Camera Labs

Hey everyone, I was a kid--not to long ago, and still am to some people. But I have a lot of toys from literally years of buying, and getting gifts and all. I've decided to fund my photographic adventures, I will ebay them. I used my Vivitar 285HV flash, and my new Cactus Wireless flash triggers and my blue backdrop to take some photos. These are the ones I liked best.

These toys are called 'PlayMobil' I was just reading about them the otherday, they're made in Malta. (wasn't relevant--interesting fact though)

First off heres one of the Policeman on his motorcycle:


Next is a construction set, I set it up so one guy was working, one looked like he was working, and one was just standing around.


Next, we have the Hotdog vendor.


And last but not least, the fire truck. It was that set (+/- a few things) that was given to me as a gift years ago that got me started getting these things.



As for the lights, Vivitar 285Hv Cam Left Diffused through 2 panels, 1/4 power (2 panels because the one flaw of this flash is there is no 1/8th it goes from 1/4-1/16.) and a reflector cam right, although I didn't position it properly and it didn't do much.

Well, what do you think?

Jake

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
Canon EOS 40D | 28-135mm IS | 50mm f/1.8 |Vivitar DF 383 | Vivitar 285hv
My Flickr
my Blog
"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"

great shots, think i like 2 best, although light seems a tad harsh left and not quite tehre on right.

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D60 - SB-600
18-55VR
50mm f/1.8
90mm f/2.8

Jake, thanks for sharing your images with us.

I have to say this is a dramatic improvement to your previous images in your "Childhood memories" thread (see here, though I think you've removed the images).

Composition and lighting is the big step forward, though there's still plenty of room to improve.

As smiles77 said, the lighting to camera left is a little too much. There are highlights blown that suggest that this is the case (most evident in #1, 2 and 3). If you're insistent on using strobes then you might be able to improve either moving the it further away or reducing the power even more. To boost the lighting on the right, did you have the reflector as close as possible without entering the frame? Having it nearer the strobe may let it bounce more light. Failing that you can use a gold reflector instead of white to bounce even more light and add warmth that's lacking.

The composition is rather tight in #2 and 3, but you get away with it in #2 as you have an interesting layout. #3 doesn't quite work as the layout is dull and cropped with far too much space on the right, and far too little space above and below (umbrella and feet are off the frame). #4 is another well laid out set piece, though perhaps too much space on the right again.

What I can suggest is taking a step backwards and make sure you can take a product image with enough space around the subject for some tidying up through cropping. That makes sure you don't accidentally cut things off the frame or to be able to straighten an image without cropping anything off.

Product photography is diverse and there's a lot of different lighting effects to be had. You can check out some solid images in this thread (see here). I've entered what could be described as product photography for this month's assignment (see here)

EDIT: I'm reposting the image here as well so I can give you some tips with lighting.



I used two strobes and a reflector for this. The set-up was one directly below the camera, and the other to camera left at 45 degrees and above. The exposure time was 1/500 which is fairly short and causes the blackening out of the background - believe it or not the background colour wasn't black before strobes were used! Power was dialled to 1/3 on one and to 1/8 on the other because of differences in power and distance. I controlled the set-up on a tripod and remote release while I held a gold reflector using natural light to light up the handle of the shoe horn pointed to the right. What this lighting technique does is eliminate the background entirely and allowed me to play with where I wanted the shadows to be (the two strobes give a wrapped lighting effect). The reduced power meant I didn't have any blown highlights. Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to see lighting methods.

Do you want me to go through this particular lighting set-up in more depth in my blog? I could go on for quite a bit...

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Nikonian

http://www.edtangphotography.com
http://journeysintophotography.blogspot.com/

Ed, that'd be really good.

Using flashes is new to me, I'm used to having 3 hotlights I can use (as well as the long exposures needed to use such low power lights) And one thing I really need to do is order some gel's because Like I mentioned the Vivitar 285HV is an AWESOME flash, except there is no 1/8th power! so I am going to order a gel kit that has some ND filters in it.

But thanks for the advice everyone (Ed and Smiles77)

Jake

_________________
Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
Canon EOS 40D | 28-135mm IS | 50mm f/1.8 |Vivitar DF 383 | Vivitar 285hv
My Flickr
my Blog
"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"