tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68518559576805403942011-12-13T17:29:25.373ZPhotography and lighting blog, with an emphasis on the technology and techniques required to get high quality images.n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.comBlogger551100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-69369225228428294702011-12-13T17:27:00.001Z2011-12-13T17:29:25.379Z

For anyone interested in Multiple Off-Camera Flash using the new TTL Pocket Wizard system, there's a webinar on in 30 minutes from when this is posted (for anyone who happens to read this soon enough!)http://www.pocketwizard.com/webinar

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-74872502207081262792011-12-05T14:22:00.004Z2011-12-05T15:14:03.511Z

I'm very much a photographer of the lighting orthodox. I come prepared with a vehicle full of gear, lug what I need to where I'm taking a photo, and then spend the next 20+ mins getting set up for the shot. That's what I do, and that's how I get the results that I get.But sometimes you have limited or no ability to carry large amounts of gear. Perhaps you have a very rushed job which allows you

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-85514784244644692442011-05-30T09:14:00.002+01:002011-05-30T09:20:13.716+01:00

With the uber-elite of photographic blogging becoming ever more attractive to the legions of fans, it got me thinking, are they in danger of losing what their initial appeal was? Lets face it, would anyone listen to them if they hadn't done their fair share of pounding the beat of commercial/journalistic photography?I've actually just come back to my feedlist after a few days away, and was just a

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-1503943339559170132011-03-22T18:27:00.007Z2011-03-23T08:09:38.360Z

Just been having a gander at the strobist site (this entry in particular) and it got me thinking about appropriateness of images.Note: The following two comments have since disappeared from the site, but they still raise an interesting pointSomeone called David (not Hobby) said:"I think this shot is just awful. The lighting is far too clever by half and the man looks positively shifty and

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-64033875961896768392010-11-25T21:23:00.004Z2010-11-25T21:29:08.551Z

Just thought I'd pass on that Jacobs are having some special deals. If you're in the lookout for any of the kit that happens to be on the specials, it might be a good time to buy. Of course, shop around - just because they say it's a special deal doesn't mean it is the best around!Jacobs DigitalAnd for the US folk, there are some deals going too. Koo has done all the hard work, so I don't have to

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-11217641298652198112010-11-24T15:45:00.004Z2010-11-25T21:31:52.424Z

Well I sat around looking back and forth between the Canon 60D and Canon 7D for the last couple of months. With my Canon 40D well on its way towards its advised shutter use of 150,000, I'd felt it was well due an upgrade, making it my backup body.I'd held out for quite a period for the Canon 60D because I felt the price jump to the Canon 7D wasn't really worth the money if the 60D was going to

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-58644568092207672252010-04-06T16:42:00.005+01:002010-04-06T17:34:23.849+01:00

If you've read my blog over the years (that's the years I bother to write updates of course!), you'll know how much an advocate of creatively lighting images I am. But sometimes there are jobs which don't allow for this. Broadly speaking there are two types. Firstly, run and gun jobs where you have no setup, and this generally is a damage limitation routine involving on-camera flash, and any

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-17257079518095897992010-02-09T18:46:00.009Z2010-02-23T21:45:43.676Z

I did a shoot recently for the combined purpose of showing off makeup for a makeup artist and showing off an outfit for a costume hire company.The above image was one of the outdoor shots. You'll note how the model stands out well from the background. There are three main reasons for this as far as lighting is concerned - contrast ratio, light quality/direction and colour temperature.The first,

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-29332290518667212522009-09-19T14:07:00.006+01:002009-09-19T15:26:03.372+01:00

I had an interesting brief for a shoot a little while back. As part of a makeup course, a student was required to do a theme based around victorian times. The initial thought was sepia toned, semi-blurry images which looked really authentic, but I felt that wasn't going to show the makeup off particularly well, and as you may have guessed, I'm a bit of a colour junkie, so it wasn't happening.So I

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-71418459208249819782009-05-15T21:41:00.004+01:002009-05-15T22:14:16.795+01:00

OK, I can tell you're all getting bored waiting for my reappearance! Woah, it's been a mad month and a half. So much happening!Anyhow, I've spoken about using gels on your subject in order to control the colour balance of ambient light before (Summer's day shoot, on a dull late evening). The most common version of this sort of adjustment you'll see is a warm gel used on the subject and when you

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-45886762729726957222009-03-22T12:51:00.006Z2009-03-22T13:25:49.761Z

I had an interesting theme for a shoot recently, which involved creating a winter scene for the shoot. I used a combination of fallen branches I collected from near my house, fake snow from a snow machine and fog from a fog machine to create the look.I used two 550EX (equivalent to the Canon 580EX II) flashguns with CTB (cooling) gels from behind the setup in order to light the fog a cool blue. I

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-61323175409110458112009-03-02T23:26:00.004Z2009-03-02T23:41:36.373Z

I've had some serious lackings going on in the blogging front the last month and a bit! But hey, I'm back. Haven't had much in the way of product photography going on for a while, so I figured I'd put up this entry.Well, you've seen the final shot above, so let's look at the thinking which got me there. Firstly, I wanted to show a few things about these products in one shot. The first is that

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-49961428158641726232009-01-18T23:45:00.006Z2009-09-22T17:48:46.727+01:00

Sometimes you've got plenty of setup time, but not so much time for shooting. Perhaps, for example, the model is only available for a certain time, and a significant period of that time is taken up by complicated makeup/hair work, or you have a lot of clothing changes to get through, but want a variety of looks for each.In this particular case, makeup/hair (wig) was pretty long for this shoot,

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-30396516490352740252008-12-14T15:45:00.004Z2008-12-17T13:57:46.241Z

Most of the stuff I talk about on this blog tends to be very much based around the point of capture. Lighting and cameras are a huge part of what I do - I'm very much a believer in getting things right before clicking the shutter button, rather than spending hours fixing hundreds of images in post processing. However, like all photographers, post processing is equally a very time consuming part

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-65412573543549307802008-11-23T23:25:00.007Z2008-11-28T15:14:00.379Z

Sometimes you get a concept and, to be frank and honest about it, you wonder if it's all that great an idea. This shoot was one of those for me. The model wanted to be Debbie Harry (Blondie) for an 80s style shoot. Now I'm seldom one to walk away from a challenge, especially if saturated colours are involved, but lets be honest...most 80s photography has dated quicker than just about any other

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-16230528614949505912008-10-25T19:38:00.004+01:002008-10-25T20:26:09.299+01:00

The shot above is one I took recently. The eagle eyed among you will spot it's a three light setup. You can see the setup in the pic below, albeit without the third background light which I added later with a purple gel about 50 metres down the warehouse. If you're particularly eagle eyed, you'll notice I had the background flash sitting next to the left flash, and it was on but not gelled, so

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-81560431643571980642008-09-27T18:19:00.007+01:002008-09-30T12:59:36.187+01:00

Often on a location shoot the location isn't everything you'd hope for. It might be absolutely beautiful, with ornate backgrounds, but painted a yuck colour of brown. It might even be a beautiful colour, but ridiculously dark. Either way, it's not just the model you need to think about lighting, but that background as well.I did a shoot in a bar/restaurant recently which was one of the former -

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-76495925061565500312008-09-09T20:45:00.002+01:002008-09-09T21:02:50.412+01:00

Had an interesting concept for a shot recently...a witchcraft style shoot. I'd discussed some ideas with the model in the shot above, and one thing had led to another and the idea of a witchcraft shoot came about.There was a degree of complexity in the exposure here because of the use of candles. While your eyes adjust to them, and they seem bright enough in the typically dull environments they

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-77857550870334692342008-08-28T15:59:00.003+01:002008-08-28T16:19:37.079+01:00

OK, take a look at the shot above. Deconstruct the light. How do you think it was shot? What lighting was involved? What was the ambient light like?If I said it was dark, miserable and cloudy with no sunlight, about 9pm at night, would you be surprised?We'd been looking to do a shoot on a nice sunny evening, with a casual style in a wheat field. There were a few problems, not least there were

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-88323554371006405222008-08-24T19:25:00.005+01:002008-08-24T20:37:22.471+01:00

OK...so you want a what kind of shoot? Gothic style? So that's, um, like black clothes and lots of makeup?With that level of knowledge about the subject matter, you can't really go wrong!Sometimes it's fun to push yourself out a bit further from the shore and do something you haven't done before.Most important thing after the model for this type of shoot is a good make up artist. Without a makeup

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-10099147972587598302008-08-14T20:07:00.002+01:002008-08-14T20:17:14.475+01:00

Been a bit over a year since I started this blog, and uploaded my first video to youtube. Been quite an amazing year, and had some great comments and chats with people I've contacted because of it.So, I just wanted to thank everyone who's taken my youtube view counter over 20,000 just yesterday, and just shy of 5,000 views of my images on flickr. Totally amazing!I hope I can continue to provide

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-74462730806267760722008-07-31T20:44:00.008+01:002008-08-24T19:24:38.071+01:00

So here's the scenario...you're doing a portfolio shoot for a model. You get lucky with a lovely sunny day and have organised a good time for the shoot so the light is spot on. You've chosen some pretty decent locations to take the shots, and you're getting on well with the model. One of those good vibe shoots.It's a relatively fast moving shoot, and you don't have an assistant available to help

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-31505850506647090672008-07-26T14:10:00.003+01:002008-07-26T14:15:09.704+01:00

Just thought I'd put up a quick video post. Not neatly edited or anything, but might be of interest to all you gearheads out there. Just simply me going through what I have in my main kit bag.Sometimes, of course, my kit bag will change a bit. For example, I might not bother with all the gel filters for certain work, and instead have a second body in the same bag. Other times I'll just fling the

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-90375313863067473002008-07-07T16:19:00.007+01:002008-07-07T16:27:31.891+01:00

Came across another blog which had used this tool, and thought it was kinda cool. Looks at the frequency pattern of words on the site. That's the first however many posts anyhow. Quite unsurprisingly "Lighting" is the biggest and most common. There are some other interesting and less expected ones though! :)

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-36658050927558495402008-07-03T01:44:00.005+01:002008-07-03T02:44:46.682+01:00

The shot above was done with a relatively straight-forward three light setup. As a starting point for this shot, I stuck a honeycomb on a 550EX flash (equivalent to the Canon 580EX II) and used it to get a good strong light on the label of the product. This is always important when you're shooting a bottle such as this.I then wanted to show off the whisky itself, so I needed to shine some light

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-26707426050122564402008-06-02T18:27:00.016+01:002008-06-02T19:17:38.878+01:00

I recently came across an interesting lighting book in my local second hand book shop. It's written by Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz and is called The Photographer's Guide to the Studio.It's basically a complete guide to studio lighting, for animate and inanimate objects. The works!There's two main sections, I guess it'd best be described as. The first contains five chapters:1. Why Studio? - a

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-19336979061402038552008-05-17T16:27:00.008+01:002008-06-02T21:05:23.951+01:00

I've had a couple of questions regarding the Spring Clamps which I use to hold up flashes when I'm not using lighting stands. I also notice that some of the searches which lead people to my blog relate to these clamps, so I figured an entry might be of use to people.First of all, the clamps which I use are sold by Maplin in the UK. You can find them here:Maplin Large Photography ClampThey're not

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-10060485462935825192008-04-20T01:09:00.004+01:002008-04-20T01:27:04.436+01:00

Firstly, here's the shot:It was a bit of a larger scale setup than you normally see on this blog. Usually I'm just working with a small background roll, either lit or not lit, which is nice and simple. For this shot though, I wanted to do something a bit different.The CCTV camera is advertised by the manufacturer as being for high security applications. It has very low light performance. That is

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-2090081905454423142008-04-10T19:59:00.004+01:002008-04-10T20:13:59.970+01:00

Chris Frear who's a member of the Flickr UK Strobists group has contacted me regarding organising a get together for a mini strobist event. Don't think it's likely we'll get a Seattle level of people, but it'd be nice to get a good handful. I'm counting myself in if I can possibly make it, and I know from my stats there are a small bunch of you from Scotland, so I'm hoping you'll read this and

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-37555658840390166312008-03-19T23:46:00.003Z2008-05-17T18:13:48.795+01:00

I routinely use a shoot-thru umbrella for portrait work, given I work on location for much of the portrait work I do. When I occasionally do something with a bit more time and looking for better quality of light, I like to use the Lastolite Umbrella Box. However, it's interesting to know how much of a difference the more expensive and slower to setup umbrella box actually makes.First of all, a

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-84967750326520861312008-03-19T23:12:00.004Z2008-05-17T18:16:23.245+01:00

I've seen it asked a couple of times now on different forums what "setting" the flashgun should be at for the best use of an umbrella. This question applies equally to reflective umbrellas and shoot through diffusing umbrellas - it's basically a case of how wide an angle you set your flash to in order to optimally fill the umbrella.I've opted for a "shoot-thru" umbrella in this case because it

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-9198470683866065152008-02-21T22:02:00.005Z2008-03-01T15:51:05.532Z

This entry is based around what is a pretty average and perhaps fairly boring product photo. A simple shot to show what the product is without being overly dramatic, while making something a little more exciting than your average eshop shot.I've made a video to go with this, which you can view at the bottom of this entry. For a change, I decided to "bare all" and show all the shots involved in

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-70483579441903754182008-02-11T23:05:00.001Z2008-02-11T23:36:11.613Z

I mentioned in my previous entry that when I checked the ambient light, it was pretty similar to tungsten light, meaning I only needed to correct with a CTO gel, but that sometimes you can require an additional fluorescent gel to correct for certain types of mercury vapour lamp. I think for some people it goes a little against the grain to add more than one gel, so hopefully this example will

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-64245472194167739622008-02-09T20:52:00.001Z2008-02-11T22:34:57.736Z

For once this isn't a product related entry, but I hope it will still be of some interest to read.I was shooting a charity burns supper the other night in a local hall. Quite a large location, probably about the size of a basketball court in total. About a quarter of the hall has a second level with seating, which was unused for the event, so I took advantage of a quiet location to shoot from,

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-41360443034676813172008-01-22T23:07:00.002Z2008-05-17T18:27:37.682+01:00

Sometimes taking a photograph of a product just isn't enough. You have to show what the product actually does. In the case of an electronic device with a small screen, such as an mp3 player (in this case a Sandisk Sansa Express 2GB), the screen will not likely be very bright. Using flash to take a photograph of a device such as this therefore becomes a matter of balancing the flash light with the

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-69982793814831413012008-01-12T22:56:00.002Z2008-06-02T20:15:53.539+01:00

Once in a while you get landed with the job of photographing something which would be better off scanned, but due to the size of it, or design of it, photographing it is far more practical. In this case, it was a rather large A1 plan. While I can't show you the actual plan due to the contents not being mine to pass on, I can show you how it was done.So what do we need for a shot of the plan? Well

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-10473158144792415182007-12-16T00:02:00.000Z2008-03-01T15:52:15.135Z

Sorry I haven't had time to be putting up any videos the last while. I figured I'd put this one up quickly though without a video. Pretty simple setup, so the shots at the end should let you see how to go about it.Well, first thought for this shot was background colour. I figured something vivid was called for, so I opted for the brightest of the bunch - a nice bright yellow sheet.Next thought

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-71780193803060358302007-11-05T11:09:00.000Z2007-11-05T11:12:17.480Z

Just a heads up to let everyone know the Maplin Portable Soft Lighting Studio is on special deal again at £9.99 - half the normal price - so get in there quick if you want one!

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-81315888887826326052007-10-13T22:50:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.136Z

I took this photo of a model guitar today. Didn't have time to set up the camcorder for this one, but I did take a setup shot. I'll just talk you through it.You should easily spot at least two of the flashes used, and extra points if you spotted the third source. The major component of lighting this shot is having precise control over light spill. Fire light all over the place and your shot is

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-86920865818811039122007-10-09T22:03:00.000+01:002007-10-09T22:16:56.203+01:00

The inverse square law seems to cause a fair bit of confusion among photographers. It is pretty natural to think that if you put your flash twice as far away from your subject, you'd simply need to double the power. The idea that you need to quadruple it seems rather alien.Try to think of it this way. If you're standing to the side of the flash, watching the light go outwards, what is happening?

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-45002618177762213402007-10-09T01:00:00.000+01:002007-10-09T01:23:17.184+01:00

A post in the photosig forum was asking about a link between Guide Numbers and Watt Seconds, and whether there was a direct conversion.It is possible to do calculations to do this conversion, but for most real-world situations, it's unbelievably complex, with light having to be simulated or otherwise modelled as it travels via reflectors etc. before heading in its final direction.Guide numbers

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-80428670259259970042007-10-05T00:02:00.000+01:002007-10-05T00:53:18.140+01:00

What is a Watt Second?Well, it's a unit of electrical energy, also known as a Joule. It is a Power of 1 Watt for a time of 1 second.So what is a Watt? Well it is calculated as current (measured in amperes) multiplied by voltage (measured in volts).So 1 Watt = 1 Ampere x 1 Volt = 0.5A x 2V = 2A x 0.5V etc. etc.So, supposing you have a 1000W strobe, it has the capability to put 1000W of electrical

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-9558354566493290192007-10-04T21:38:00.001+01:002009-09-07T23:33:59.258+01:00

Guide numbers are the common method of comparing the relative powers of different flashes. The value is found experimentally by firing the flash at maximum power at a subject which is a fixed distance from the flash. With no other source of light, a flash meter is used to obtain an optimum aperture for a "correct exposure", which is of course slightly subjective. Similarly a camera could be used,

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-60100066038401963582007-09-25T23:39:00.000+01:002007-09-25T23:45:38.460+01:00

I came across a photographer from across the water who has some cool shots. Got a great studio too if you like looking behind the scenes.There's a lot of good stuff on his pbase account at:http://www.pbase.com/infocusincAnd his main company site too, although a lot of stuff on it is already on the pbase site.http://www.infocusinc.netEnjoy :)

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-85809331746737245952007-09-01T23:31:00.002+01:002008-05-17T18:45:16.782+01:00

Sometimes, you want a pretty eye-catching graphical shot of a glass item. It might be a wine bottle, which you want to make anonymous, so you want to light it and avoid showing the label. Of course, you can still light the label, perhaps with a snoot, and just use this technique for dramatic purposes.I didn't have a wine bottle to hand, but I did have a rather interestingly shaped bathroom

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-30065664475722241312007-08-28T15:28:00.000+01:002007-08-28T15:50:03.743+01:00

Just a quick entry today. You can sometimes create a bit of visual interest by playing with the colour balance of your flash. A warming (CTO) gel can make the effect of low evening sunlight when your camera is balanced for daylight, or even sometimes "cloudy" white balance.I had two layers to this photo. The first was the background, which included the sky and the tree. Short of some serious

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-83545063623711836402007-08-26T00:02:00.000+01:002007-08-26T01:22:17.099+01:00

I mentioned using a lightbox I'd bought at maplin in my last post lighting a wristwatch.This time I want to look at something a little less arty, and a bit less complicated. Suppose you just want a decent quality shot of some stuff you're selling online, such as on ebay, and you feel a cheap lightbox such as the maplin one is worth buying, it can be pretty simple to get some decent images with

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-55654976062460689822007-08-12T00:59:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.136Z

We start with the black base that we're going to have for the image. It's a smooth food preparation mat which I got out of the local supermarket. For speed and simplicity, I have a small light box which cost me £10 (on special deal - normally £20 at maplin - seems to be a deal going on instore). It folds flat for transport/storage, and can be set up in seconds when needed. This too expensive, or

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-4203978688041096232007-08-08T01:28:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.137Z

One of the most standard product photos is the white background shot. Used all over the net on almost every eshop, it provides a clean modern look for any product. However, it can be a tricky shot to pull off, especially if your product is also white!We start with a white paper background, adding the product, and then adding a flash to light the background.You will see from the image above, the "

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-22502554818832575082007-07-21T13:45:00.000+01:002007-07-21T23:27:54.251+01:00

Folding a popup reflector can be a bit tricky till you've done it...once. Getting to that point isn't always that obvious though!A question came up on photosig asking how to do it, and despite some really quality descriptions, I could see it might not be that obvious to those who hadn't done it before. So here's a quick video to put words into images.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTWbsbeBIJ0(

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-66326754427742659702007-06-30T22:57:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.137Z

I was asked to photograph this new engine. Unfortunately, it was in a rather dark and damp workshop, on a workbench next to a roller shutter door. The rest of the place was even worse, so I figured I best make a shot out of where the engine was.I had a main light (into an umbrella) to camera right to light the engine, and also provided a reflection on the roller door behind. I filled in the

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-60165031462439257952007-05-30T16:11:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.138Z

This journal entry is based round a product photo, and some overall shots which show the setup. There were two tricks to this shot which I thought were worth some mention. The first is how I got the gradient colour background from purple to silver, and the second is how I got smooth clean lighting on the screen, without any harsh highlights. So first of all, here's the shot.The gradient

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-45037668603701292262007-05-30T11:55:00.000+01:002007-07-21T15:51:00.222+01:00

I'd been reading about honeycomb filters being made out of cardboard and correx plastic sheets. I got a hold of a sheet of black correx (I had loads of the stuff, but unfortunately no black) to try it out. I simply cut two strips 4 cm wide across the grain (holes through the correx travelling perpendicular to the cut). I then cut these into sections slightly wider than the flashgun head. I glued

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-57453977970303992662007-05-30T11:35:00.000+01:002007-07-21T15:02:41.715+01:00

The type of photography I do most of the time requires I be very mobile, able to take all of it on my back and walk a good distance, and be able to work away from mains power. I don't however want compromises. If I need perfect studio style light at the top of a hill, I want to have it!Over a period of a couple of years, I've built up a camera and lighting setup which works pretty well for me.

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851855957680540394.post-59689252029569239022007-05-24T12:36:00.000+01:002008-03-01T15:52:15.139Z

A ringflash can give a nice clean shadowless look for certain products. Here's a shot with just a ringflash.Not all that inspiring. The light also falls off towards the top, making the Archos logo text pretty much unreadable. To deal with this, I got a honeycomb snooted flash and directed it just at the top half of the player.The background in both these shots is very dark, so I got a third flash

n506http://www.blogger.com/profile/06611267218004453911noreply@blogger.com0