Great Scott Studios Blog » Photo of the Day

Lighting Setup to Shoot Still Life Photos

Scott Doctor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:54:18 +0000

I am working on an art series of still life images. One advantage with having a large studio is being able to setup all the needed lights without being crowded. Below is a photo of my setup for this shoot. Five Profoto compact 600R flashes. Two are lighting up the white background. Nice not needing to play with seamless paper, although the floor is getting mucked up. But the floor is not important for these images. My large 3×4 soft box provides a smooth diffuse light to give the effect of natural light through a window. My smaller 2×2 is used to fill or back light the objects from overhead. Finally is the one flash with a long snoot. I used a Profoto snoot with a diffuser in the filter holder to make the light very uniform. I then attached a Profoto reflector to the end of the snoot with barn door filter holder. In the filter holder is a 5 degree honeycomb. This creates a very tight light for illuminating the object that also creates a natural vignette. I prefer a natural vignette instead of applying an artificial on with Photoshop. I prefer to get it right in the camera instead of applying a bunch of tricks with Photoshop.

Lighting setup for still life photo shoot

Sunrise in Vegas October 12

Scott Doctor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:31:48 +0000

Some days waking up early is wholly worth the effort. Clouds are rare in Vegas. As I stepped outside about 6:15 in the morning, I saw a gorgeous sunrise. I went back into my studio, grabbed my camera, and did what a photographer does.

Fixing the Cove

Scott Doctor — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:56:53 +0000

Five holes in the cove curve from the ladies high heel shoes from the Vegas Magazine shoot. The curve broke, so I am spending the day fixing it. Fun.

Repairing the cove curve

Spackle on the Cove

Scott Doctor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:54:00 +0000

A photo using my 105mm Micro close-up Lens of Spackle on my Cove Wall just before sanding. Shot at F32 from about 2 inches from the wall.

Spackle on my Cove Wall