcaver wrote:Sometimes I have trouble getting mine to stop grumbling long enough for me to fire the flashguns.
Grumble, “Are you done yet?” grumble, “Can we move now?” grumble poop! I hear ya, Jansen. :boxing:

NZcaver wrote:"The beatings will continue until morale improves."
Maybe this will give a new meaning to slave photography! :rofl:
Balincaguin comes from the Zambal phrase, "Bali lan caguing" meaning "house of bats."
This was the former name of the Municipality of Mabini, Pangasinan, when it was part of the Province of Zambales (of Mt. Pinatubo Volcano fame).
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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby innermostphoto » Mar 18, 2011 7:46 pm

Thanks Pub. We appreciate your comments! The second gen of the HAL lights is underway which should prove to be even better! The biggest advantage to them is the ability to severely blur the water as in these photos. However, for most photography I prefer to use photo equipment when shooting as there is less margin for error and the quality of photo is better. Still, the fact is that it CAN be done and it has its potential use.

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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby Footleg » Apr 19, 2011 8:32 am

I am interested in the discussion on color quality of photos taken with LED lamps. The following photo is part of a complete spherical panoramic image I took last Summer using SSC P7 LEDs in home made lights. I took the images that make up the composition in Canon RAW format and just adjusted the white balance to get satisfactory color when converting the RAW files to editable files. I would appreciate honest feedback on the color rendition based on indivuals preferences (especially from potential future print salon judges :laughing: ).

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Re: plans for SIT modules

Postby Realms » Mar 2, 2012 10:07 am

Excellent work!

Folks I will be the first to tell you that LED lighting has its limitations. I know that all too well. However, everything has to start somewhere. For me it was with some little Luxeon 3 watt 80 lumen LEDs. Those were the ones we used in the first SIT modules. And while it may be true that constant lighting has been around since the dawn of time, a dedicated system of lights intended for cave photography has not. That’s why we dubbed it SIT. It is a fun catchy acronym to help associate the device with its intended purpose. Much like anything out there that is branded or labeled it is typically done so with the intention to help the masses remember it and associate with it. But yes, I agree LED lighting has limitations, as does all tools we use to light and capture images. If there were no limitations things would never be improved upon. When I wrote the article that appeared in the NSS news back in 2007 on this type of lighting I mentioned then of limitations and how it isn’t a perfect replacement yet another tool to be used. Shortly after that issue was released, I was contacted by several photographers domestic and abroad wishing to share the info I had written and while what we did isn’t exactly rocket science it was nice to know others shared an interested in our work. We had after all developed this as a low cost solution to lighting. Interest picked up and before long several photographers had added LED lighting to their tools – some even keeping our SIT term to associate it with. The use of the devices grew and grew and continues to grow. Just a couple weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a pic of a custom device used by NatGeo that uses this technology. Again I know all too well of the limitations and the difficulty in getting a QUALITY image. Still we push on and work with the limitations and continue to improve on what we have done. I have had a heap of help with my work on these systems and am very happy to share my knowledge (as limited as it may be. I am not a professional photographer)
On another note my work receives very little treatment in post. I strive to keep it as close to SOOC (straight off of camera) as possible. If I do heavy work on an image, I will note it in the description. But my work is not heavily “shopped”. Trust me I have tons of work that could probably use some “shopping” but I choose mostly to leave it as is. It serves as a reference and helps me improve. Through the years I have studied the work of others as a way to learn about photography. I hold those photographers in high regard - masters in their own right. I have learned so much yet have so much left to learn. That keeps me excited. I’m on a road with no end.
never stop imagining what could someday come to pass...
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