Hi there
Today I’d like to talk about a fantastic piece of software I discovered recently. The program is called set.a.light 3D and has been developed by elixxier Software, a company based in Stuttgart, Germany. What the software basically does is it let’s you simulate an entire photo studio with models, lights, cameras, different requisites etc. You can even take virtual photos and create lighting diagrams of your setup. This sounds to me like the ideal tool to prepare yourself for a studio shooting.
But I can see another application too, especially for myself. Set.a.light 3D can also be used for beginners to understand artificial lighting in a studio. And since I’m not yet an expert in studio lighting I actually plan to purchase this software for learning. For example if you read an article about Rembrandt light you can immediately try to replicate the corresponding setup in set.a.light 3D without having to look for a studio and/ or a model. And once you have successfully replicated the setup you can print a lighting diagram which you can then take to a real shooting. Or you can start to play around by moving the lights and observe how this changes the lights. Or you can add more lights, replace some light sources (e.g. a standard reflector) with others, for example a softbox or a beauty dish.
The software also allows you to export and import setups which makes it possible to share setups with your assistant or with other photographers. Elixxier Software maintains a blog too where they post articles about different applications of set.a.light 3D and share some lighting setups. Sharing setups could also be beneficial to you if you’re a photography teacher, you would be able to share setups with your students and they could send their own setups to you for revision. The uses of this software seem alsmost endless to me.
There are 3 versions available:
- A free viewer that let’s you view exported setups
- A basic version for $39.70 (as of today) with some restrictions
- A pro version for $139.70 (as of today) that unlocks all the restricted features
The software is available for Windows and Mac.. You can get more info about the set.a.light 3D on elixxier’s website: https://www.elixxier.com/index.php.
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