Product Photography - Part 1: Natural light
Light tent setup (Natural light)
After some digging around in my loft for film cameras last week, I stumbled upon a light tent that I got so long ago that I'd forgotten that I actually owned it (reinforcing my argument that even storage space needs to be organised, though I'm sure my husband would disagree). Anyway, as I hadn't really got any ideas for things to shoot this week, I thought I'd do a light test with the tent that I could use a reference sheet when shooting product photography in future.
The shot (above) was the basic initial setup, with one side of the tent collapsed to use the natural light from my kitchen window. The tent comes with three sides, all made of a semi-opaque fabric that works as a diffuser as well as a backdrop, though when using all three sides, there is only a black base rather than a white one. There is also a foldable sheet of double sided fabric that works as an additional backdrop/floordrop. I had a whole host of objects that I wanted to use for the test, but decided the perfume bottle would make the best subject because of it's transparent qualities.
I did take notes to match up with the light setup sketches I'd drawn up beforehand so hopefully all of the setup descriptions are accurate! There were a few rogue ones I couldn't identify though so bare with me, and also excuse my complete lack of technical language :D
1. Natural light from the kitchen window (about 3 feet away). It was an overcast day, so I suppose that technically this light was diffused, but when I mention 'diffused' light in the descriptions, I'm referring to the use of a modifier.
2. Natural window light diffused with the translucent middle of a reflector disk. (Are they even called reflector disks? Who knows...).
3. Natural window light with backdrop sheet turned to grey side and placed over right wall. The grey side reflected less of the light from the window back onto the bottle, making darker shadows and more definition on the right side of the bottle.
4. Again, the grey sheet reflected less light onto the bottle, but as I used a diffuser in this shot, there were no distinct shadows to darken.
Overall I think that the natural light worked nicely, however it created noticeable colour casts on the backdrop and didn't create any dynamic highlights or shadows on the glass of the bottle because the light source was so evenly spread, though this was improved somewhat when the bottle was laid flat.
Using natural light also meant that I had to use settings to accomodate it's dimness. This meant a wide aperture and slower shutter speed, causing a softness to the picture as I wasn't using a tripod, but also creating a smoother background due to the narrow depth of field.
If the natural light is bright enough, it works well with the light tent, even when using both diffused sides, however it does mean you're relying heavily on consistent weather conditions so that some shots don't end up brighter than others, which isn't always possible.
Using natural light also meant that I had to use settings to accomodate it's dimness. This meant a wide aperture and slower shutter speed, causing a softness to the picture as I wasn't using a tripod, but also creating a smoother background due to the narrow depth of field.
If the natural light is bright enough, it works well with the light tent, even when using both diffused sides, however it does mean you're relying heavily on consistent weather conditions so that some shots don't end up brighter than others, which isn't always possible.
I'll be posting the second set of images taken using flash next week so the posts aren't too long and text heavy.
Photo Challenge Week 33 Artistic: Collaboration
For 'Collaboration' I roped in my brother in law to help me out with some light painting with his light saber. Light painting is never not fun, always looks amazing and our little shoot has given me a million ideas for things I could do in the future.
Medium format film processing.
When I first began studying photography, DSLRs were more than expensive, and so I got through my college course with a borrowed Olympus 35mm and roll upon roll of black and white film. By the time I started university I'd finally got a DSLR and never really looked back, but there are so many things I miss about film photography, like the tactility and unpredictability of it, that I've always continued to collect cameras and equipment so that I could get back into analogue photography again.
Last week, ordering a new back of developer chemicals I loaded up my Yashica 635 and took a few test shots of my daughter playing. With no light meter I had to estimate the exposure settings, got into a bit of a wrestling match with the film trying to fit it on the reel as quickly as possible because my bathroom is anything but light-tight and I'd lost hope that the film would show anything at all. But then I got these! And sure, the film got a little roughed up by my frustrated hands, and about half of the frames were either fogged or blank from bad exposures, but the good ones, were really good!
Last week, ordering a new back of developer chemicals I loaded up my Yashica 635 and took a few test shots of my daughter playing. With no light meter I had to estimate the exposure settings, got into a bit of a wrestling match with the film trying to fit it on the reel as quickly as possible because my bathroom is anything but light-tight and I'd lost hope that the film would show anything at all. But then I got these! And sure, the film got a little roughed up by my frustrated hands, and about half of the frames were either fogged or blank from bad exposures, but the good ones, were really good!
Without any paper, it was pointless setting up the enlarger, and while I have a 35mm scanner it doesn't take 120 film so I had to get a bit creative to get the images digitized. I cut a square out of some paper to make a frame for the negative, securing it with hair grips so that I wouldn't mark the film and then taping a square of white paper to the other side of the glass, behind the negative for the light to shine through before photographing it on a DSLR with a 24mm lens. It certainly didn't provide the level of contrast or detail that scanning or printing via enlarger would have, but it provided better results that I'd been expecting.
I'm so glad I can finally say that I've put my medium format to some good use, and that my efforts paid off. I can't wait to take out the Bronica next time!
I'm so glad I can finally say that I've put my medium format to some good use, and that my efforts paid off. I can't wait to take out the Bronica next time!
Widlflowers
On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in search of this field of wildflowers. Funnily enough we'd actually been to the spot before, a few months ago when we were looking for a place to feed ducks and this place was marked on the map as a pond. It wasn't a pond. But this is far better. Unfortunately I didn't to get to spend as long as I would have liked there, though it's certainly being added to my list of perfect places for future photoshoots.
Photo Challenge Week 32 Landscape: Colourful
I got really lucky this week after spotting this location in some pictures on facebook and finding out that there was a small meadow of wildflowers not far from where I live. I took a whole bunch of shots considering we only stopped there for 20 minutes or so and I'll post the others later in the week, so watch this space.
4 years!
Everyday two people choose one person over every other, even when they know that the strength of a relationship is no certain thing. We stake our futures on a hope that when we're old and we've lived enough life that we'll still want to be together, still content with a choice we made when we were different people.
Marriage is not a guarantee of a happily ever after, it's the start of a story, not the grand finale. So I can't say if our marriage will make it when so many others don't, but I do know that no matter how much we've struggled and no matter how many obstacles life has thrown at us, that our relationship has always been a sanctuary, the easiest, most sturdy thing about my life, and if I had nothing but that, I know from experience of having nothing but that, that it would be enough to make me genuinely happy.
My husband has always been the one person I want to share my thoughts and time and triumphs with. He's the first person I want to see and speak to when something momentous or entirely uninteresting happens. He's the person against whom I measure every other person, he's the best one I know. And while I can't know if we'll always make each other happy as we always have, I know that I hope that we will, and if I had to go back and choose again, I'd always choose him.
I'm not a gambling person, but I do like our odds.
Photo Challenge Week 31 Portrait: Street Candid
Even though I always prefer to shoot candidly over formally, taking pictures of people when they're unaware of me, especially in a street setting makes me anxious. Photographing people without their permission is always a tricky thing to do, even if it does often make the most authentic imagery and so for this weeks 'Street Candid' theme I decided to photograph this lady, Bridgnorth's very own living statue. Rory got to give her some money and I got a semi-candid picture of someone who's job it is to stand perfectly still. A perfect combination if you ask me.
This Week - 31/07/2016
This week we went to a family birthday barbecue and basked in the lovely summer sun.
Photo Challenge Week 30 Artistic: Patterns
This week's challenge theme was patterns, and as seems to always be the case with the artistic themes, I assumed it would be far easier than it was. Patterns are everywhere, be they architectural, natural, incidental but everything I saw left me wanting. I didn't want to shoot something I'd photographed before and I didn't want to photograph a print of somebody else's patterned design. So while I was in the garden, grumbling to myself and considering skipping the week while removing fallen leaves from my last attack on the hedges to keep them in some semblance of order, I spotted the colourful litter of petals from my flowerbed and had a eureka moment. And what a pretty one, too!
© CHRISTINA-CLARE PHOTOGRAPHY