Playing with light

This was a failed cellophane entry candidate in the Canon Photo5 comp. However, that''s not why it's here, rather, this is an example of a creative use of the pop-up flash on the 400d. Pay close attention to the shadows and take a stab at how I did it.

View all photos taken: Tuesday, 6th November 2007, This photo: 1:57pm

Comments

  • ronnietan said:
    mirror!
  • David de Groot said:
    Part marks for you, that's not the whole story. :)
  • ronnietan said:
    im guessing... one mirror reflects up and south west and the second reflects back down north east - hence the direction of the shadow. the second mirror might be smaller or round limiting what the light projects - hence the vignette-like effect?
  • David de Groot said:
    Very close. One small mirror reflects all the light from the on-camera flash to the left of camera and upwards on about a 30 degree angle. I then held a large yellow envelope at an angle such that the light would bounce back down onto my scene and cast long (but soft) shadows, and lend a nice warm light overall. The vignetting is because of light fall off and the wide 10mm lens. I've cropped the top of the photo off as it wasn't useful for this discussion :)
  • looby88 said:
    so cute- is that a milkman !! erm perhaps the Uk is the only place that still has milk delivered- and they are a dying breed, I digress, I know fiddley-dee about lighting
  • David de Groot said:
    I believe there's still a milkman around here somewhere (or at least someone down the road gets milk delivered anyway). Pretty rare though.

    However, no, this is a bus (hard to tell from the front alone), at a bus depot no less. :)
  • looby88 said:
    LOL !!! silly me !!
  • theurbannexus said:
    Hahaa. This is well done. Nice work - it has a realish quality to it. Was it hard getting a good angle from the camera?
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks, it wasn't too hard. I did a few tests with two mirrors first and then swapped out the second mirror with a large piece of polystyrene foam, and then swapped that out for an A4 yellow envelope for the warmer light.