How to fill the light when shooting still life?

Still life photographers often complain about the difficulty in lighting, which is indeed one of the most common problems in any type of photography. Therefore, here we propose four common lighting technologies, which can be used anywhere.

Each method aims to capture a variety of common themes. These are flowers, fruits and other images.

We will use a variety of simple light sources: window lights, flashlights and several lamps, including table lamps, to minimize the use of the kit.

Auxiliary materials, such as background and reflector cloth and paper, and macro-frames that create uniform illumination for some close-up objects are also useful.

So, please take some free time, spare some space, and shoot these four photography ideas at home. But first, let's make some props.

Basic accessories for still life photography:

1

A small flexible lamp allows you to adjust the direction of light, which is very suitable for small family photo studios. By using two of these lights, a front light and a rear light can be added, and an object can be illuminated in the dark.

No.2 black velvet

This kind of cloth has amazing light absorption ability, so when the light distribution is correct, it seems that the object is actually black. Buy a few meters of materials from the store, but make sure the quality is good.

No.3 flashlight

This is the simplest and fastest way to manipulate the light that is considered to be the most suitable. You can direct a low-power flashlight as needed, and focusing the light beam can give you the freedom to create.

A4 A2 A piece of paper

Cheap and simple background creation solutions are cheap, and A2 paper can be bought in all office supplies stores. If you choose matte paper or lightweight paper, it will help to avoid reflection.

Box 5 is used for macro shooting.

The advantage of these simple box structures is that they can use only natural light from windows to create uniform illumination for the subject, and there is no reflection.

Reflector 6

Even if there is scattered light and shadow, this is a real problem, but it can be easily avoided if a small reflector is used. For still life photography, please choose a mirror with a silver or white surface.

1. Flower Lighting in Still Life Photography

Put the vase on the wall, but leave enough space to put the lamp beside it to produce backlight.

Stick A2 colored paper on the wall with a piece of tape to make up the flowers, and make sure to cover the whole frame when you see it through the viewfinder.

Now, put the first lamp behind the flower, put the lamp up and point it slightly at the paper. For the main lighting, please put the second lamp in front of the flowers, but on the side.

A set of necessary accessories:

■ Set the lens (18-105mm);

■ 2 table lamps;

■ 1 piece of A2 colored paper;

■ Remote control;

Lights at two angles balance light;

Small aperture opening and slow shutter speed can help you take a clear image every time.

Second, shooting fruits in still life photography

Spread black velvet vertically, including the box as the background, and then put the fruits in the foreground so that they are surrounded by black.

Put the fruit in the middle of the cloth. The lights in the room should be as dim as possible, so that the main light source comes from the flashlight aimed at the glowing fruit.

Scatter light with cotton paper to reduce the reflection on the surface of fruit.

■ Black velvet;

■ flashlight;

■ tissue paper;

■ tripod;

If your camera has a mirror function, using real-time mode will block the mirror when shooting, which will help to avoid the slight jitter that may occur when shooting.

Third, shoot the lights of the goods.

Set the map sheet so that its side is illuminated by the window light. Instead of flashlights and desk lamps, it is enough to create soft lights.

Now put a little thing in the box. If there is a lot of glare on its surface, please rotate the macro frame slightly away from the window to further soften the light.

■ Photographic box;

The purpose of this setting is to create soft lights so that you can see the details of the object. In the case of insufficient light, the density of autofocus system usually has problems. If this happens, please switch to manual focus mode and enable real-time display.

Four. Lighting for shooting other products

When placing objects by the window, first put a piece of white paper on the top of the drawer to form a seamless pattern. The theme should be surrounded by white. Check how lighting photographs objects. If they cast a shadow, you can use a reflector.

If you don't have a reflector, try using plain white paper.

■40mm macro lens;

■ A blank sheet of paper A2;

■ reflector;

Mirrors help to eliminate dazzling shadows while maintaining good lighting. This process varies depending on your camera brand and model. Image histogram can help you adjust the exposure and reduce the exposure as needed to help restore the best moment in the image.