Confused about custom white balance

[Designer]

Tirediron; can I bring you a drink? Do you drink? Need a shoulder massage? Can I go to your house and feed your cat for you? Here is the sandwich menu.

 

[Quovadis]

Tried fill lights, the reflections creep back in.
I think for the patent leather the ceiling is working best.
This is the best I can do...now the position of bag is gonna change...so a new can of worms.

 

[table1349]

Tirediron; can I bring you a drink? Do you drink? Need a shoulder massage? Can I go to your house and feed your cat for you? Here is the sandwich menu.

Deja vue?

 

[Quovadis]

Gryph, I think I'm going to send you the bloody bag, so you can shoot it to death with your Ferrari-like strobes!

 

[table1349]

I did that for years. I'm retired now and shoot what I want, when I want and as I want. When you have been doing this for over 45 years you tend to acquire a bit of gear.

 

[Quovadis]

I did that for years. I'm retired now and shoot what I want, when I want and as I want. When you have been doing this for over 45 years you tend to acquire a bit of gear.

What sort of photography did you do for a living? Or is/was photography a hobby? Have you ever shot a black plastic bag with Coach written all over it?

 

[table1349]

Advertising, catalogue, & fashion for the most part. On the side photojournalism and Sports photography. One thing I learned was it takes time and practice to learn what you want to learn. The first thing you have to do is learn light and the properties of light. That takes time and effort to accomplish because it is as much science as anything.

When I asked you early on about angles it was simple geometry. A simple way to learn practical geometry is play Billiards. Me I prefer carom or three cushion billiards. You learn the physics and geometry much quicker than say pocket billiards.

Once you understand light you can use the same geometry it takes to make a successful billiards shot to set lights.

 

[Quovadis]

Advertising, catalogue, & fashion for the most part. On the side photojournalism and Sports photography. One thing I learned was it takes time and practice to learn what you want to learn. The first thing you have to do is learn light and the properties of light. That takes time and effort to accomplish because it is as much science as anything.

When I asked you early on about angles it was simple geometry. A simple way to learn practical geometry is play Billiards. Me I prefer carom or three cushion billiards. You learn the physics and geometry much quicker than say pocket billiards.

Once you understand light you can use the same geometry it takes to make a successful billiards shot to set lights.

Umm interesting, never visualized these purses as white balls. So the strobe is the cue, and the element bouncing the light are the sides of the table. So where does the bloody camera come in? Maybe it's the hole?
I agree to what the book says and what you are saying, but there are only so many places you can place a light around the subject. I did just add a fill light as John suggested, but this was a different shot. It worked on this one, but not on the frontal shot.
I will keep trying. Much easier with strobes though than it was previously.

 

[tirediron]

Tirediron; can I bring you a drink? Do you drink? Need a shoulder massage? Can I go to your house and feed your cat for you? Here is the sandwich menu.

Liverwurst on rye please, hot mustard, pickle and something dark from the draught tap.

 

[Quovadis]

One style shot in particular is giving me a lot of grief with patent leather bags. Actually, this shot is 100% harder with strobes than with cfl's. I stayed up till 3 am trying to get it right.
The bag is flat on the table. With strobes I am getting spill from behind, from the backdrop, and I cannot place a light above the flat bag. Tried two angled front lights, and they also interfere.
The first shot is taken with strobes and the rest were taken with cfl's. I have to find a workaround, otherwise I will have to do half my shots with cfl and half with strobes.
Look at 8 and 10 jpg. The top of the bag is illuminated but there are no direct reflections. I cannot seem to do this with strobes no matter where i place the lights. I tried shooting all 4 strobes up to the ceiling, and this also failed..

 

[tirediron]

This is where you need to start working with flags and reflectors and actually shaping the light. You need: (1) A butt load of white and black foam-core; (2) a utility knife & cutting board; and (3) patience.

 

[Quovadis]

I can place small pieces a4 size around the table, but do not see myself working with large flags and reflectors. Tripods are so annoying, they take so much floor space up. I wish someone would invent a ceiling system.
The two single things that annoy me the most in photography are 1. tripod feet and 2. My bloody Nikon will not stay on 2 second delay.

 

[tirediron]

... I wish someone would invent a ceiling system...

Ask, and ye shall receive...

 

[astroNikon]

Something like this may come in handy at some point
Photography 40x60" 5in1 Light Mulit Collapsible Portable Photo Reflector 110x150

 

[astroNikon]

... I wish someone would invent a ceiling system...

Ask, and ye shall receive...

but one that costs under $200 ....