Among other things I’m very fortunate to be able to capture images of the floral creations my wife creates for her clients. Of course, I want them to be portrayed in the best possible light and look as natural as possible.
To enable this, I prefer using available light such as the clear light of sunrise on a cloud-free morning, the harsh mid-day light (sometimes), or the warm, hazy light, of the afternoon and evening. This tutorial will concentrate on only using natural light.
I have windows on two sides of my loft that face east/west. So, the position of the sun gives me quite a bit of flexibility. Depending on the subject I can create interesting scenarios that take advantage of this free lighting: light that, when intelligently used, can look every bit as good as controlled light.
One of the benefits of working with natural light is that we are not bound by the Inverse-square Law: the law of lighting that states the power of the light will be inversely proportional to the square of the distance. So, if we take a distance of 2 and square it, we get 4, the inverse of which would be 1/4 or rather, a quarter of the original power - not half. We can go into this at another time when hardware is involved.
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Anyway. With this is mind here is my “studio”. Nothing fancy.
I like to use Elmer’s tri-fold and single sheet Foam board in all black and all white as my main backdrop when shooting small items like a vase of flowers, an arrangement, or a still life. Depending on the light this arrangement is placed either on a couple of barstools, or the dining table: it’s a quick and easy portable photo studio…
For larger items I use a black muslin, or roll paper, backdrop draped over the dining table. I have two large multi-surface InterFit collapsible Reflector/Diffusers that I use to corral the light where I want it.
I like to use Elmer’s tri-fold and single sheet Foam board in all black and all white as my main backdrop when shooting small items like a vase of flowers, an arrangement, or a still life. Depending on the light this arrangement is placed either on a couple of barstools, or the dining table: it’s a quick and easy portable photo studio…
For larger items I use a black muslin, or roll paper, backdrop draped over the dining table. I have two large multi-surface InterFit collapsible Reflector/Diffusers that I use to corral the light where I want it.
The light today is a bit on and off, so I placed the “studio” on the dining table: I had to move Dawn’s stuff over to one side as she is well in the thick of things
The great thing about the tri-fold is that one can adjust the wings to allow light to flow across the subject. I have found this to be about the best method for my needs, along with the silver reflector to throw light back from the other side to counter or highlight a particular area.
This is today’s setup: black tri-fold background, one black foam board sheet, one white foam board sheet, silver reflector, two tripods, an iPhone 7+ and an iPhone 8+.
The sun comes and goes so I am just going to try and make the most of what I have.
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In this image you will see I have two tripods, and a dining chair, in play. The white foam board is, in this case, raising the light over the entire area, while the silver reflector is highlighting just the flowers in the vase. Well, it will by the time I’m finished. Note: the white foam board was moved a lot closer because the light almost went away. Pay no attention to the Christmas lights around the window...
Stepping back I am happy with this set up as I can move things around to get the optimum light in all the places I need it.
Here is the raw image. When I’m happy with the result I take several shots with the app I decide on. In this case Chromatica.
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I turn the subject left and right until I get the look I want: I’m thinking of painting a Lazy Susan black to make me, well, even lazier. I like to make adjustment to the EV between -0.5 and -1.0. This is a kind of safety net as I can always bring up the underexposed areas in post but cannot tone down the overexposed on days where the sun is not being obscured by clouds.
In this image I like the way the light is reflecting through the bottom of the vase and might try to capture this in the final image if I can.
As with all things “natural” one must move quickly. The sun was indeed obliterated by clouds and it looks like I will need to revisit this again another day.
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Here is a second subject in a solid vase that lends itself to a simpler lighting mode.
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You can see from the shadow that the light is coming from the right. I held the reflector about 30 degrees to the window to aim sunlight on to the leaves. I bent the reflector to my will and used a remote to trigger the app. I find that by placing my subject at around 45° and the reflector, if needed, at the same level from the camera, I avoid those most of those contrast shadows.
Chromatica allows me to run in manual mode, such as it is on an iPhone, to allow for more control. In this frame you can see the over exposed portion of the image. I drop the EV to -0.5 to -1.0 to compensate.
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-1.0 looks pretty good.
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-1.4 is even better and is the setting I chose. The benefit of shooting underexposed is, as already mentioned, to give me more flexibility in post processing. I use Snapseed more than any other app on my iPad Pro (old model). I like it because it is easy to use, has the right tools for the job, and can be used easily on my iPhone too. Oh, did I mention it’s free?
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Here is the, raw, finished product.
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Here is the finished product after post processing in Snapseed. Basic editing was performed. Adjust highlight, contrast, and shadow. Add a small vignette to obscure the corners, Crop square, then lift the overall light a smidge
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As you can see there is not really lot to it. I think the challenge of getting set up and captured before available light changes, or goes away, is what makes this fun
Here are some links to the foam board I use:
https://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Board-Multi-Pack-Black-16x20/dp/B00K257VWI/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1549129478&sr=8-15&keywords=elmers+tri+fold
https://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Board-Multi-Pack-Black-20x30/dp/B0006VRTZM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549209004&sr=8-4&keywords=foam+board+sheets
https://www.amazon.com/Square-Jellyfish-Tripod-Mount-Compatible/dp/B01M11QFSK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1549209075&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=square+jellyfish&psc=1