As I have mentioned to a few people who have commented on my blog lately, I have recently returned to college and started a photography course. Whilst trying to find out some more information about working in a studio, and using different styles of lighting, I came across a method of setting up a very basic home ‘studio’.
Basically, all you require is two or three white boards, (for the backdrop, sides and base – you can, of course, use any colour board), and a desktop spotlight, with a wee bit of tissue paper. The tissue paper is taped on to the spotlight opening (obviously don’t leave this unattended, it is a fire risk!), and this acts as a diffuser, to give a much softer light. The above photo, which consists of one wine glass on top of another inverted glass, gives the impression of a reflection, with the spotlight at 90° to the set up. A smooth back board would have been better, the ‘reflection’ would have looked more realistic, and you are meant to use a bigger light source, and have it shining through a diffuser, directly behind the glasses, but I was still quite pleased with the way it turned out.
Below is a high key copy of the wineglass, before I converted it to B&W.
Using the same setup, I also photographed some biscuits on a plate, I’m sure with a bit more practice, this could work really well for all sorts of indoor still life photography. I’m intrigued to know what you think, with regards to the two B&W versions, is the one with the border more appealing than the borderless one?
Eye For A Pic 
Thanks for the studio idea. Looks do-able. The ginger nuts sent a whole different message to me- they used to be my favourites so I need them to be in colour!
How come I can’t see the reflection of the camera in the shine on the glass?
(Probably something mathematical I have missed entirely.) Glass very satisfying. M
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You’re welcome Meg, and the studio idea is very basic and simple, but it works reasonably well. I could have done with a bigger light source, or a better diffuser, tissue paper directly infront of the lamp is certainly not ideal, but it kind of worked! Lol! As to why you can’t see me or the camera in the glass, I’m not really sure, but I’m guessing since the glass is curved, you would only see a very thin version of me anyway!
Hope I didn’t make you too hungry with the ginger nuts, I wouldn’t have been able to repeat the photo later that evening, I’d scoffed the lot. It was the first time I’d had them for yonks!! 🙂
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Thanks for the reflection trick. I usually love borders around a picture but like the one without better.
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You’re welcome Rebel Girl, and thank you for the feedback, I’m still not sure myself which of the three I prefer! 🙂
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I am in love with the b/w of the wine glass! As for the biscuits, no border. Beautiful photography!
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Thanks Linda, I was really chuffed with the way the wine glass turned out 🙂
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That’s very interesting, Andy. I really like the b&w reflected wine glass, and I much prefer the colour photo of the biscuits to the b&w versions, but choosing which b&w pic I like best I’d go for the one without the border.
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Thanks for the input Lorna 🙂 We did the real studio assessment on Thursday, it was my first time in the studio properly. All the other students had spent at least 3 hours in the studios during the first week, which I had missed, and all of us should have spent about 10 hours doing studio work by the time of the assessment (a teacher had been away for last 3 weeks! 😦 )
All I can say, is thankfully I’d tried this wineglass out first, I had no real idea how to use a lightmeter, or the strobe lights, but managed to get a reasonable shot of three glasses, similar to this one. Unfortunately the camera f/stop settings were totally wrong, the image was way to dark, but with some editing, it came out okay.
When I got back in the evening, I watched numerous You Tube videos about the lightmeter, and strobe lights, and now know exactly how to use them! Lol! Unfortunately, just 6 hours too late!
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Oh dear, I suppose you live and learn, but it sounds as if you’re learning a lot. Keep up the good work!
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Exactly Lorna, I’ve been amazed at how much basic stuff about photography I didn’t know! Lol! But it’s good to be learning all this new stuff, I’m really enjoying it 🙂
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