Version 1
This marks the beginning of a new project for me... I
need want to make a picture of a glowing chimney cap. And it needs to be exactly what I see in my mind's eye. This may sound crazy to the average bloke, but I just so happen to be a Chimney Sweep by day. Furthermore, I made it by hand.
This picture is pretty cool in some ways, but it's far from where I want it to be. I'd definitely like to see the lid of the cap in some more light, among other things. What this comes down to is manipulating the position and intensity of our light sources. Here is what I think about "Glowing Chimney Cap v1."
What I like:
- The criss-cross shadows in the foreground from the stainless steel mesh
- The background that fades
- The faintly glowing grout in the background
What I don't like:
- The blown out front edge of the cap
- The darkness of the lid
- The light leaking out from under the base
- The lens flare above the lid
In this photo, the flash is sitting on the floor, under the back left corner of the lid. I have it dialed all the way down to 1/64 with no diffusion. This was taken in a room with a lot of direct sunlight on a cloudy day. The other settings were ISO 100, 1/200s (my max sync speed), f/5.6, 50mm. I used a Canon T2i, 430EX II speedlite, and a 50mm 1.8 lens. This cap was installed on a client's house, so I'll have to use a different one for the next attempt. I have some ideas for the next shot, so we'll see how they go on the next post...
Here's a crappy diagram of the setup:
