Project365 - Easing Back Into It...

Introduction

OK, OK... I know it's been too long. My eye infection really bothered me for about a week & was really affecting my vision. But enough is enough ! Time to get back on track. So without further ado...

Pat really loves tulips. Since we are able to get cut tulips relatively I expensively, we have agreed that they make a nice addition to our table. And since it's too darn cold outside to shoot, it's time to practice some strobism. You know, using my flash to provide extra lighting ?

The Setup

The table has excellent lighting, owing to the bay windows. It's a bright sunny day out, and we often have to close the blinds partway to keep from getting overwhelmed by the sunlight ! I know, nice problem to have... So this shoot has the vase about two feet in front of the partially-closed blinds. From there, I set up my Canon 60D on a Manfrotto tripod, with the trusty 25-105mm f/4 L lens. I also used the Cacyus v5 transmitters to take the Canon 430EX flash off the body. I wanted to experiment with different lighting strengths & positions.

The Photos

I took about 25 photos. They have the flash in various positions, and in varying strengths. Like the camera, I operate my flash in fully manual mode as well.

This first image was the test-shot. I set my aperture, ISO & shutter speed to create a "perfect exposure. As you can see, the lighting from the window is beautifully exposed, but the flowers & vase are dark. We need a "fill" light.

 

The second image has too much flash ! Set at 1/8 power, the flash is overwhelming the shot, creating harsh shadows in the leaves.

In the third shot, I have dialled back the flash to 1/16th, which is better, but still a little strong for my tastes.

This fourth shot has the powers knocked back to 1/32 strength, but I also moved the placement of the flash. The colours are still nice & bright, without overwhelming the scene.

In this final shot, I moved the flash further away, dialled it back up to 1/16 power, and have it at almost 90 degrees (on the left side) of the flowers. I think the lighting is OK, but not nearly as dramatic as the fourth shot.

 

 

Lessons Learned

I have a lot to learn about studio shooting. And this was shot with only two light sources - the ambient light from the windows and a fill flash. In the future, I'd like to pick up another flash to do multi-plane lighting. I also kept the setup really simple - no reflectors or other mods. About the only mod used was a diffuser on my flash to soften the fill lighting, which I included after the second shot.