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Gary
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This was not a planned photo at all, that's not to say I would have done it any differently.


I had to purchase some new workwear on my day off. It occurred to me when I unpacked them I should try take a photo of the boot.


No idea what I was thinking with the books as they have no real relevance to Plasterers boots other than I needed to prop the product up.


They were to hand so I used them.


After looking on the web there seems to be loads of advertising type photos of footwear that have elements in the frame that don't really relate to the intended use of the footwear.


Back to the photo.

I think most of you are aware I generally use one light in a softbox plus a reflector. Which I did on this occassion.


Wanting to try and use another light I added this speedlight onto the background from below. I did try it from the right side but couldnt get that to look right.


I took a few photo's with just the softbox and used a piece of light card close up to bounce light into different areas then masked them in after.


Added some contrast in post too.


The background light was a faff really as I had to use a yungnuo trigger in the top of the godox trigger to fire it.


Anyways these boots look worse for wear after a day under the trowel :)


I am putting this up to ask whether I went about this correctly or not ? Is a softbox the right modifier for this type of product ? Did I over light it ?

Gaz

cPDqRtN.jpg
 
I think that's a good job - I'd be happy with that. (y)

The only thing that I would change is to have the background lit just a tiny bit more to the left so there is some lighter red at the back of the shoe to 'balance' it a bit.

If that's your first attempt at doing it I'd say a big well done. :)
 
Hi Trevor
Sky said:
The only thing that I would change is to have the background lit just a tiny bit more to the left so there is some lighter red at the back of the shoe to 'balance' it a bit.
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That's a good point.
Sky said:
If that's your first attempt at doing it I'd say a big well done
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Well I guess it's not the first time trying to take still life photos but adding another light into the photo is something i'm not used to doing.

Thanks for taking the time to leave some feedback.

Gaz
 
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Look great Gary- as said maybe a small fill light - left of shot would balance the image I personally would add a little more light to the Boot & Books - but that's just me :)

Keep at it buddy :)

Les
 
Very nice image overall.

I would have used a softbox as well, so I think it was the right choice. But I think it might have been a bit small and too close... Many think you can just move a modifier closer to make it "larger/softer," but that also significantly affects the rate of falloff. In this case the left/upper left is a bit hot and the opposite side a bit dark IMO. Due to the nature of what is in the scene and the style of shot, you probably could have just moved the softbox farther away and let the light be a bit harder.

Personally, I probably would have started with more of a clamshell type lighting setup.... softbox overhead, slightly frontal, probably angled to follow the shoe. But IDK that it would have been any better nor that it would have suited your goal as well/better. And instead of only masking in multiple images of bounce fill, consider taking multiple images with the softbox to simulate a multi light setup (e.g. adding rim lighting).
 
Lez325 said:
Keep at it buddy
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I'm trying pal. Thanks for the feedback.

sk66 said:
Very nice image overall.
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Thanks Steven. Thats gives me confidence to keep trying.

sk66 said:
Many think you can just move a modifier closer to make it "larger/softer," but that also significantly affects the rate of falloff.
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Yes that was my train of thought.
The softbox is an 80x80 and was placed maybe 2ft from the scene "at most"

sk66 said:
consider taking multiple images with the softbox to simulate a multi light setup (e.g. adding rim lighting).
Click to expand...
Well I never thought of doing that. Somehting to try. Shame the boots are a mess now !

Tbh I was thinking of buying a larger octabox 120cm as I don't anything like that plus I managed to sell my Canon 580's so I am going to get a Godox speedlight to go along with my ad200.


Thanks for the crit you all seem to come up with things I don't see or think of.

Gaz
 
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A 120 will give you the ability to provide soft light for a larger area, from a longer distance, and with less falloff across/through the scene... that can be very useful. But don't forget the silks, they are a lot cheaper to make a large diffusion panel with... it's just a pain to do anything from overhead with them.

The size/distance thing with lighting is a lot like the "zoom with your feet" thing is with a prime lens... a lot of people advocate/regurgitate it; but it doesn't really work out to be nearly that simple.
 
Looks good! I recently filmed a product photographer friend making a tutorial about boots. FWIW he was using:
- large softbox above to the side as key light for the boots
- overhead spotlight with grid for the surface on which they are placed
- gridded strip on the other side, in this case used a gel too with that
- small pieces of gauze held in position where needed to shade any specular highlights.
 
@newbie1

Hi Tim.

Thanks for the feedback. Some great info there. It seems there are many ways to light any particular item and much depends on what you want to and don't want to highlight on your chosen subject.

Where was the tuturial going to be being used ? Is your friend a tutor ?

Gaz
 
Hi Gaz, I'm not sure where he is going to post it. He's been a pro since 1984 and does tutorials and workshops on the side.
 
newbie1 said:
Looks good! I recently filmed a product photographer friend making a tutorial about boots. FWIW he was using:
- large softbox above to the side as key light for the boots
- overhead spotlight with grid for the surface on which they are placed
- gridded strip on the other side, in this case used a gel too with that
- small pieces of gauze held in position where needed to shade any specular highlights.
Click to expand...
That's a scrim.
Interesting, we all have different ways of doing things and, generally, all methods are valid.

But this isn't really a boot at all, in the sense that it's just a found object that made for a good subject - rather than the normal sales type photo of a boot.
I did a blog post on this subject myself once, here it is https://www.lencarta.com/studio-lighting-blog/shooting-the-shoe/#.Vjx2WCsl-hE
 
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