2 Objects Workshop

Olá! =)

On the same day that we shot all those long exposure images from my previous post, we shot the ones below too.

We were asked to bring in two objects, one of which had to be translucent. We'd use them to understand the difference it makes to use direct light, diffused light, silver reflector, gold reflector, snoot, etc.

Unfortunately I haven't got hold of the original files (after they'd been uploaded onto a Facebook album for us from the group to have access to, the originals were lost), so I haven't got the camera's setting details to share with you on this occasion. However, after looking at the settings of another girl's pictures from my group, it's likely to be f/5.6 ISO 200, with varying shutter speeds.

I'm also choosing keep these in one post only.

The source of constant light is placed on the viewer's left.

On the first 2 photos, the light is direct, which causes the shadows to be quite harsh (the only difference between the 2 is the man's foot).

Then we added a sheet of translucent paper in front of the light which softens it and the shadows - it works much better!

On the next picture, a white card was used as a reflector on the right, making the light bounce back on the man's face.

On the 5th photo we used a black card to emphasise the shadows and increase contrast.

Then on pic 6, a golden reflector was used - you can tell by the warmer tones.

We substituted it with a silver reflector on pic 7.

On the last two, the translucent paper was substituted by a snoot (made by black card).

On the very last, a much tighter whole focuses the light in a much smaller spot.

I can remember I really struggled to get the focus right on the glass cat. The first few were just attempts to getting that correctly.

I also think I adjusted the white balance after the first two, because the colours seem better after the third.

To place the object on top of the black card was a suggestion made by a colleague in order to minimise reflection on the table, but I wasn't keen on it as a lot of the detail of the object is lost once it's against a dark background.

On the 7th image of the cat, a silver reflector was possibly used. Then it was time for the gold reflector, white and black card.

This exercise was very effective, as it became easy to understand the difference it makes when you diffuse light, use reflectors or black cards, etc. It already proved to be very useful, both for objects and for portraits.