gc83uk's september '13 procedure.

[hellouser]

4) I've noticed on some photos a shadow from 1 hair can appear as 2 hairs. The shadow hair looks like a thinner hair, which can obviously confuse matters.

This is usually from hard lighting, like putting a lamp next to your head. What you need to do is diffuse the lighting, as in, soften in. This is what softboxes and umbrellas do. This is also the very same problem you see in portrait shots outside in sunny vs. cloudy days. The difference is exactly this:



So outside its like this:



From my RU, CB Minox log I've been taking photos in my bathroom which has lights that are long flourescent bulbs but are behind a frosted white plastic. Without the camera's built-in flash, I get soft light *every single time* and I usually take photos at night so that I get the same light each time as well. A similar approach would be best incorporated in future pictures.

BOTTOM LINE: you need a LARGE light source but with some sort of a transparent screen to diffuse it all to cast that soft shadow. You can use large flood lights behind white bed sheets and get the same result, kind of like this:



Notice how the shadow behind the baby is soft? If there was no screen, that shadow would have hard straight lined edges.

This same practice is used for taking simple product shots that are relatively small, its very easy, look at the setup: