How can I improve my lighting?

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Term "flat" getting thrown around a lot "flat" as in the way the camera captures it for post latitude (cinestyle or other flat profile for example) fine. "flat" as in flat lighting, yucky poo (unless it's stylistically something you want). A lot of the posted shots seem to have nothing but a key light, which, sure enough, is going to look very flat and boring on most cases no matter how you grade it.

Unfortunately there isn't a 'short hand' way to indicate that one may be talking about 'flattening' the overall response from the sensor/camera pov, vs. the subject lighting, which may be single light key, no fill, and very 'contrasty'... if the light is placed to one side of the subject... and very 'flat' that is no subject contrast, if place right over the camera...

In terms of histograms, one could talk about 'haystacks' and how wide... 'flat' would perhaps then mean a small narrow haystack... well, would that be a pillar... vs a haystack that stretches from one side of the graph to the other... and then there's the wave like pile up to one side or another... indicating either no 'dark' or no 'light' areas depending...

With that in mind, a 'grey' card should have a small narrow 'pillar' in the middle of the histogram graph. An 'overexposure' would push that pillar to the right, under exposure to the left...

If one has a waveform monitor, there is more detail about the actual placement of the 'highs and lows' relative to where they occur in the scene... but most DSLR's do not have such (do any ???, and not 'use the HDMI output to some other device...').

So, 'flattening' relative to the histogram would be having a histogram that does not reach from 'black' to 'white', and it is a learning process about how 'flat' an image can be, and what adjustments can be made in post to make the image look its best.

Some 'guildelines' are... if the histogram is bunched up in the middle... trouble head... if the histogram is bunched to one side, say 'dark'... unless there a specific reason, most likely is trouble, and the same for bunched to the 'light' side...

In the case of my GH-1, the LCD is pretty useless for 'critical' analysis of the shot... so, while shooting, the histogram is essentially the only realistic tool to use for getting feed back before its too late on 'was this exposure good enough'...