Scented Candles (Again)

I realized that flickr was not really a good medium to use in terms of documenting what my lighting setups were for my shoots so I decided to create this blog.

So there.

The task was to shoot these scented candles for Livingsocial PH's scented candles deal. I wanted the viewer to see the quality and somehow, "smell" these candles.

Safety. Always.

I always make it a practice to shoot generic shots of the product if ever whatever in my mind doesn't work. Specially when it comes to "perishable"items. If I were to create the shot that was on my mind, I needed to light the candles and when the wick was lit, there was no turning back.

Drawing board

The setup was pretty simple. To create a nice bokeh, I needed space between the products and the rice lights at the back. 

The actual setup. I added a gold reflector to right side of the table for more fill light.

I actually wanted more space but due to the size of the studio, I was limited on what I had. The black tile should reflect the candles from below, for that (feeling)"pro" look.  On the left hand side, a snooted strobe will provide the key light and the fire from the candles should act as the fill. 

You can make your own DIY snoot by wrapping a black cartolina on your flash head. There are professional snoots for sale from camera shops, but I just like making them. This saves a lot of money which could be used to fund other purchases but I think I will still get the pro one in the future.

And now we are ready to shoot (a lot). 

Sans key light.

I find it easier to light a subject by lighting the frame individually. By doing this, you can just "layer" the lights as needed according to your image. Lighting the background first makes it easier to determine what kind of lighting you will need for your subject.

Snoot lighted from the side.

I did several takes to see where the snooted strobe's light falls on. As expected, the right side were still dark, but the fire from the candle should take care of that.

The final product

After I got the placement of the light of the strobe, I lit the candles and there you have it. Some minor retouching in Photoshop and it's done!

Sidenotes:
- Using snooted strobes are a hit-miss kind of thing because the strobe has no modeling lamp.
- I can't remember the settings of the camera, I think it was 1/180 f4?
- As well as the flash settings.

- Remember, one light at a time.