Often when I shoot products for the website, I try to think of different and creative ways to light the scenes but also have a natural and lifestyle like appeal to them. Due to a busy shooting schedule, legitimate window light isn’t always available–so it needs to be faked. Firstly, we should keep in mind that the larger and closer a light source is to a subject, the softer the light is. And in general, the light coming in from a window is usually quite soft. Soft light refers to the quality of the shadows.
So when I shoot some images, I often simply take a speedlite, place it right up against a white wall, and shoot with an according shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Once again, shutter speeds control the amount of ambient light leaking into the photo white the aperture controls flash exposure but not flash output. Additionally, ISO controls overall light sensitivity in the scene. Often when I’m doing this, I use TTL. For this particular set of images above, I used a Phottix Mitros flash with their Odin triggers in conjunction with Tamron’s 90mm f2.8 Marco VC mounted to my Canon 5D Mk II. And if you didn’t know beforehand, you might just think that this was all shot with natural light.
Want more Useful Photography Tips? Check out our entire catalog here.
