Simple Shots Using a Single Strobe

Many people, myself included, find themselves struggling to find something interesting to shoot. I find myself looking at photography magazines and dreaming of taking pictures in some exotic locale. Then reality quickly slaps me in the face. I splash about in the shallow depths of "Cash Flow" River. In other words...I'm broke!

Since I can't travel to some far flung vista, I have to make do with what I have. While looking through the pics in various Flickr groups, I found some shots of water dropping from a faucet. "Cool!", I thought to myself, "I got a faucet, and some water, I think I'll give it a shot.

For my "water drop" shot, I positioned my light at camera right, about 4 feet above the faucet. The strobe was then angled down about 45 degrees. I took a few sample shots until I was pleased with the exposure. The shot was taken at f/5.6, and 1/1250 sec. with the strobe set to full power. I used a pink background, which was also purchased on eBay.

I decided to use my 180 watt-second Monolight Kit with a white shoot-thru umbrella. It's a low-cost strobe kit that I purchased from Amazon. The kit included the strobe, a softbox, and light stand for $100US plus shipping. The strobe is the same one I used to shoot the portrait collage. (See Portraits with "Economical" Strobes.) The white shoot-thru umbrella was purchased from eBay for $5US. A shoot-thru umbrella creates a soft, diffused light similar to a soft box. I like to use the shoot-thru because it is more portable. The softbox can be cumbersome to assemble.

As for Post Processing (PP), I used Lightroom 2 for the first time. I enjoyed the experience very much. I was able to import, make adjustments, and then save to disk in one program. I didn't do much to the photo other than exposure, color, sharpness, and contrast adjustments. I'm new to the program, so I'm still learning my way around the program.

I hope I can inspire you to try shooting simple things around the house. I used a monolight, but this can be accomplished just as easily with an SB-600 or even your built-in flash. Sometimes, simply looking a little closer at everyday objects can reveal details that are often overlooked. By taking a little more time to analyze your world, you might capture a shot that you thought was beyond your creative capabilities. This can only boost your confidence, and inspire you to solidify your knowledge of photography and your equipment.