Picture of the Day – Mini Hippo
I’ve had itchy feet lately and, a couple nights ago, while contemplating the fact that I couldn’t responsibly head to the airport and get on a plane to, say, Tanzania to shoot some wildlife, I decided to go with the only option I had in the house: a toy hippo. Sure, it’s not as exciting as watching a real hippo, not by any stretch, but when you have no real hippos available to you in the evening, few other options remain.
One little tub of water and a few speedlights later and you get this, a portrait of a miniature hippo. Click for a larger version:
A little bit of fun, and really, I wouldn’t be have been able to fit a full-size hippopotamus into the kitchen.
Lighting info: One speedlight on the background with a blue gel. One just left of camera with blue gel. One camera right with a grid to light the hippo.
Photo of the Day – Laptop Shot
Time for the next opportunity to showcase an image from portfolio site. To mix things up, this one isn’t a travel image but instead is from my portfolio of product photography and it’s one of my most recent shots.
Click on the thumbnail to see the full size:
Yes, it’s a laptop. But, the fun of it all is taking a fairly ordinary object in a plain setting and getting your lighting just right so that the thing just looks cool.
Getting initial lights set up is usually pretty quick for this sort of shot, but the details are where the success of the shot lives. You have to think about the highlight on the right side of the image that defines the edge of the laptop screen (a honeycombed light coming from the back right).
You have to think about how you will give the keys texture and depth (another honeycombed light, this time from the back left that just skims across the surface of the keys, but is blocked from hitting the screen).
You have to think about how you are going to give more form to the subject by letting light fall off on its surfaces (small, close lights at just the right angles without much fill, so that you can get more fall off going into a bit of shadow).
More than anything, it’s an exercise in patience. Have an idea in your head of how you want it to look then start adding in the pieces to make that happen.
Darby Sawchuk is a Canadian-born photographer who currently resides in Manchester, England. He has travelled to over 40 countries and is always adding more to the list. He creates stock for multiple agencies and is available for assignments.
+44 0790 992 8932
