Here are the first results I got after playing around with the eBay wireless remotes

that I just received. Actually the remotes themselves have a lesser merit in these photos, since the makeshift light tent that I cobbled together should take most of the credit. I used a couple of white poster boards, one curving gently behind the object, another curving overhead, and a large sketchpad on one side.

 

I used a single light (strobe) in this case, the afore-mentioned Sigma 500DG Super, but the remotes allowed me a great deal of freedom in positioning it. These images are shot through a layer of poster board. They are mostly an exercise in obtaining diffuse light from the strobe rather than the illustrated authority on how to light small objects. Hence they don’t have much artistic value as far as I’m concerned. I just wanted to find out the extent to which relatively small, shiny objects can be lighted with a single strobe, and with a minimum of reflections and shadows. I would say I did pretty good for a first-timer.

 

These next two images of red eggs are part of a series I took, with light coming from different angles. The first one gets a slight shadow and also very minor reflections of the bowl on the white board. This is due on the most part to the fact that I fired the flash directly into the bowl, from the left side, using only a piece of tissue paper as a diffuser. The second image has only a hint of a shadow on the left side, due to firing the flash through the sheet of poster board on the right.

 

The next one is of my cheap phone. I’m pretty pleased of how this has turned out. Again, very slight shadow on the left. I’m more troubled by the bright patch on the lower right corner but that helps the image from becoming too flat. On the whole, I’m satisfied with how I suppressed a great deal of potential reflection, especially considering the silver surface of the phone.

 

Now this watch is shot from above, once again through the white board. There are more shadows on the lower side but they are soft and, I hope, bearable. They, too, give some depth to the image.

 

Finally, here’s a more abstract image of a tray filled with pancakes. This photo is obviously altered in Photoshop but the original was a bit bland. This could have turned better but at least I like the effect I got when firing the flash (once again) through the poster board. I am less pleased with the huge reflection on the glass handle in the foreground which greatly imbalances the image.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Canon EOS 30D, Lighting, Macro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.