# Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Creating a Light Probe

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The light probe is, in the simplest terms, a photograph of your
environment. they work in very much the same way that reflection maps
do, and are made the same way.

Equipment:

1.  A pure silver ball. Try a plastic Christmas tree ball ornament.
2.  A camera, preferably digital. If you have a high-end digital camera,
    you\'ll have less work ahead.
3.  A place you\'d like to capture the lighting from. Try laying
    different things in your environment to get a good idea.
4.  Something to fire the shutter without touching the camera. For
    digital cameras, Paul Debevec recommends using a program that will
    take all the pictures for you.
5.  A tripod.

Set it up like so. Remember that the height of your camera and the
height of the ball relative to each other controls the angle at which
the horizon will be shot. In other words, shoot the ball at the same
angle that you plan to shoot your 3D scene in. If your scene is
animated\... consider making a similar rig except attaching your
reflective ball to a video camera as was done for Flight of the
Navigator.

![](Lightprobe_hardware_diagram.png "Lightprobe_hardware_diagram.png")

(note from a VFX pro who is using this technique for years: on a mirror
ball everything is reflected except the area right behind the sphere
opposite to the camera - where the tape is on the above picture)

The process:

1.  Set up your rig and take a series of images with varying exposure
    times.
2.  Taking 2 sets of pictures, each offset by 90 degrees, will enable
    you to get better coverage of the background and eliminate the
    reflection of the camera taking the picture.

