With extra time to play this weekend, I decided to spend some of it in my photo studio. There is a still life setup that I have done before (back in film days) that's a bit of a lighting challenge. I wanted to try it again, but with a good digital camera and studio strobe lights this time. Four lights were used. One straight down with a 16 X 16" soft box for soft even table light, one camera left and high, hung from my ceiling light support grid, with a 32" octal soft box for a key light (natural light simulation), one directly behind and high, also on the ceiling mounted light support grid, with a snoot (cone shaped light restrictor) to outline the top of the bottle and cap, and a speedlite on a floor stand behind and lower than the table to light the wine in the bottle. I turned this rectangular light sideways, so taller than wide, to better illuminate the wine, but also to be hidden from the camera behind the wine bottle.
The table is just a table top that was never actually a table, so it has no legs. I think it came from a flea market many years ago, but without legs it stores easier. For the shoot, it was placed on top of a wooden stool, which proved to be too low. So I placed the stool on top of two 8" high "Apple Boxes" (a name coined by the movie industry many years ago). I had recently bought some square table cloths in several colors from Amazon that have proven handy as backgrounds for product shooting, and a burgundy one of these was used on the table for this shoot. They come in pairs, so having two has been a lifesaver, when something gets spilled on one of them, there is a spare second identical one to use for the shoot. I like the fabric, and may buy more of them in other colors soon.
So apples (McIntosh - my favorite) and grapes were used this time. The apples weren't in my original shoot many years ago, but did up the game a bit this time. It took a few trial shots to get the lighting positions and levels just right, but it was considerably easier to do than it was the last time with film technology and more primitive lighting. The wine in the frosted bottle with the shiny wine glasses less than shiny grapes, and shiny apples made lighting them a bit tricky, but I'm happy with the result. Like I said, it was just an experiment. The apples and grapes were returned to the kitchen, and the wine to the cabinet. It will likely be a "prop" forever, because I haven't consumed any wine in about 22 years. Heart problems have profound affects on diets.
Not really woodworking, but the stool and table top are wood, and I did use them in the photo. But it is what I was doing the latter part of this week. We celebrated Thanksgiving at home this year, with just a friend of my #3 son's over to enjoy the day with us. It had been planned to go to my #1 son's family for Thanksgiving, but several attending came down with the flu (not COVID), so we celebrated at home.
Charley
