Playing with some new strobes. Gin & Tonic anyone?

MattC

Veteran
By the way, I went with the Hensels. Great lights!!

Bombay.jpg
 
honestly I wouldn't know which actual gin is better. I'm a whiskey man, really. I just know the No. 10 bottle is gorgeous.
 
If I'm found drinking either, I'm either too drunk to know the price or it's been a great week. The no. 10 is a sexy piece of glass.

It's definately more likely that I'd be drinking the bar's well liquor on 9 out of 10 occassions.

Hmm... maybe g&t's tonight...
 
There's so much talent on this board... I wonder if the skills of the production community at large are developing at such a fast rate... or if this place is just a little hot-bed of ability?

I hope it's the latter... because if too many people get their work this tight then the money will dissappear.

What I'm trying to say is that MattC... this could be a magazine shot and I put this (and your other work) up there with the most talented photographers on this board... and that's saying a lot.
 
MattinSTL said:
There's so much talent on this board... I wonder if the skills of the production community at large are developing at such a fast rate... or if this place is just a little hot-bed of ability?

I hope it's the latter... because if too many people get their work this tight then the money will dissappear.

What I'm trying to say is that MattC... this could be a magazine shot and I put this (and your other work) up there with the most talented photographers on this board... and that's saying a lot.

Yea, this shot is just about perfect so it really makes my think about the gin. Just as if you see a perfect photo of a gorgeous chick, you shouldn´t say things like "nice framing and good white balance!" :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
MattinSTL said:
There's so much talent on this board... I wonder if the skills of the production community at large are developing at such a fast rate... or if this place is just a little hot-bed of ability?


I think a little of both, and the addition of massive availability of new technology to the public as a whole. Not only in things like cameras, but even in terms of sites like this.

This place is a hotbed of activity, and as a result, EVERYONE here gets better. I have learned more on the production side of audio from your posts than from any other source. I have learned a lot from Matt and NBC and others about photography, and my skills there are getting better. that translates to better video, better 3D, better work. And dont get me started on what kai brings to the table.


MattinSTL said:
I hope it's the latter... because if too many people get their work this tight then the money will dissappear.

What I'm trying to say is that MattC... this could be a magazine shot and I put this (and your other work) up there with the most talented photographers on this board... and that's saying a lot.


I wouldn't worry about that, and Matt's work is a reflection of why. Give a thousand people the same equipment he has, and see how many can produce the kind of results he can. If anything, this tremendous overflow of tech is a good thing. Let the average Joe have access to the same tech as artists, and watch as the world swims in mediocre creations. That will only produce more average quality work to contrast truly great work against.

If I had all the same sound gear you do, I still couldn't get the results you can. Not even close.

Matt, as usual, great work.
 
Man great bottle shot Matt. Care to diagram your strobe setup? (softies, placement, bounce, etc?)
 
Yeah, that would make my day. I've never really understood strobes, being a constant lighting videographer so it would be nice.
 
Thanks Kai,

I don't have a diagram I can post (next time I'll take pics of the setup like I do for video) but I'll describe it as best as I can, but all meter readings are to the best of my memory.

The backround is thick black felt. I wanted it BLACK but I still wanted it to be a little reflective (paper was too much, velvet/commando cloth to absorbent) so I went with felt and it's been folded so that it's about four sheets thick. I attached this to a background stand (the kind you use to hold seamless paper) with a couple of clamps. I then brought this down in the typical arc to a table. The shooting table I set up with two levels, one for the bottle and a lower level for the glass and draped the felt over the whole thing. Because of the semi-reflective nature of the felt, I kept the bottle about three feet from the background.

I lit this shot with two lights. The first light was positioned about 45 degrees to camera left and about 45 degrees above the bottle and I used a small umbrella on it (reflected, not shoot through). This was my key light and was metered at 8.0. I then had my Cartman doll holding a piece of foamcore just out of frame to camera right. This bounced fill back to the bottle and the reflected light was metered at the bottle as 5.6. I positioned two small flags on the table to the left of the glass to kill glare, leaving just one line to show it was glass. I then positioned a small mirror off to camera right and behind the bottle to shine back a small amount of light to the neck.

The second light was a fitted with a 10 degree grid and shot onto the background from camera left. I gelled this light with a Bogen Dark Blue #119 gel. I then positioned a small mirror behind the bottle to capture some of this light and shoot it back into the bottle.

Obviously it has also been touched up in photoshop.

That's as best as I can remember it, hope that helps.

Untsika,

Strobes are no different than continuous lighting really. Mine come with 300 watt continuous modeling lamps that allow me to position the lights by eye. Of course you do have to meter pretty religiously - that's probably the biggest difference. The seem intimidating, but after you own a set and work with them for a day, you realize it's no big thing. Light is light...

Matt
 
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MattinSTL said:
There's so much talent on this board... I wonder if the skills of the production community at large are developing at such a fast rate... or if this place is just a little hot-bed of ability?

I hope it's the latter... because if too many people get their work this tight then the money will dissappear.

What I'm trying to say is that MattC... this could be a magazine shot and I put this (and your other work) up there with the most talented photographers on this board... and that's saying a lot.


Matt I appreciate the compliment I do, but there are cat's out there in the "production community at large" that I couldn't even stand in the same room with. I'm still learning...

Matt
 
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