A little bit of table top photography.

One of the things I did fairly well at the Alberta College of Art and Design was table top and product photography.  I didn't pursue it as I found portraiture and working with people to be more what I was in to at that time.  Still I know how to make products look good and this skill has stayed with me.  These last two days before school have been spent with my boy's and preparing their supplies for the start of the new year tomorrow.  As such I found that I was working downstairs in the studio both evenings photographing a couple of items I found around the house.

September 1.  Last year after the circus a local furniture store next to the big top was handing out gifts to the children.  These decorative clocks were the prize and they each have one.  Last night I was looking for something to photograph and saw it on the shelf and decided it would make a nice subject.  Simple lighting, one softbox with egg crates and a black background were used.  Shot with the Canon 7D at 1/125 sec, f5.6 at 100 ISO.

September 2.  I came across this bottle of perfume bottle on the shelf.  I immediately had an idea of how I want to shoot it.

Here is the set up that achieved the above result.  I wanted a different background and remembered I had used my silver reflector as one before.  The first set up I had it pulled tight and when I was looking at it I did not like the wrinkles and straights creases in it from the folding when storing it. I loosened one corner and pulled it a little giving me a much more pleasing crease.  Setting the bottle on a mirror I slid it up and down until I achieved the position I wanted.  I brought my Alien Bee with an XS Chimera soft box to the left and slightly behind.  I then clamped a piece of white mat board to a light stand to add a soft highlight on the right side.  The 7D was set at 100 ISO, 1/125 sec and f13.  Bellow is the set up.

Finishing the final shot I downloaded to my computer and then fixed up some minor spots in photoshop before uploading it to my iPhone.  Using Snapseed and the center focus filter I darkened down the outer edges slightly and added the frame. I am really pleased how this turned out.