Object photography. (Objects)
For the sake of ease I decided to combine two weeks worth of work into one blog entry.
For the first week we were split into groups of four (Myself, Elliot, Sarah and Lauren). These groups of four would also become our set build groups. The task set was to bring in one object and photograph it. Time would be short and we were limited to just fifteen minutes with the lighting and equipment. I chose to photograph a standing cat statue I had brought it from home. I chose a simple set up with one light, lighting the object from the left with a snoot attached. I indented to create very dramatic shadows down one side of the image as well as a long shadow produced by the statue itself. Below is my final image.
For the second weeks task we had to produce four images. Two using studio lighting and two using none studio (One natural and one Artificial). For the studio set up I drew on inspiration from the week before and decided to use a different approach to using the snoot. I mounted the light and snoot onto a large boom stand and lit the object from directly above. The object I had chosen this week was a silver (and very reflective) candlestick holder. With time once again being quite limited and spending quite a while setting up my light to avoid any reflections, I was only able to produce one studio lit shot.
However from the images I produced I then chose what I felt was the best. I corrected a few things in Photoshop, such as contrasts and then uploaded my first image of the day to Flickr.
For my first none studio shot, I found some lights at the bottom of the clock in Blackburn town center. There were multi coloured spotlights and I set my candlestick holder in the middle of them. I used a wide aperture (f 5.6) to produce a very shallow depth of field; this produces quite a sharp area at the top of the candlestick holder with the rest seeming blurred and quite mysterious. Which is exactly what I envisioned as I didn’t want anyone recognizing the lights from Blackburn.
For my final image of the day. I had to use natural light, however by this point in the day light was beginning to fade, so I quickly found some leaves that I liked the look at a took the picture. It was fairly quick and simple and the end result is nothing spectacular. However I do like the contrast between the natural and artificial as well as he metallic silver and the autumn tones.
A big thank you goes to Lisa for letting my play with her Nikon today. Being a Cannon man I found it very easy to use and great to work with. However I cant see myself changing brands anytime soon, thanks Lisa.
