Playing with the strobe.

[Stradawhovious]

Wanted to take a simple shot to try to get the best light I could with the one strobe I have. What do you all think of the quality of light? How could I have made it better?

 

[RjL]

I like it. Simple. Only suggestion I have is that there is a lot of empty space.

RjL

 

[lyonsroar]

Hydra-shok
230 grain.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Hydra-shok
230 grain.

HST 230gr. Hydra-shok's replacement.

Close though.

 

[kundalini]

It doesn't look as if you used any kind of difussion panel between the light and the object. On highly reflective materials, a reflection line is not uncommon, but look at the copper tip of the bullet on the right. You have lost detail.

It looks like you have your light source is directly above. I would suggest to have it at ~135° and lowered plus have a reflector opposite. This would increase the amount of shadow coming forward in the frame and eliminate the reflection line. Having the reflector opposite your main light will bounce back the light onto the object.

Another suggestion? During the learning curve phase, choose objects that are not highly reflective. This will diminish the frustration factor. Once you are comfortable with controlling the light, then introduce more challenging projects. Just a thought.

 

[Stradawhovious]

^^^ :thumbup:

Very cool advice.

I tried again. This time I took the light to about a 135 degree angle and put a reflector opposite (the white outside shell of a 5 in 1 reflector wrapped around a laundry basket). I also shot through a diffusor (the translucent center of the before mentioned 42" 5 in 1 reflector about 2 ft away from the strobe). I was getting a nasty shadow at the tip of the bullet of the cartridge on it's side, so I made another reflector........ a piece of typing paper folded in half.

I'm getting closer. Still a little blown out at the tip of bullet on the cartridge on it's side, but I think overall it's much better.

Excuse me whilst I set it up again.

 

[kezsaj]

For this type of stuff I'd use a light box

 

[Stradawhovious]

For this type of stuff I'd use a light box

Re-reading my OP, my intent with this thread wasn't clear. :blushing: I wasn't interested in getting a good pic of the subject for the sake of the subject, I was interested in using the strobe to try to get a good pic with good lighting, and for the sake of trying to learn to use it off the camera.

Thanks though, I'm sure a light box would be a much better tool for such a small subject.