It's been a very busy few weeks at school recently, what with Nativity fast approaching and inspection just put to bed so there's been little time for fun and hobbies! With that in mind I'm going to do my best to keep the blog going but might have to accept that it's going to be difficult for a bit.
I shot a studio session for a friend a few weeks ago and it was a bit of a new challenge. He's started his own bespoke furniture company...
...and made some amazing pieces, his nesting tables have already made an appearance on here and I was very happy with how those came out. His two new items are a table and sideboard, both of which appeared at the Arundel Art Trail.
The challenging part of photographing these was their size! It's one matter lighting three small tables, and a completely different kettle of fish lighting a large table and sideboard. There were going to be problems with shadows, uneven lighting and all sorts so I was a little bit nervous about this one.
The difficult bit was making sure that the whole item was lit, and it was really complicated to get the front and sides lit without casting shadows all over the place. It took some clever placing of reflectors and umbrellas to bounce the flash around evenly and when all else failed we just had to have people stood on chairs and contorting about to get it right.
There is definitely an argument for hiring lights for the next shoot, it will take a lot of the guesswork and experimentation out of the shoot and allow me to concentrate on taking photos. It's hard to find lighting hire around here but this company...
...have what looks like a decent set-up for a lot less than I'd expect. I'm a bit nervous about buying it just yet (the flash units aren't all that powerful) but it's worth bearing in mind if I have to factor in driving to and from London to pick up lights.
I'm happy with the results from this shoot, it's great fun using a studio and always very good to work outside of my comfort zone.
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