Background Assignment Entries Arriving; Bits and Pieces

I see some of you are already putting up your second assignment, including this effort by Righteye.

(Click on the photo to pull up the tagged background entries so far.)

You still have plenty of time, mind you. But I do occasionally check on you guys.

Meanwhile, back in my neck of the woods, I hit the studio today with dreams of a cool, light-painted product shot dancing in my head.

As it turns out, a bottle of beer is perhaps the most ill-suited item for "light painting" on the face of the earth. All that curved glass gave me fits with my reflections.

So I dropped back and punted, bailing to plan "B." It involved a neat little double-diffused lighting technique that I will put up and explain when the photo actually runs next week.

On those times when you cannot control the reflective quality of the surface of the subject, you just have to create a light source which gives you exactly the gradient reflection that the glass needs. More on that later.

It was actually strange to be lighting in a studio, instead of on location. I used our fancy new Profoto gear, which cost more than my car is worth. Honestly, I'd be scared to cart this stuff around.

I just finished my first of two scheduled podcasts, this one being for StudioLighting.net. It's about a half an hour long, and will be broadcast (podcast?) in early August. I will put up a link when it is live.

I am also supposed to do one for a photo podcast site called "Tips from the Top Floor".

I'll link to that when it is live, too.