I shot a Panda!

I recently bought some lighting equipment to let me use off camera flash and expand my photography techniques and knowledge. I have been learning how to use all of this and working through the very useful lessons at the Strobist blog. A really great place to learn about off camera strobes and how to use them.

First up was an exercise on directional light. The light coming from the side really brings out the texture of the panda. 'Tare Panda' for those who were wondering.

An unsuspecting Panda

The depth of field of the light can also be controlled to a high degree. The following two shots were shot in a day lit room with the window open. The aperture on the camera is set to underexpose the white wall in the background and the flash, set close to the subject to provide the light to light it to the correct amount.

Something seems amiss

The darkness is closing in.

In this shot I used an umbrella (camera right) to light the panda, and the specular reflection of the same umbrella's light off the computer monitor to define the side of the panda that was lit by the ambient light (camera left) from the window.

What will happen?

I used the reflection of the umbrella on the silver to bring out the smooth metal texture of the silver necklace. Having the umbrella close to the subject helped to get rid of the shadows, as did the water which killed the reflection off the black plate it was sitting on.