Mood Lighting for Product Shots

Product photography is no easy task, much more when it's stylized product photography. But I've always enjoyed these kind of shoots because your subject will never complain no matter what you do with it.

Ok that was lame.

The truth is I like stylized product photography because it gives me the opportunity to explore and learn new and different lighting styles. The people I work with are very talented individuals, interior designers, stylists, and I've always looked at them as a good source of new knowledge and skill. Their artistry and creativity inspires me to continually push myself to learn new things and hopefully bring myself to another level. "The only way to get better is to surround yourself with people better than you", the masters of this craft say.

So for this shoot, our team wanted some mood and drama. "Texture and contrast is the key" that's what they told me.

I lit this using 5 studio lights. 2 on each side and 1 overhead on a boom. The first light I set up was the overhead light. It had a grid attached to it and pointed at the couch. I had it just high enough to get the hotspot on the couch and have light spills and fall off throughout the frame. Once I was happy with it, I over exposed for the hotspot just a bit so that this will be the highest point in my contrast. Oh by the way, my shutter was set at the highest sync speed. I wasn't letting any available light in. Next light to come was for the plant and the side table with the basket lamp on it. I didn't have a softbox big enough for the desired softness I wanted so I just bounced the light onto the white wall at camera left just outside the frame. To prevent light spill beyond the side table, I used a black cardboard as gobo. Next I lit the round stool with a small softbox then placed it real close to the stool just outside of the frame. On the other side of the frame, I had a light on a floor stand pointed towards the basket on the floor. I had a sock on my light's standard reflector and flagged it so I won't spill light towards the orange chair. Last I had a gridded light aimed towards the back wall and floor to have separation between that and the orange chair.

I set my aperture at f/11 to get good depth of field for this shot. I can't remember the exact power settings of my lights, I chimped for this shot and everything was seasoned to taste.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

Cross Lighting for Texture

Please allow me to start with a disclaimer before I go any further. I am in no way endorsing any of the brands and products seen in this photo. The image shown is a product of an assignment given to the photographer. It was agreed upon by the photographer and his client that images produced from the shoot cannot be used in any commercial way except for the photographer's portfolio and other means of self promotion. Such image is simply being used as an example for demonstration purposes.

Whew!

So I was assigned to shoot these beauty products in group, and our very stylish stylist cleverly used rose petals as background where our products would lie on to have that pampered sort of thing (get it?.....bed of roses?).

To enhance the feel of the set up, I decided I wanted to capture the texture of the petals, have subtle yet obvious contrast and direct pronounced light unto the products.

Obviously, this is a top shot on a table and for this, I used two Forestos for cross lighting. I placed my lights across each end of the table, placed them just outside of the frame and leveled them. The one on the right was slightly lower just so lighting wouldn't be too stiff. Both lights had standard reflectors on. Though I wanted to isolate light, I decided against using a snoot or a honeycomb since I wanted to spill some light through out the frame to let those petals pop out. Instead, I put on socks for both my lights to soften it up a bit and flagged them to control the spill. I dialled down my aperture to f/11 to enhance shadow and contrast and didn't let any available light in by setting my shutter speed to maximum sync speed.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

　

Small Details Count!

It's vacation time again!  Where ever you're going to or where ever you are right now, I sure hope you didn't forget to bring your camera (duh?!).

By travelling, we create memories, and by shooting, we preserve those memories. Aside from shooting your friends or family with that landmark on the background, or shooting that breathtaking sunset, it's also a good idea to shoot the smaller details.

Keep your eyes peeled for small details that would describe the places you've been to. Look for colors, patterns, anything that would speak about the character of the place.

Hope this helps, happy shooting, stay safe!

Quickie Portrait

There are those times that you just feel lucky and blessed because you know that you won't have a hard time with the shoot. When your shooting someone who's so accustomed to being in front of the camera and can easily provide you with the shot you want, you know that you just gotta give something in return.....like maybe not take too much of their time?

Our subject for this shoot is a businesswoman and is someone who modeled for a living. So in terms of art directing her, we had our work cut out for us. The challenge was on us to make the shoot as swift as possible since we know that this model-turned-entrepreneur is a busy person. And it wasn't a surprise that she was cooperative, patient and professional in every way, thus, we wanted to do her a favor by not keeping her for long.

For quick shoots, I would rather spend more time thinking about how to compose the frame than setting up my lights. So for this, I didn't bother to put modifiers for my light to soften it up. With just the standard reflector on the head, I placed my light towards the right of my subject (camera left), pointed it away from her, set it at half power, tilted it upwards and bounced it off the ceiling. The result was this big, soft light. I opened up my aperture to blur the background and dragged the shutter a bit to let that warm tone of light in the background.

Next time your in for a quick shoot and your brolly isn't big enough to produce soft light or don't have that luxury of time to assemble your big softbox, try bouncing your light, this can give you soft light without the aid of your modifiers.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!

Single, Simple

I am a huge fan of single light portraiture. I not only admire it but I have been practicing this (whenever possible) for more than a decade now.

I have been using this technique either as key, fill or to light the background. The simplicity is what draws me to it.

If you're like me who started in this industry with just a single strobe to boot, you'll probably find yourself biting fingernails during shoot briefs. Always worrying if you'll be able to light for a frame properly with just one light.

Can you? The obvious answer is a resounding YES!

Whenever I work with just one light I always assess first what my ambient light is. This helps me decide on how to use my single light, whether for key, fill, or for lighting the background.

In this photo, I used it as my key light. The ambient light in the restaurant was too weak to use as key, but perfect for that "mood" lighting shot.

To light for this, I placed my single strobe at our subject's right (camera left). I decided that side lighting would be appropriate, I wanted to create shadows to add to that moody feel of the shot. I used a 36" white umbrella in shoot through position and set my strobe at its lowest power. I dragged the shutter to let those pin lights in and that cool blue light at the back was from outside (we were shooting at dusk).

I would actually suggest that you always come to a shoot prepared for anything, equipment wise that is, but if there's a limit to what you can bring, don't panic. Assess your location well, pick a spot where you have enough ambient light to work with, a background that will go well with the feel of the shot, and use these elements to create that shot.

Hope this helps, happy shooting!.

Mixing It Up Some More!

Some years back, I used to work closely with this client who's obsessed with natural lighting. She would encourage (require) me not to bring any lights on assignments except for the camera and a reflector. And, to achieve that natural lighting look, our shoot skeds would only be during the golden hours.

Those days were fun, and frankly, I've learned quite a lot of natural lighting techniques....but at the same time, it was nerve wracking. You never know if the situation (lighting condition) will work. And as a freelancer, I am only as good as my last shoot. My next assignment would depend on how my last shoot turns out.

So to put my mind at peace, I've always managed to sneak in at least a single light in my gear bag....just in case.

For this assignment, I needed to shoot a portrait of the owner of a coffee shop. Bearing in mind that the look of the shot has to be naturally lit, I placed our coffee lover beside a window. This will be my key light. The first challenge I faced was that the light coming in was too harsh...quick fix? I simply pulled down the blinds to diffuse that harsh sunlight and the white table worked in my favor too since it provided fill.

As far as lighting our subject was concerned, I was good to go! But you already know that that is just half the story.

Because of the strong light coming in through the window (even with the blinds down), my exposure setting for our subject caused too much contrast that the background was 2 or 2 1/2 stops underexposed.

The obvious solution that I went with was to light it with strobe, still bearing in mind though that I had to somehow make it appear naturally lit.

To achieve this, I lit the background bare bulb, and pointed my strobe towards the ceiling. I placed the light behind our subject, camera right just outside the frame and set the power of my strobe to match the intensity of my (natural) key light. Because I was spreading light by bouncing if off the walls and ceiling, I was able to soften up the light. Also, it caught the color of the wall which gave a warm colot temp as a result. I repositioned the light some more so it will evenly light the background and let some light spill onto my subject's left shoulder and face.

Though my client figured that I mixed natural and artificial light for this, she gave this a nod and made its way to print.

Hope this helps. Happy shooting!

29 Hours in Davao

Finally I was able to get myself to do that long over due hard drive inventory the other day. It's a good habit I'm forcing myself into (with great difficulty!) just so I can properly archive my files.

I chanced upon these photos which I took over a year ago when I was sent to Davao, Mindanao. I was in that city for less than a day and a half to take a portrait of a business man which my client was doing a story on.

After the day's assignment, I decided to heed our hotel front desk officer's advice to check out their city park. I sensed the pride they have for this park so I went for a night stroll there.

And they were right! It's such a beautiful park! Lots of trees, clean, fresh air, no street urchins, clean, proper security measures at the gate, good balance of pavement and ground, clean, lots of benches...did I mention that it's clean?

For these photos, I just used the usual night photography technique. Set my ISO at 400, rested my cam on a bench to steady it, dragged the shutter to let low light in and chose f8 to get good depth of field.

Next time your in Davao, visit the city park and see why the Davaoenos take so much pride in this park. Oh and....don't forget your camera.

Happy shooting!