Bombardier & Brew (Talk About Needing A Drink!)

Squeezing into a small commuter jet before six o'clock in the morning may be some people's idea of an exciting life of luxury travel but it isn't mine. Nonetheless I had to arrive in Philadelphia fairly early Friday morning to attend the Spring 2010 meeting of ASMP's Board of Directors, of which I am now one.

No good deed goes unpunished, I'm told and after three long days of non-stop board meetings dealing with inside baseball and a thorny issue or two I'm so glad to be back in my own office attending to my own photography business.

Luckily, Todd Joyce, one of my fellow ASMP Directors, found the time to brew & bottle his own ale which he air-freighted to Philadelphia a couple of days earlier so it would be cold for the evening session.

Pretty good job of branding, too.

Too many e-mails, too much food, not enough sleep..... Talk about needing a drink!

Congratulations Stop43... Big Win For UK Photographers

GOOD NEWS! Orphan works defeated in UK!!

http://stop43.org.uk/

Reported by Bob Croxford on STOCKPHOTO.net.....

With help from many campaigners who wrote, emailed and tweeted MPs, Clause 43 of the Digital Economy Bill has withdrawn last night. Special thanks should go to Paul Ellis and others of Stop43.org.

Jeremy Nicholl's Blog was quoted in the debate. Can be seen in Hansard at column 876. (click link... http://tinyurl.com/ydkv3zy)

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(They could take a leaf out of the Stop43 group's successful campaign. Rather than trying to get their names in the papers as Freedom Fighters, using enviro-scare tactics, the photographers quietly stopped the bad legislation through rational persuasion and did so with fewer resources - and less time).

Today's Lesson - Lighting A White Still-Life Set

On one of the pro photo forums some of my correspondents wrote-in asking If I had to shoot on slide film I would use a frosted plexi surface and would have foregone the shadows. How would you have brought the paper backdrop to a clean white 255,255,255 (not just the background "wall" of the sweep, but also the "floor" of the sweep where the products are resting) without blowing out the white and frosted products at the same time. The client wants a clean white with subtle shadows. They are not looking for the frosted plexi look with reflections.

Another of my correspondents wrote-in complaining about my answer to the first guy, saying My client has also specified absolute pure white (in this case for digital applications) like you said below while at the same time keeping the natural shadows immediately around the product to give it weight and depth etc. So please, Joe, how would you light an object in a situation like this? Especially with products that are very close to white themselves and, in addition, may be reflective? He (and myself) was asking for help, advice, information or constructive feedback about this, so please do share.


Okay, now you both owe me a substantial consulting fee.....

You keep the white paper white by not using white paper, you use matte finish white Formica. You don't "sweep" the Formica either, you lay a 48 X 96 inch sheet FLAT on a table made from a 48 X 96 plywood and two sawhorses, light the back with a 4 foot bank and the product/foreground with shoebox banks & reflectors (mirrors). Control your flare with black cards and gobos (shoot with a long lens). Once the surface and the product have been cleaned, handle them only while wearing cotton gloves, every finger print will show.

Proper still-life technique is something most photographers (even my generation) never learned! Best to leave professional photography to professionals, send me checks in the amount of your fee!!