Prior to the full lockdown I had planned to keep out of the way in my central Exeter photography studio, it really is a good place to isolate! I had already been doing some studio photography, principally testing some diffusion material, and in those days and weeks prior to full lockdown I was emerging from the studio for food and light shocked at how many people were still out and about. 

So, on the 24th of March with Lockdown having been formalised I had to do a trip back to the studio and bring some essentials so that I could work at home, it seemed like the pragmatic call. 

Like most people I initially cleared the loft, and like the lucky people I sorted the garage. I attempted running even but totally stuffed my calf. And then I set about doing some quality product photography in a less than ideal space. This pretty much meant that anything remotely interesting that either came into the house or was already in the house was fair-game. 

As ever my approach is to get the shot in the camera rather than on the computer, these images are about lighting, not Photoshop. You can actually watch me banging on about it here if video is your thing, I also spent some time laying some groundwork for future video projects.

Most of this work is a simple table-top setup. I have a range of bases, ceramic tiles and acrylic sheet, though my acrylic is a little larger than the small back bedroom would ideally warrant. Shot with a Nikon D850 and a 24-70 ƒ/2.8 or a 85 ƒ/1.4, the latter is much sharper but doesn't focus as close, tethered into Lightroom. Lighting was Bowens Gemini 500 Pros or sometimes a Gemini 400 RX which is much smaller. The small Gemini was hooked to a sofa-bed with a Manfrotto 035 Superclamp and a small grip-arm firing through the backdrop. Lighting support came from two Nikon SB910 speedlights. 

In the weeks before I had been testing some .75 stop Translum sheet and by and large this is used as a backdrop in most of these shots. The Translum can either be lit from in-front, behind or both. I'd already found that it works well with smaller reflectors and grids and soft-boxes aren't as necessary which is great when working in a confined space.

The Planeta olive oil was from cousin Penny who is involved in export for the company in Sicily, lockdown there had been much more extreme than here in the UK. This was a quick test using the Christmas pressie.  

This is a fairly simple job, most of the light was firing through the Translum backdrop though a Nikon SB910 was placed in front to lift the label. Again this was firing through a Translum scrim.  

I'd been meaning to do some kitchenware work for a while but of course kitchenware was difficult to find now so I felt a little awkward asking the security guy in Waitrose to unlock the knife. 

This is pretty much a move on from the olive oil shot. The SB910 remained in front but I made a snoot out of cinefoil to light the lime. A further strobe was added left of frame and flagged to only light the knife, again this was diffused with Translum. The knife was supported by a thin strip of metal attached to it with and a couple of magnet, the strip was cloned out but otherwise this was a single exposure with no Photoshop.    

I quite like the form of OXO products so I was more than happy when it arrived though not popular when I held it hostage!

Ideally this would have been shot with the product placed smaller on the acrylic so I see this as a work in progress shot; there just wasn't the space to achieve what I wanted. 

The product was propped on black acrylic with the colour coming from a red gelled strobe firing at the front of the Translum and reflecting back onto the acrylic. The product was lit with SB910 speedlights bouncing off poly-board (left and above) with a strobe firing through the Translum scrim to the right. 

As with most of these images the setup can be seen on my Instagram page if you trawl through down through the work.

This was photostacked to retain sharpness on the water droplets.

Again a hijacked item, I'm told it's really great!

With this one the background colour was from a gelled strobe firing from behind the Translum. Two scrimmed strobes left and right with an SB910 held above to get the foreground highlight.

I have a Godox speedlight kit that has barndoors and grids. Whilst this isn't at the glamorous end of the kit bag for £50 it does a great job of controlling small added highlights. 

Using a similar technique to the the knife (above) the mascara was taped to a small metal strip which was cloned out. The three planes of the background don't actually meet, two sheets of black polyboard were held with grip arms and spring clamps but there is about 10cm between each plane to allow lighting from below and behind the set.

My daughter's boyfriend had bought us this wine some time ago so it seemed good to catch it before it goes. We had planned to drink it with them so this will remain unopened for a little longer.

The scene is lit from behind but a black polyboard sits behind the scene allowing light to spill around its edges. This creates the simple bright outlines. Again two gridded and gelled strobes left and right add a small amount of light for the label and the glass. With the glass in position the left side outline of the bottle gets broken so an initial exposure was made with the glass in place and a second with the glass removed to get a compete bottle online that was comped in.

In the studio I would do much the same but with a smaller acrylic bas and much larger light-sources. In truth it would be marginal gains but hey.   

Under normal conditions I would nip out and scavenge a skip for backgrounds but these weren't normal times. The background is a couple of shelves from the garage clamped together with a plethora of Pony clamps, a gelled strobe fires through them.

The light behind the bottle (and glass) is from a Nikon SB910 firing through the Godox barndoors.I can't tell you how many test shots and fractional movement it took to get the highlight positioned properly.

My son had bought me this a while ago and I loved the bottle so I'd kept it with a view to photographing it should a global pandemic happen.

This took light pretty well, mostly from behind but some added feathered highlights from the sides just for the flutes. The seal was lit with the SB910 and the Cinefoil snoot. 

I bounced light onto some poly board to light the label and comped the label and cap in. Ideally I'd rather not comp. but sometimes pragmatism wins!

Of the images here this vodka bottle was a real problem because the back label of the bottle is so well applied! The label just didn't work as an image, far too busy. I assume it's some sort of screen print but I tried all manner of things to remove it! Soaking in various substances (overnight) made no mark on it. I ended up with a power-drill and a bronze wire brush but it wouldn’t do the job! Steel failed to make an impact too so in the end some obscure sand (read diamond) paper took it off. I had to repair the bottle scars.

The water droplets were applied and left to firm up leaving was was a pretty simple shoot to do. Lit mainly from behind with a CTB gelled/gridded strobe firing through the Translum A polyboard and SB910 bounced some light to the label and front. 

Again there is a record of the setup over on Instagram.

Surprisingly the Côtes du Rhône Villages wasn’t easy, and there’s the rub with a lot of photography, the simple shots belie the effort that goes into them. This really was a shot where a much larger space would have allowed more control over the lighting. With more space and larger light sources the subtle lighting is easier to manage. 

Again we were given this wine recently and I was asked how it was, "surprisingly difficult to light" was my answer.

Without a doubt the hero of the moment were my grips and stands. Principally Matthews and Manfrotto stands and a huge selection of spring clamps, Pony clamps, Superclamps and polyboard. The Bowens gear is old-school but they work and can be controlled remotely. The Translum is such a versatile product, I'm so pleased I'd got some from AJ's before all this happened. 

The images in this post were all taken in a home setting but as things progress the larger studio space is again viable. A great aspect to this kind of work is that tech. will allow work in progress to be shared with clients as a shoot progresses, JPEGs can be sent via WeTransfer and so forth. 

As with any photography project a good well-articulated brief is essential. Clients are welcome to arrange delivery of items, we do quarantine goods at the moment  however there is no reason why product photography work should be seen as problematical or a barrier even now.