Flash - Behind the scenes

[Don Hoey]

Ian,

Great story

Originally Posted by Ian

p.s. Duncan, no thanks on the flash after this project!!!!!!!!!

Flash on yours very subtle, did not realise you had used it.

No pics of the pie or crisps then.

Don

[Don Hoey]

An early consideration of this image was controlling the flow of beer at the critical moment. I enjoyed the contents of one tin last night after drilling a hole in the rear and taping a funnel to it. The can and funnel were attached to a support rod using part of the drilling machine guard ( just the right diameter ) and a clamp from dial indicator stand. Most of this is very visible in pic 1.

Lighting consideration. Foxy's brief was that black background must be used. To a large extent this determined the style of lighting. Light needed to be kept off the background. I actually spent more time in trying to work out how to lead from light foreground to dark background than anything else. Ians pub trips with camera came to mind here as that seemed an ideal solution. A hard light glancing past the camera and lighting the glass was chosen. Pic 1 shows the set up and the Metz 45CL3 in the background. It was aimed just in front of the centre of the glass so eliminating any light on the background. With the glass being lit from behind it was necessary to illuminate the text on the front of the glass and very front of the crisp packet. SB80-DX with Stofen diffuser was used to achieve this with power set to 1/2 to have no other real influence. Pic 2 shows the position. The beer can really needed a touch of light so the softbox was used. This was placed above but well in front, so it was actually aimed at the floor in front of the set up so the can is only struck by flash fall off.

With the lights positioning determined the next problem was shielding the lens front element from the 45CTL flash. 55mm macro lens was chosen for its deeply recessed front element but there was still a serious risk of flare. This could have been solved by a black flag but I have a bellows lenshood left from my Bronica days. I also have a set of Cokin filter adaptor rings so problem solved. Pic 3 gives an idea how effective this is.

So to the picture itself. Test exposures to confirm lighting. The glass was then filled to within 1 inch of the top. Stevie then poured beer into the funnel and I pressed the shutter at the appropriate moment. Only one take required.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

Firstly the glasses shots was supposed to be a little more elaborate but things did not go to plan and running out of time for the day I had to produce something.

I had planned the two glasses with a bottle of Veuve Champagne behind and I realized I needed to light the glasses directly from above the sparkle their cuts evenly. I tried a few positions of the light stand but on the dining room table right next to the subject worked best evenly lighting the rim, which I believe adds to the quality of the image. The Champagne bottle was unevenly light because of this lighting setup and I sought to light the bottle more evenly using a second flash but everything I tried induced unwanted flash artifacts on the glasses. Two back flags were used to control reflections on the glasses from other sources and I even waited until dark and shot this with internal lights off to minimize any reflections on the glasses themselves.

There we have it simple as... lighting directly from above (pic2) and two black flags either side (Pic1)

I am going to have another try at the full composition later today

[Canis Vulpes]

I have now finished my shot as planned. Mainly a product shot for the glasses but a bottle of veuve champagne with orange label to provide interest. I won the champagne in the draw at a corporate exhibition so this was a no cost photo as per the brief with Don. Motivation is on the glasses and the champagne bottle is intentionally blurred

Two lessons learned and figured out as below.

1 - Sync Speed
Upto now I have been using aperture priority for my flash shots and some ambient light was contributing to the overall exposure of the scene. The shot with the glasses was very difficult with regard to controlling stray light from the window only 1m to the left of the setup. Yesterday (above) I used black flags and near darkness to achieve the result and today I experimented with sync speed. The sync speed is the fastest the camera can 'sync' with the flash output and the higher reduces any effect from ambient light such as reflections from windows, walls and other objects in the room. A test shot of the scene manual mode 1/250 f13 produced a totally black image, even in RAW with +2EV nothing was evident as a reflection. Therefore I could continue with the shoot in daylight without interference.

2 - Snoot
The construction of a snoot (pictured) allows a beam of light to be finely directed to the label and by limiting the diameter of the snoot to the vertical height of the label only label is lit and no artifacts are present on the bottle or glasses. The power of the secondary flash through the snoot was set 1/16 although starting at full power and lowered toward 1/16.

Put all that together and include above rounds off a weekend of flash photography where two major lessons have been learned.

Please ignore champagne in the glasses this was something extra but did not workout.

Final result here
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...hp?photo=11266

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

2 - Snoot
The construction of a snoot (pictured)

love it.

Don

[Lello]

Great bit of improvisation Foxy

[Jon Sharp]

Having been following this thread for a while and impressed with some of the results achieved - today I can throw my hat into the ring.

Not normally a fan of flash for still life or any other kind of shots and would if possible always favour natural light or a full studio set up.

Lacking both today, I was forced to utilise a flash gun to capture some food shots for an impending website catalogue. Whilst the subject matter isn't partucarly inspiring I was pleased with the final results from what was a very crude configeration!

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Jon Sharp

Having been following this thread for a while and impressed with some of the results achieved - today I can throw my hat into the ring.

Jon,

This image made me visit your web site. Sorry for not visiting earlier.
You have some really good stuff there and I am surprised we have not seen more of you posting in this thread.

This set up has worked better in the Apricot shot, probably as that has the colour of the fruit. I feel lightening the background would give it a lift.

Don

[Jon Sharp]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Jon,

This image made me visit your web site. Sorry for not visiting earlier.
You have some really good stuff there and I am surprised we have not seen more of you posting in this thread. Don

Probably becuase I favour natural light or full studio set up - the flash gun in this instance was a last resort.

I have been enthralled by your expertise in this subject.

Sadly, running a shop and a photography business doesn't give me as much time to play at present - I have less opportunites to visit this forum these days.

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Thanks Don.

I agree this set up has worked better in the Apricot shot, (prunes aren't an exciting subject!), probably as that has the colour of the fruit. I feel lightening the background would give it a lift.

Don

I preferred the apricot version - hence the choice for my website! - There was also a shot of just the plastic containers which I liked, I'll probably keep that for one of my leaflets.

Interesting point on the backdrop - I had thought about a different colour background, but decided it would detract from the subject. I discarded the shots with the lighter background feeling that this version drew the viewer towards the fruit at the front. I also think that many of my previous images had plain backdrops and thought just for a change...

Jon

[Canis Vulpes]

I noted in the forum about a freebie in 02.12.06 edition of AP, page 2 has an advert for the Nikon D80 and when I looked it I thought.. I have to do something like this (see pic1) This advert supplied the inspiration for the shot. The shot is clearly lit from both sides and little from above and the DX motive is clearly illuminated as is Nikon.

Now for my shot...

The camera and lens had to be put on a mini tripod so to lean back enough to show 'Nikon'. Using SB 28's (recently acquired) I lit both sides (flashes A and B) but flash B also lights the 'Nikon' and 'D2X' legends. Both these flashes are set to 1/2 power. The 28-70 lens has a macro setting so I was able to get close at 50-60mm-ish focal length. to get all in focus minimum aperture had to be used (f22). The whole thing looked a little flat so flash C that was just used to trigger slaves at 1/128 manual was positioned and set to 1/32 to illuminate the gold ED badge. This flash was set to max zoom of 105mm and only lights the badge.

Note no brollys, diffusers or relectors have been used for this shot only three flashes positioned and set. Anyone could have done this with a little thought and planning.

So...whats stopping you!