How I Shoot It #5: Low-Key Stuffed Animal, Strobist

Hello everyone, today I'm back with a new "How I Shoot It" post to share my techniques on shooting off camera flash with small products indoor. The photo that I used today is a photo of small stuffed animal/plush toy that I have that's lying around in my house. On this post, we will be exploring my take on off camera flash/strobist shooting technique that was very popularized by David Hobby. You can check out http://strobist.blogspot.com for more info on that.
  
Anyway, here is the photo for today's post.
  

  
This picture of the plush toy was taken sometime around 2015, using either the GX7 or the GX8 (I can't remember, sorry). This photo is all about small product photography, indoor(studio), with off camera flash technique. So, pay attention if this is what you'll need to shoot.
   

Let's analyze this photo

Camera Settings Mumbo Jumbo

f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 200. Lens was at 25mm for sure (that's 35mm in APS-C, or 50mm in full frame). Make sure that if you shoot the picture without the flash turned on, all is black and dark. This is the most important key-point in shooting low key photographs.
  

Lighting Mumbo Jumbo

There are two lights that were being used in this photo, the first one, a YN510EX was the main light on upper-left of the camera, the other was behind the subject. The main light was modified using Rogue FlashBender, and the back light is gelled using some red transparency paper.
   
The main light is rated at 1/32 power, and the back light is rated at around 1/64 power. I'm placing the lights fairly close to the subject, and the closer the light is to the subject, the more light it will put to the subject. Inverse square law, guys! You can't run from physics, ha! Balance the power as needed, adjust until the subject is perfectly exposed.
   
All flashes were zoomed moderately to 50mm, even the main light which is diffused using the FlashBender, so that it's easier to feather the light.
  

Technique

The main light was handheld using my left hand, while my right hand held the camera. This is how I shoot with single off camera flash most of the time by the way, all handheld and I avoid using light stand whenever possible, to help with run-and-gun situation. FlashBender isn't the softest light modifier in the world, but it's the easiest one to use for run-and-gun situations. And for this small product photography, it's large enough that it mimics the characteristic of a large soft box for small subjects. The plush toy is barely larger than the FlashBender, which makes the FlashBender very soft relative to this plush toy. And at this distance, with the inverse square law, it gets even softer for this close-range light setup.
  
Aim the main light by slowly moving it around, changing its angle ever-so-slightly all the time, until the main light isn't hitting your surrounding. This is very important, since you don't want the main light to bounce from any walls from your room. Hence, make sure the distance between the subject and the nearest wall is as far as possible!
   
For the back light, just place it on a surface behind the subject and hide it so that it won't show on your frame. Keep it zoomed in or gobo-ed so that it's not causing unnecessary flares on your frame, unless you intentionally want the flare, your call. The back light will help to separate the edges of your subject from the dark background by creating some sort of rim light. I personally love this rimmed light look on the subject, it's just so pleasing in my opinion.
 
Composition wise, fill the frame or add as much negative space as possible, your call. Rule of thirds will help if you decide to add negative space. Don't clip any part of the subject, unless you intentionally want to do so. Look around for the shadow, and decide if you need to cut the shadow in the frame, or just let them all be in the frame to add some tension to your picture.
 

Post Processing

Not much, with speedlights for lighting, you can pop the photo significantly that it doesn't require anything to post process. I further popped the photo by adding slight contrast, adding just around +20 clarity, and a slight vibrance to the photo in Lightroom. I also added a little bit of noise reduction to make sure that my black-low-key area isn't grainy. That's all.
 

How to Improve?

I was shooting this photo in my bedroom. It's an okay sized room, but the walls are quite close to each other and to my subject. I struggled so much to avoid light bouncing all over the frame, so I have to keep moving the main light(FlashBender'ed speedlight)'s angle a few times while shooting until I found that one perfect moment where there's no bounced light on the photo.
 
I could definitely shoot in a larger room, and be free of such trouble. And thus making it faster for me to shoot and saving me from a lot of unused frames.
 
Apart from that, I am quite happy with this photo as of right now. If you have any suggestion on how to make this photo better, let me know in the comment section below.
 
That's all for today's "How I Shoot It" post, I hope this post is useful for you, and please leave any comments if you have questions or things to say. Cheers and God bless you :)