First shots in new home Studio

Fraser Euan White

Fraser Euan White

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Fraser White
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After a break from photography for a number of years a couple of friends re-ignited my interest again. The garage at home was being used as a store room so this was emptied and a small home studio is currently being built in there. Inspiration gained from Gavin Hoey on Youtube and some Godox flash units ordered; the below is the first picture out of the home studio. It was one of my friends guitars who got me back into photography again.

Photo was taken with a Lencarta Softbox to camera left feathered towards the camera to light the Guitar body and a grid spot light above to add drama?

Guitar-227 by Fraser White, on Flickr


32422543664_6ce501bb32_b.jpg
 
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Well done session where, IMO, the best feature
is the specular highlights control. Rich tone and
great details. (y)
 
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Could you bounce some light in the eyes and neck?

A white paper could do just fine… but not too close!
 
Kodiak Qc said:
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Could you bounce some light in the eyes and neck?

A white paper could do just fine… but not too close!
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Definitely - it would improve the shot 'no end'. Was practising the background lighting, I purchased a storm grey paper roll and just testing to see if I could make it almost black and different shades in between. The studio is a small single garage and reducing 'light spill' was a major concern.

Agree with your point completely about the lighting on the subject.

Slightly altered background: (Speedlight fired at 1/64 power zoomed to 85mm directly behind subject)

Manequin-275 by Fraser White, on Flickr
 
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Looking forward to testing all the different light modifiers and flash set-ups - I'm new to this studio photography so must practice with everything to learn the differences they all make and try to develop a 'style'. All feedback is so welcome as it's a steep learning curve - will post certain results here to keep the thread updated and hopefully it will help others learning as well.

Must post a picture of the studio as well!
 
Tonight's project was a watch - how hard can that be!

Damned hard is the answer! Lots of messing around at something I wasn't sure how to capture. Should have really had everything cleaned beforehand - would love some advice on shooting jewellery in general; thanks in advance (y)

Watch-294 by Fraser White, on Flickr
 
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Very little info is needed to recognize the object;
so the DoF could have been much shallower…
as long as the face and the logo stay sharp.

…well worth the effort!
 
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I see…
  • rich tones
  • low amount of hot spots
  • cool "not white" partition
  • the pen is not pointing at a relevant place
    and should, IMO, have rested on the table
    or else as it does not take any part in printed
    scores
  • USO (unidentified set object!), maybe a loupe,
    is not connected to the rest of the shot… it
    could go over the paper a bit
  • the pipe's position and presence do not con-
    tribute positively to the composition
It is not because it is part of a picture that an object must
be entirely IN the take.

I think you're getting somewhere, Fraser! (y)
 
Thanks for the great feedback Kodiac (y)

USO - it is a piece from a telescope but was supposed to look like an ink well! (Obviously isn't working!)
The pen was raised to try and add a bit of 'dimentionality' to the shot but again doesn't appear to do this - the thoughts of others is so important as you have an idea in your head and it works for you but the more important thing is it has to work for everyone else - if it doesn't then its no good?
Any suggestions where the pipe may be better positioned?

thanks again,

Fraser
 
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The Music score is by Johann Sebastian Bach and he was a very famous pipe smoker and often wrote music about the joys of pipe smoking - hence the inclusion in the photograph?
 
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Wow, great colours, tasteful falloffs,
almost masterful high key control
but minor layout mistakes IMVHO.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
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Wow, great colours, tasteful falloffs,
almost masterful high key control
but minor layout mistakes IMVHO.
Click to expand...


Cheers Kodiac Qc - hopefully the very gratefully received advice you have given in this thread is making a noticeable difference to my images - thanks again :)
 
Kodiak Qc said:
Wow, great colours, tasteful falloffs, almost masterful high key control but minor layout mistakes IMVHO.
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ADDENDUM

…but you desperately need an 85 PC lens!
 
David Street said:
Great images, love the watch, what lens did you use to photograph it?
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Hi David - thank you for your kind comments - i used the Nikon 24-85mm f3.5 to f4.5. if you click on any of the pics it will go to Flickr where the full EXIF is available.

Would love a 85mm PC lens but can't afford it at present :-(
 
Was planning on shooting something completely different today but unfortunately the props didn't arrive!

Decided to take some pictures of a model I made numerous years ago of the iconic Ducati 916 Superbike. The shot was lit using three flashes; The main light is a Godox 360 in a small softbox slightly behind the subject and above. The second light is a Godox 360 fitted with a grid and green gel pointing at a storm grey backdrop and the fill light on the subject is an SB600 fired into a silver lastolite reflector to bounce light back at the subject:

Ducati Model -445 by Fraser White, on Flickr
 
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Fraser Euan White said:
Was planning on shooting something completely different today but unfortunately the props didn't arrive!

Decided to take some pictures of a model I made numerous years ago of the iconic Ducati 916 Superbike. The shot was lit using three flashes; The main light is a Godox 360 in a small softbox slightly behind the subject and above. The second light is a Godox 360 fitted with a grid and green gel pointing at a storm grey backdrop and the fill light on the subject is an SB600 fired into a silver lastolite reflector to bounce light back at the subject:

Ducati Model -445 by Fraser White, on Flickr
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Nice.
I do miss my 996 :(
 
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These two examples are meant to inspire you somehow.


The LEGO bike was for a christmas catalogue for a national
toy distributor. Low positioned light sources were used.


Lego%20Bike%200331pp.jpg


​
For this car (my son's) both, low and high positions, were used in this
exercise for my son.


0405pp.jpg


​
 
Fantastic set! Definitely got your mojo back!

Love the simplicity of the watch shot, agree that a shallower DOF might work better with this though.

Would love to see the pullbacks for these as having a dabble in the unfamiliar territory of studio photography myself. Some great inspiration here though.

Look forward to seeing some more of your work!
 
Fraser Euan White said:
Any better?
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Oh yes… but not quite there yet. On more detail…
when the shot was taken, the light ratios were not
right for that kind of scene.

Because the light in front of the étiquette was too
weak, the colour contaminated the lettering. Now,
I suggest to remedy by masking the étiquette and
neutralize the remaining colour with a WB tweak.
Fraser Euan White said:
Also did this tonight:
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Wooooah! That's a nice idea. May I suggest to mask
the red and blue roughly to tweak up the saturation
and contrast? In working with the sliders, be careful
not to over do it.

This dynamic shot should look better if less centred
in the frame.


Fraser, man your good! (y)(y)(y)
 
Kodiak Qc said:
Oh yes… but not quite there yet. On more detail…
when the shot was taken, the light ratios were not
right for that kind of scene.

Because the light in front of the étiquette was too
weak, the colour contaminated the lettering. Now,
I suggest to remedy by masking the étiquette and
neutralize the remaining colour with a WB tweak.


Wooooah! That's a nice idea. May I suggest to mask
the red and blue roughly to tweak up the saturation
and contrast? In working with the sliders, be careful
not to over do it.

This dynamic shot should look better if less centred
in the frame.


Fraser, man your good! (y)(y)(y)
Click to expand...


Great feedback - thank you (y)
 
Mogsy said:
Would love to see the pullbacks for these as having a dabble in the unfamiliar territory of studio photography myself. Some great inspiration here though.

Look forward to seeing some more of your work!
Click to expand...

Hi Bill, thanks for the kind comments (y) What are 'pullbacks'?
 
Fraser Euan White said:
Hi Bill, thanks for the kind comments (y) What are 'pullbacks'?
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You are very welcome.

I only learnt the term myself recently [emoji1]

It's a shot of the whole set up and lighting. I have personally found them very useful the ones I have seen on here.
 
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