A photo a day: #6 Portrait of a Music Box (4-22-08)

I used a common two light portrait technique on this image. This technique is used to lend drama to the portrait.

Here is the setup. The light hitting the long edge is called the "Key Light". I used a 24watt daylight florescent with an aluminum dish reflector. The light on the top is called the "Hair Light". This was accomplished with the lights over our kitchen table. Generally the hair light is set a bit brighter but the reflective surface on the top of the box made it necessary to dim it a bit. The light on the side is the result of a light modifier called a "Book End" or a "Reflector Panel". It reflects some of the "Key Light" to help fill the shadow. I used a piece of white paper held just out of frame to the left.

The image was taken using my 85mm with a 12mm extension tube to allow closer focus. It's not quite Macro but to give you an idea of scale, the box is about 2"x3". The box is sitting on a piece of black craft paper.

Here is the EXIF Data:
ISO 100
Aperture f/22
Exposure 5 seconds

Another day another image.....