Workshop Week 2: Lighting Workshop: Still Life

Todays lighting workshop was most helpful and I feel I have gained a lot more confidence for working in the studio. Looking back to when we worked with still life reflective objects, we found it difficult to light the subject in an appealing way. Today, it took us a couple of test shots and we were there and all satisfied with the results. 

The chocolate box was fun to light and fairly straight forward once Katie had reminded us how to light an object with the right lighting equipment. We were playing around with the reflection, trying to project it onto the perspex (which worked really well) and receive a glow from the gold decoration of the box.

There was a slight struggle when Katie advised us to light the top of the box as it lost its shape towards the top. We managed to light a partial amount, enough for it to stand out from the black background and create that shape.

We didn't have very long to photograph the metal fish slice but with all the knowledge and practise we had learnt from the chocolate box we were able to put it all into the more harder object to light. We'd also been shown a tip from the second group to get us started because it can be a tedious job to light without reflecting too much of the background, etc. 

We managed to get one final image from the fish slice which again we were all satisfied with. Due to the lack of time remaining of course there are a few imperfections.

 If we had enough time to receive our best image from the metal fish slice, the lighting of the object could be improved slightly. The background is perfect, we did consider doing a fade light Katie had mentioned but we felt the jet black background looked more appealing and brought the object forward. More shape could be brought into the fish slice as it's a little shade on the handle. The object is also slightly out of focus and with this defined could bring out a sharper image.

After todays workshop I'm feeling very confident to now proceed with the still life part of the brief without the worry of how to light my subjects. Not only has it boost my confidence for my own use in the studio but also during workshops in general. Looking back at year 1 workshops I would stand to one side and take notes but not necessarily understand what was going on during the lesson. I missed out a lot and now regret that coming into year 2. Fortunately we are going over things that have already been taught to us in order for it to be 'cemented' into our heads which I will find very helpful.

Notes taken from the workshop:

Chocolate Box

ISO 100, F11 & 1/125s

Left light 3.0 & right light 2.5

Left light bumped up to 5 stops to encourage more light on top of subject.

Started with one light, bouncing light off white reflector and bounced light with a reflective mirror on the other side of the box.

Another light is added to the right side of the set to get more light as subject is still too dark.

Added a white backdrop behind scene to reflect light onto top of object. 

White reflected into perspex giving us a reflection we didn't want, therefore we went back to the black backdrop. We also lowered the camera for a better angle of the reflection from the chocolate box as it was something we wanted to include within the image.

Snoot was added to direct light onto top of subject but soon discovered a glare in the image. Placed a diffuser in front but cut too much light out.

Our last call was to introduce the white card, we tested it in a few positions but it was unfortunately reflecting in the perspex visible in the image. We managed to shed a little light onto it and was happy with the final outcome. 

Fish Slice

One light, left of frame. Reflecting onto white polyboard. 

Black polyboard placed behind subject to create the black background to prevent reflection on the perspex.

Used white card to reflect light from the opposite side of lighting.