How to simulate the sun

[MinAZ]

I am wondering if it were possible to simulate the sun in the studio - I don't mean sunlight as in the same color light, but the actual effect of being in the sun, so that you artificially light a scene indoors the same as it would look as if it had been shot out of doors - i.e. not just temperature but the same quality of light? In the same vein, could one shoot a credible sunset/sunrise using only studio equipment (no natural lighting) that really looks convincingly like a sunset/sunrise?

 

[Jason Stoller]

I am wondering if it were possible to simulate the sun in the studio - I don't mean sunlight as in the same color light, but the actual effect of being in the sun, so that you artificially light a scene indoors the same as it would look as if it had been shot out of doors - i.e. not just temperature but the same quality of light? In the same vein, could one shoot a credible sunset/sunrise using only studio equipment (no natural lighting) that really looks convincingly like a sunset/sunrise?

--
http://markteng.500px.com/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myazphoto/

Study One Light Portraits. The Sun is one light so effectively when you are shooting a One Light Portrait you are simulating the Sun. Using a large Modifier like a 7 Foot Octodome and Large Strobe makes it a Large Light Source.

If you have a large window you have avoid a Studio light all together and just use natural light from the Sun. I specifically designed a room where I can get natural sunlight light from different directions at different times of the day just for that purpose.

--
Jason S
We are just Beta Testers who pay the Camera Companies to test their new products!

 

[Ellis Vener]

I am wondering if it were possible to simulate the sun in the studio - I don't mean sunlight as in the same color light, but the actual effect of being in the sun, so that you artificially light a scene indoors the same as it would look as if it had been shot out of doors - i.e. not just temperature but the same quality of light? In the same vein, could one shoot a credible sunset/sunrise using only studio equipment (no natural lighting) that really looks convincingly like a sunset/sunrise?

 

[Sailor Blue]

Direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, cloudy sunlight, sunrise, sunset, etc.???

The answer is more or less yes to all of the above.

Direct sunlight - move a studio light with a 7" bowl reflector more than 5' or 6' from the subject. The only basis for this distance is that it will generally put the light out of the frame when you take a photo and it is far enough that the light will be nice and hard.

Indirect sunlight or cloudy sunlight - big softboxes.

Sunrise/sunset - gel the light and use big softboxes.

 

[DecibelPhoto]

Sunlight is actually a very easy quality of light to replicate... it is a single, hard light source. So basically a bare head or a head with a reflector, the further away the better.

This becomes more difficult with larger scenes, because sunlight does not falloff in the same way a flash would be likely too (this is why keeping it far away helps).

The hardest thing is to effectively simulate the many variations that sunlight can provide. Sunlight is often accompanied by blue sky or some other type of fill light, or some cloud cover. Any of this can be replicated in studio, but the subtleties are what people will tend to notice. But generally the method would be to use a hard light source with a slightly blue-ish fill light.

 

[dad_of_four]

The Sun is a huge, glowing sphere of hot gas. Most of this gas is hydrogen (about 70%) and helium (about 28%). Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen make up 1.5% and the other 0.5% is made up of small amounts of many other elements such as neon, iron, silicon, magnesium and sulfur.

 

[UKphotographers]

Sure, the sun is a hard light - but you'd get completely different versions of it if you were a) In space b) In an fluffy white cloud situation on earth c) When it was overcast d) On a beach e)On a ski run f)In a built-up area... etc.

There are various ways to produce the hard light effect but to look 'real' some sort of environmental fill is required. You could light the (large area) environment but thats rarely possible The easiest way is to use additional lighting or reflectors depending on your source.

 

[Ellis Vener]

Direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, cloudy sunlight, sunrise, sunset, etc.???

The answer is more or less yes to all of the above.

Direct sunlight - move a studio light with a 7" bowl reflector more than 5' or 6' from the subject. The only basis for this distance is that it will generally put the light out of the frame when you take a photo and it is far enough that the light will be nice and hard.

Indirect sunlight or cloudy sunlight - big softboxes.

Sunrise/sunset - gel the light and use big softboxes.

 

[UKphotographers]

Direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, cloudy sunlight, sunrise, sunset, etc.???

The answer is more or less yes to all of the above.

Direct sunlight - move a studio light with a 7" bowl reflector more than 5' or 6' from the subject. The only basis for this distance is that it will generally put the light out of the frame when you take a photo and it is far enough that the light will be nice and hard.

Indirect sunlight or cloudy sunlight - big softboxes.

Sunrise/sunset - gel the light and use big softboxes.

 

[Rico Tudor]

Wow, lots of good advice given already.

I mostly shoot portraits and tabletop in a studio with hard key and some level of fill.

The sun makes a remarkably hard key, having an angular size of about ½ degree (close to a point source). The frosted cover glass of a bare Profoto head is a great approximation of the sun but, being 7cm in diameter, must be placed 8m away from the subject to achieve the same angular size. At this distance, the lighting efficiency is unusably low. One workable cheat is bringing the head within 2m. A similar cheat is a Profoto MultiSpot (with 7cm frosted fresnel) at 2m for greater lighting efficiency. The shadows are softer-edged, but still plausible. For realistic sun emulation, I break out the ProZoomSpot which is a theatrical followspot that fully collimates the beam: it's huge, and overkill for most cases.

Fill is the other daylight element, and can suggest time of day and location by way of the fill ratio and color cast. I don't like blue, but I've seen Cindy Sherman work blue shadows into her studio creations. Green cast might suggest a forest. Yellow might suggest sunset (with the right key angle), or autumn (perhaps with a cucoloris). It's hard to suggest a portrait in midday sun unless the subject reclines, or you accept raccoon eyes.

Truest sunlight emulation with ProZoomSpot, no fill:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/nikon/misc/d300d3000.jpg

Early morning light from the side w/MultiSpot fresnel, fill card:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/leica/misc/lilac2.jpg

Early morning light ahead of camera w/MultiSpot, shoot-through panel for fill:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/nikon/misc/sandals.jpg

Midday light w/MultiSpot, same fill:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/nikon/misc/sandals4.jpg

Late afternoon light w/MultiSpot, medium softbox fill:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/photo/misc/jade19.jpg

Even though AM and PM share the same key angles, I always think of morning light as cleaner and thinner, while afternoon lighter is yellower and hazier.
--
Canon, Nikon, Contax RTS, Leica M, Profoto

 

[UKphotographers]

Truest sunlight emulation with ProZoomSpot, no fill:
http://patternassociates.com/rico/nikon/misc/d300d3000.jpg

Interesting comparisons..

Your first example clearly illustrates the effect of environment. Despite one light you have two distinct shadows. S-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g is filling in the hard shadow area and its not the white background (although that will provide its own fill too).

--
Ian.

Commercial Photographer and Commercial Photography UK, London, Manchester, Birmingham, UK

Commercial photographer and Commercial Photography UK, London, Manchester, Birmingham, UK

www.commercialphotographer.co.uk

Theres only one sun. Why do I need more than one light to get a natural result?

 

[Rico Tudor]

UKphotographers wrote: ...
S-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g is filling in the hard shadow area and its not the white background (although that will provide its own fill too).

Damn, you're observant! I reviewed the original files and, yes, there is a significant fill source and it's not even well-diffused. The final image is a tricky composite of two frames (key, fill) where the shadows from the fill are mostly suppressed. Nonetheless, key is the ProZoomSpot with its razor-sharp shadows, and the same shadow transition should be reproduced when placing your camera in the sun.