Last Minute Photo

I had planned today to do some fire pictures, but sadly that didn't work out. I was hoping it would later tonight but as it got later and later it seemed more unlikely. So I just did a little lighting experiment instead.

Earlier today I was working on my bike, and broke out some tools I haven't used in months. It was so strange but so natural at the same time. Even though it's been a long time, it seemed like only yesterday I was back in the shop working on my bike. It's going to be so nice to get back there this summer.

I chose to do a little product type shot of my allen wrenches. They are invaluable at the shop, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't use them. Last summer, I somehow lost my beloved set of tools I'd had for five years and had to get a new set. It was a very traumatic experience.

This new set of tools hasn't yet earned my famous tape job. Usually I'll wrap electrical tape around my stuff so people know it's mine and don't steal it. But I haven't done that to these tools yet. So they're not that interesting looking.

To light them. I wanted to turn my bare speed lights into soft lights and have cool specular highlights on the tools. I put the lights in really close, and but a soft box on one. This effectively turned them into fairly soft lights since their relative surface area to the tools was quite large. I angled them so I go just the specular highlights I wanted. I had to shoot at f7 though, because the strobes are so bright up close.

I also hung the tools from fishing line from my bed over my mini studio. This eliminated any shadows and made a cool background. In Lr, the only post I did was remove the fishing line. Other wise the photo is completely out of the camera.

That's all for tonight, see you tomorrow.