Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dangerspouse" data-source="post: 722784" data-attributes="member: 46690">For this week's challenge of "Earrings" I had to move out of my usual studio space upstairs and set up in the basement (long story). Because of the cramped conditions I didn't set up my soft boxes the first day, thinking I'd be ok with a speedlight and some reflectors. Uh-uh. Couldn't get an acceptable shot. So today I set up the soft boxes and just squeezed around them. That made all the difference.My biggest headache was figuring out how to suspend the piccolo so that the earrings dangled AND you could see the top of the sheet music (Mozart's Flute Concerto #2, a piece I've never mastered in the 40+ years I've been practicing *sigh*). In a stroke of inspiration (if I do say so myself) I took one of my fencing trophies and carefully slid the back of the piccolo down the extended sword. It fit perfectly! By adjusting the height with books and my camera case I got the angle I wanted.Here's the final setup:[ATTACH]328643[/ATTACH].[ATTACH]328644[/ATTACH].And here's the final shot:[ATTACH]328645[/ATTACH]. I did try one variation. Using the adjustment brush I desaturated the three earrings and then slid the tint adjuster up to make them gold. I don't like it as much, as it doesn't stand out from the slightly yellowed sheet music like the silver version does. But it was fun to play around and see if I could do it:[ATTACH]328646[/ATTACH].I should have known to use the soft boxes from the beginning. I do a lot of macro product shots for my wife, and whenever the subject is shiny and can't fit in my light tent, the soft boxes always save me. I wish I'd saved the speedlight pics for comparison. Because there was no comparison. The speedlight, even with modifiers, bounced, and with reflectors, always ended up with some shadows on the sheet music and very problematic glare spots. I'm glad I took the time to re-do it properly today.</blockquote>

Verification