I enjoy the static shoots and the studio is a great place to experiment with light placement, shadows and reflections. This time however, we didn't start indoors.
The tables are mushroom shaped so it made sense to take a little bit of a risk with them and photograph them outside. It was a nice sunset and I began by using the natural light (fading rapidly by then) to get some reflections of the sunset in the lacquered top. These worked well although the image is a little too dark to see the detailing on the table well.
From further out you can see more of the table leg and get a much better sense of the shape of the whole table although I still felt that it was a bit too dark. As these would be publicity/website photos, it was essential that the table was prominent in the image.
With that in mind I made use of the wireless flash......of to the side and was very pleasantly surprised at how the image came out! I was convinced that the correct exposure for the flash would lose the sunset but I was very happy to be proved wrong. I removed most of the colour from the grass in lightroom to accentuate the tables but left the rest as it was.
This was one of the last images taken outside and the sun had pretty much gone by now, we wanted to be a little bolder with the images so I left the flash itself in this shot and turned it up (otherwise the camera compensates for the flash being in shot and you barely see a thing). The flare on the lens makes an attractive star shape and I wanted to use it in the image.
With the light completely gone it was back to the studio to get detailed images for use on the website and in general publicity. Magazines often insist on white backgrounds in images sent to them so they are easier to place on the page. I used studio flashes mainly inside although we still reverted to the remote flash for a couple.
They're beautifully made pieces and here you can see all three. They vary in size and the one on the right is the largest. I always end up lying on the floor taking pictures of furniture but it's a flattering angle and certainly shows of the shape of these tables.
The coffee table is also a fantastic piece and looks great in the studio, it has a taper along it's length which made it hard to get the perspective looking right. However, the leg shape and curves along the sides meant we had a lot of fun creating shadows and trying different things.
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