Any lighting/camera angle tips?

I’m keen on taking some pictures and recordings of my masks (and future masks) but am just beginning to learn about lighting and camera angle. I will have to work with low budget, my phone being the camera and my laptop being the main source of light if it’s not a lightbulb. Any suggestions? :neutral_face:

It truly comes down to the mask itself. A sculpt like Maniac has prominent details that pop in low light while something like a 75k will require special lighting to pop. I suggest stuffing it to your liking, and taking some outdoor shots. Depends on the sculpt but outside shots are normally really solid and allow you to capture the details more easily. Inside I’d try to keep the lights dim and move your mask into an area where the light hits it in a way that makes the details pop. It is all going to depend on the exact mask bro but just have fun with messing around with photography and you’ll get the hang of it. A lot of my shots are just in my closet with normal lighting

Agreed with FutureReference about outdoor lighting. Outdoor lighting is just so much easier for the camera to pick up. Outdoors, I like to shoot in the 80mm to 105mm range. It creates a great depth of field that just looks spectacular:




Indoor lighting is a lot harder, but can be equally as fun to work with if you have the right backgrounds, lighting, and the patience to put it together. Some days, I’ll admit I run around my house completely dissatisfied with everything I’m looking at. Lighting doesn’t give me what I want, usually too warm or not bright enough, or the background looks completely like shit, etc. Other days, I see a setting and I think “A mask would look great here.” This is an interior shot done with the same mask and taken by the same camera as the mask above, but with minimal artificial lighting (a desk lamp) and the setting sun coming through the window creating bluish hues on the other side of the mask. It turned out really great once I ran it through some editing to decrease the warmth given off by the lamp and increase the colors to really make them pop:

Thanks, I’ll try to take some pictures outdoors in my backyard. (though my neighbors probably will call the cops on me)

Thanks for the tips, those pics look really great, I’ll see what I can do indoors and outdoors with the lighting.

It all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with your photos. If you want to simply document your masks, outdoor lighting is indeed more simple and accurate. Contrary to what many people might assume, early morning, light shade or an overcast day will give you the best results, as opposed to direct sunlight. If the goal is more movie-accurate, atmospheric images, you’re going to have to be more creative with lighting. However, even with your phone, it’s possible to use common lighting sources like a lamp positioned to one side of your mask in a dark room to get some pretty interesting shots. One other tip, the blue lighting in H1 and other movies is achieved with “gels”, which are simply colored transparent filters placed over the set lights. You can achieve similar results with colored celaphane, but be careful that that you don’t place it directly on a hot light or you’re going to be in Freddy Krueger territory, not MM. The filters available on your phone can also help quite a bit with correcting color and adding fun effects, just play around with them. There are some helpful articles online as well, just Google phone photo tips. The advice you’ll find is applicable to everything, including your masks.

Thanks for the tips!

Move your mask around and try many different angles. Over head lighting highlights the 3 dimensionality of a mask. A dark cloth can be helpful to shoot against. That will bring out the contrasts in light and dark and the colors used.