Studio - small products
We positioned a stand with a light coloured roll of paper as backdrop behind a table on which we then placed various objects. All setups on the night used a soft-box as the sole source of light.
I took two initial test shots. The Tibetan bell shot used side lighting and a seamless background. The perfume kit shot used the same background but with back lighting (from above and behind the object but tilted forward).
Next, I used a miniature streetscape with figurines to compare our lighting setups. Because of the tight shooting angle (showing little of the surroundings), a seamless or horizon background was not significant. The lighting schemas used were as follows:
Shot 1: back lighting (from above and behind but tilted forward)
Shot 2: front lighting
Shot 3: side lighting
Shot 4: angled lighting from front left corner
The resulting images are shown as follows –
Shot 1: back lighting
Shot 2: front lighting
Shot 3: side lighting
Shot 4: angled lighting - front left corner
Comments
Back lighting made the front of the model's facade poorly lit. It did, however, give the model cars and figurines good contrast and 3D appearance.
The front lighting scheme gave the models a very flat look with very little in the way of contrast or texture.
Side lighting produced a very pronounced 3D effect with plenty of contrast. However, this angle also seemed to drag out the surface shadows.
By comparison, a lighting setup angled from the front left side gave better defined (and thus more appealing) surface shadows. You can see this under the cars and around the feet of the figurines. The 3D effect was less extreme than using side lighting but the scene still had pleasing levels of contrast.
In conclusion, I found that for our model streetscape, a lighting scheme positioned at a front/side angle of about 45 degrees gave the best results out of the four schemas tested. The shadows - while we could have used a reflector to fill them in - did add contrast and texture to the scene.
We positioned a stand with a light coloured roll of paper as backdrop behind a table on which we then placed various objects. All setups on the night used a soft-box as the sole source of light.
I took two initial test shots. The Tibetan bell shot used side lighting and a seamless background. The perfume kit shot used the same background but with back lighting (from above and behind the object but tilted forward).
Next, I used a miniature streetscape with figurines to compare our lighting setups. Because of the tight shooting angle (showing little of the surroundings), a seamless or horizon background was not significant. The lighting schemas used were as follows:
Shot 1: back lighting (from above and behind but tilted forward)
Shot 2: front lighting
Shot 3: side lighting
Shot 4: angled lighting from front left corner
The resulting images are shown as follows –
Shot 1: back lighting
Shot 2: front lighting
Shot 3: side lighting
Shot 4: angled lighting - front left cornerComments
Back lighting made the front of the model's facade poorly lit. It did, however, give the model cars and figurines good contrast and 3D appearance.
The front lighting scheme gave the models a very flat look with very little in the way of contrast or texture.
Side lighting produced a very pronounced 3D effect with plenty of contrast. However, this angle also seemed to drag out the surface shadows.
By comparison, a lighting setup angled from the front left side gave better defined (and thus more appealing) surface shadows. You can see this under the cars and around the feet of the figurines. The 3D effect was less extreme than using side lighting but the scene still had pleasing levels of contrast.
In conclusion, I found that for our model streetscape, a lighting scheme positioned at a front/side angle of about 45 degrees gave the best results out of the four schemas tested. The shadows - while we could have used a reflector to fill them in - did add contrast and texture to the scene.
Great shots Stephen! Love the set up and you've picked the lighting very well. Good work.
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