Still Life #28 Footwear from an Overhead Point of View

[Jim Milby]

May (spring) is a time for many special activities: planting a new garden, travel, hiking, weddings, graduations etc. They all have one thing in common. You need footwear – shoes, boots, sandals... For this month’s challenge let’s arrange our footwear in an attractive composition that tells a story about our May (spring) activity. For you wedding photographers this is a chance to develop your own creative wedding shoes shot!

Let’s continue studying shooting still life from an overhead point of view (Shooting from above the subject). There is a tutorial video about shooting overhead on Learn My Shot. http://www.learnmyshot.com/Photography+Tips+For+Shooting+Overhead

I'll be going back to Japan the middle of this month. With the preparation, travel and setting up house I'll be very busy. I'll try to run this challenge, but may not be available for periods of time. Thanks for your patience during this time.
Jim

[palters]

I'm going to be helping Jim out on this challenge since he''ll be coming down with a serious case of jet lag here shortly.

So shoot away and get your entries in before the challenge fills up and there's no room for your image. I'll be thinking about how I want to attack my own entry since I don't want to be the odd man out.

Paul

[Jim Milby]

Here is a picture to get things going: golf shoes placed on some clubs with glove, ball and tees. They are all very used so not the "perfect" subject. If anyone would like to donate some new ones, I would be glad to shoot them.


20120503-001E 3x2

The set up was simple: 2 clamp lights, diffuser, silver reflector and a white board. Using the continuous light was a big advantage setting things up. I could see the shadows and highlights. The downside is a long exposure of 1/2 sec at f/16. I would like to try shooting this again with the subject a little higher to the lights. I think moving the clamp lights back a little would also give better light.


20120503-002 3x2
Jim

[palters]

Just playing around with this one trying to create a grungy look.
Work and Play come toe to toe.

[Jim Milby]

This is a fun entry, Paul. The direction of your lighting gives them a "shine" instead of a grungy look though. Possibly you have waterproofed the boots that increases their reflection of light.

What if you put the hiking boots up on a backpack and the work boots up on an electrical tool box/ spool while lowering the light to the ground? I think you would change the shine and atmosphere alot. It would also cut out the big glare (specular highlight) on the floor.
Jim

[Jim Milby]

Here is my redo. I raised the subjects about 8 inches and placed them on black felt, lowered the lights and moved them a little further back to give a more even pattern on the scrim, feathered the silver reflector a little more and used a flag to cut the light a little on the camera right shoe. I tried a little different arrangement to hopefully improve the graphic design.
Thanks for your c&c. Jim


20120505-001E 3x2

The new set up was like this.


20120505-002 3x2

[palters]

The way this was lit was natural light from a window about 1 foot away, and then a reflector behind the shoes for back fill. As you no doubt suspect there are small led flashlights inside the shoes.

That grunge look you refer to shiny is a high pass filter, maxed out at 250 pix, hard light blending mode at 79%. Some guassian blur was mixed in there before a composite was made but I don't remember where it was. This was just for play, not necessarily a real entry.

[Jim Milby]

Originally Posted by palters

The way this was lit was natural light from a window about 1 foot away, and then a reflector behind the shoes for back fill. As you no doubt suspect there are small led flashlights inside the shoes.

That grunge look you refer to shiny is a high pass filter, maxed out at 250 pix, hard light blending mode at 79%. Some guassian blur was mixed in there before a composite was made but I don't remember where it was. This was just for play, not necessarily a real entry.

Thanks for the explanation. Now go shoot your real one! Jim

[Jim Milby]

Brooks isn't the only one with an art critic in their home. My wife didn't like the angle of the shoes in the second shot as well as the first. So ... I had to do a redo. Actually, I think she was right. What do you think? Jim


20120505-003E 3x2

[Brooks]

I think these are all interesting.

I like your shot Paul because of the contrast between the shiny floor and the texture of the shoes. The light coming from the rear of the shot is great and the best at revealing form and texture.

Jim, I also like your last shot, especially because of the angled golf club shafts being used as the surface under the shoes. Nicely done with an interesting graphic design.