I know I've only made it two weeks into this year long project to shoot a self assignment every week but I feel like I'm moving along well. I'm sure I'll hit some roadblocks but so far I'm still excited!
This weeks product photograph was a black Docker dress shoe. I've taken photographs of shoes before but this one was more about lighting it in a dramatic way. I don't want to take credit for the lighting set up which came from a video on Broncolor's Youtube channel. I did however make a few modifications to meet the needs on this particular shoe and my equipment.
The photograph took several hours to complete, and in the process I worked out several problems and learned a great deal. The thing I learned most was the importance of using specular lights with only grids, snoots, and barn doors. It allowed the shoe to have tons of texture and really makes for a dramatic look. I did use one soft box to rim light the back of the shoe, but even that had a grid to reduce and control the light better.
I added two white cards to put a rim light on the toe and heel of the shoe. I also added a black card to shield the heel from the main key light.
The one thing that I feel needs the most improvement is the background. I described it to one person on Facebook as being “a little too early 90s for me.” In the future I hope to execute that better. While doing the post processing work in Photoshop I blurred the background some to make it seem more out of focus which I think helped.
Two weeks down!