I took this golfball shot while I was at Art Center College of Design in my Product Photography class. The assignment was “Daylight in Studio.”
I’ve always been interested in using slides of images in conjunction with other things, so I took a shot on 35mm film of a lawn area with trees and projected on the wall of the studio. Using the slide projector’s focus knob, I racked the background slightly out of focus to look like greater depth of field. Next, I bought a flat of grass and placed the ball & tee on top about 2-feet in front of the background.

I lit the scene with a 2,000 watt studio light (called a Junior), and placed a branch in front of the light with a C-Stand (called a “Branchaloris” in the movie industry). Whenever something is placed in front of a light to break the light up, it’s referred to “blank-a-loris.” The term originated with the word “Cucoloris,” which is a flag with random patterns cut out of it that breaks up the light.

To match the color temperature with the exterior background shot, I placed a Full CTB gel (Color Temperature Blue) on the light (it’s basically a celophane-like version of a white balance setting for the light). Finally, I used a C-Stand to hold a bounce card to give the shadow side a little more fill light.

BUT WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE A STUDIO & LIGHTS??

The principles for shooting a shot like this are the same whether using “hot” studio lights or a flash/strobe. The tools are slightly different, but the rest is basically the same. If I were to do this shot now (with no studio lights at home), I would shoot it the same way but with a longer exposure and an off-camera flash as my main light source (I have a Nikon SB-600 Speedlight). The trick will be figuring out how wide an area you can shoot and still maintain the light levels throughout. That will depend upon how powerful your flash unit is.

While at school, I tried to do all lighting exercises using movie equipment and the shutter speeds available to motion picture cameras. I was studying to be a cinematographer, and long shutter speeds and strobe lights were not a tool I would be using in the field.

TIPS FOR SHOOTING DAYLIGHT IN STUDIO

• The brightness of the light should be even throughout the frame, meaning no falloff of the light. If the light is brighter on one side of the frame and it diminishes on the other, it will give away the trick.
• Use lots of fill light. Without lots of fill, the shot could look like night.
• Shadows tend to look blueish outside, so use cool fill cards to get the look.
• Some part of the highlight area should blow out a tad. The contrast levels outside during the day are high, so expose for the middle tone and bracket your exposures.
• Decide what time of day it is you are re-creating. This will dramatically impact your lighting style. If it’s high noon, the light should come from overhead and be somewhat harsh and very blue. If it’s late in the afternoon, the shadows should be long, the light should be warm in color, and don’t use quite as much fill light.
• Use a low ISO, such as ISO 50 or 100. This will diminish the grain and is what the eye is used to for film photography.
• Maximize depth of field (unless going for a long lens look)

I got an A on this shot. I was totally psyched. Tim Bradley, the former head of the Photo Dept. at Art Center, taught that class and it meant a lot to me to get an A from him. He is a great teacher and a great photographer.

Next week, I’ll be writing about how to light a shiny metal object.