Capturing still hands on a guitar?

tank121 · Feb 9, 2014

As part of my college people project I'm going to be taking some pics of my friends hands stationery on different parts of his guitar tomorrow.

I'm shooting with a D5100 and my Sigma 17-50 2.8 in the college studio with 2 soft boxes.

Was thinking of using an aperture priority with an aperture of 5.6.

Any other tips, I would like to get some shots with shadows cast on parts of the guitar but hands in sharp focus. Is it just a case of turning one of the soft boxes off or turning the power down?

This will be my first solo shoot in the studio.

I will probably convert the images to b&w in Lightroom

Thanks in advance

Wayne

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tank121 · Feb 9, 2014

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/10/8u3a3eny.jpg

This is almost identical to the guitar, a Fender Jaguar

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Derrel · Feb 9, 2014

At close distances with the hands shown large in the frame, if there is any angle of the hands to the lens axis, you will probably have a substantial part of the hands out of focus at f/5.6. If you move the camera farther away, so the hands are smaller, then you will likely be able to get the entire hand in focus at f/5.6.

The shadows created by hands and fingers will depend on the size of the softbox, and its distance, or its closeness, to the subject. If you want a strong, sharp, crisp shadow, the softbox must be "relatively" far away from the hand and fingers. The closer the softbox is to the hand and fingers, the softer and more gentle the shadow will be. If the softbox happens to be a large one, and positioned very close to the hand and fingers, it's possible that there will be almost no visible shadowing.

If the softbox has a removable front cover, you might take that off and see how much different the light will be.

Since this will be a first-time kind of experience, I would suggest that you LOOK at the captures on the LCD, and keep in mind: light close=soft shadows light far=darker shadows

tank121 · Feb 9, 2014

Up close then would something like f11 be better? I'll probably have around 1hr studio time.

The soft boxes are quite large and can easily be moved in and out and back and forward.

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RichieT · Feb 9, 2014

One other thing to keep in mind is with all the chrome on the guitar and using flash you have to watch out for hotspots and glare. Use your histograms or blinkies.

bratkinson · Feb 10, 2014

As Derrel indicated above, LOOK at the pictures on the LCD of your camera. Even better, be tied to a laptop and look at them there. One of the biggest issues will be depth of field, as well as oddball glares/lens flares whatever. Oh...and remove any filters you may have on the front of your lens to eliminate/reduce lens flares.

Since you are going to be reasonably lit, f2.8 when close in WILL be very thin DOF. Check out the DOF calculator below to see just how thin it gets at various distances from the subject and focal lengths.
Online Depth of Field Calculator
Knowing ahead of time what kinds of DOF you'll be dealing with and how to increase/decrease it under your control is important.

For what it's worth, I was doing a Christmas Festival a couple of months ago and one of the players in the big band that was there was a guitarist. Being limited only to available light forced me to f2.5 on the first picture (135mm f2L lens) and f2.8 on the second (80-200 f2.8L at 200mm). I was looking for the thin DOF but wanted to capture the person as well.

Note: cutting them down to internet sizes makes them appear to have more noise than they do.

EIngerson · Feb 10, 2014

I took this one myself holding the guitar and the camera. (my neck still hurts lol) All the exif is available on flickr. I used an Alien bees AB1600 with a shoot through umbrella.

Selfie by Ingerson Photo, on Flickr

tank121 · Feb 11, 2014

Session was postponed as my friend was miles away from home with work. Booked in now for 3rd March

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fokker · Feb 11, 2014

tank121 said:
I would like to get some shots with shadows cast on parts of the guitar but hands in sharp focus. Is it just a case of turning one of the soft boxes off or turning the power down?

Not entirely sure what you mean by that, but if you're meaning that you want his hands lit and the guitar darker, then a softbox is not really the right option. You'd be better off using a snoot or a grid to focus the light right on the hands. Google DIY strobe grids for ideas.

tank121 · Feb 12, 2014

That's one of the shots I'll be after thanks EIngerson

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gsgary · Feb 12, 2014

If you are using studio flash you will have to shoot in manual and not aperture or shutter priority

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tank121 · Feb 25, 2014

Well i assisted a fellow student with his shoot last night, he had two female models using both soft boxes angled at 45 degrees with a blue drop down back ground. Would I be best to use a black drop background as part of the guitar is an ivory colour as shown in the picture further up in the thread? For a shot like that of Elngerson's I take it my subject would be best standing at 90 degrees to the back drop? For that shot it would be best to just use one soft box?

EIngerson · Feb 25, 2014

I didn't even use a back drop. I was sitting on my couch with the light above and about a 60* angle from my hand. Get it at the right distance that the light falls off just passed the hand. I used an Alien bees B1600 with a home made grid and shot through an umbrella. (sounds more counter-productive than it is.) lol Good luck. I can't wait to see your photos.