Metal and Glass

This assignment could be called "metal and pumpkins." (My classmate and lab partner, Alex Browning, took the glass half of this assignment. Check out her new fish: Bob, Marley and Ziggy.)

What I learned: Pumpkins reflect light.

My first try, was with three knives. I determined the placement for a different light source for each knife, and used a green light from the back of the pumpkin to light the stem. However, the resulting photos were flat. There was no definition of the edge of each knife. (Alex was a fabulous help with this effort. She moved equipment and connected, disconnected strobes as needed.)

Looking at my take, I wanted to go back into the studio. This time around, I tried to bring attention to the sharp edge of the knife by 1) determining the family of angles with a flashlight, 2) placing a long, thin light box accordingly and 3) blocking everything but the edge of the knife's light source with a large piece of cardboard. There are two other light sources in my final photo: a soft box at half the power of the knife light to the left of the camera, and a green gelled strobe at half the power of the knife light facing the back of the pumpkin. The resulting photo is a bit under exposed. I would troubleshoot this next time.