Digital Camera World - UK (2022-02)

66 DIGITAL CAMERA^ FEBRUARY 2022 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

there’s the lighting to consider.

Working indoors means that you not only

have to contend with lower light levels, but

a mix of colours, too. You might be faced

with an overall warmth from the room

lights, plus colour-changing Christmas

lighting, candles and more. The camera’s

Auto White Balance might strike a good

balance between all of the different colours,

or it might make a complete dog’s dinner of

it and leave you with a weird colour cast.

If you shoot raw, though, you’ll have more

freedom to fix colour problems when you

process your images. Take a test shot with

a piece of white paper in the frame: later

you’ll be able to click on this with the White

Balance Eyedropper Tool in your editing

software, and get a neutral result. With

this style of photography, a lot can be

achieved with minimal kit. Snake some LED

string lights over some black velvet draped

over the back of a chair, for example, and

you’ve got a simple and attractive backdrop.

Alternatively, head to your nearest art store

and pick up a selection of coloured card and

foam board, which you can switch in and

out to complement the subject. Another

creative option is to scrunch up a large

sheet of kitchen foil and flatten it out again,

then place it far enough from the subject

to create a sparkling but soft backdrop.

Even a laptop or tablet screen, filled with

a suitable seasonal photo, can provide an

illuminating background for smaller objects.

You may need to illuminate the subject

with flash or a desk lamp in order to

create a balanced exposure. There are

plenty of easy techniques that can be

With this style of

photography, a lot

can be achieved

with minimal kit

Cool reflections and refractions

Add a splash of colour with some creative close-up photography of oil and water drops

While the natural world

is drab at this time

of year, there’s nothing to

stop you creating bold and

colourful close-ups indoors.

One easy project is to fill

a bucket with water, add a

few drops of cooking oil, and

photograph the reflections in

the spherical shapes created

by the oil. You can really go to

town with your light source,

using sheets of coloured

acetate cut into attractive

shapes and placed in front

of an angle-poise lamp. Make

sure the acetate doesn’t touch

the bulb, and stir the liquid

to break up the oil on the

surface of the water.

Another creative option

is to photograph a colourful

subject refracted in drops of

water. Place a sheet of glass

above the subject and add

drops of water to the glass

using a syringe or pipette. Get

in close and manually focus

on the refracted image in the

water drops. To make the

drops ‘bead up’ rather than

becoming flat discs, clean the

glass with an automotive rain

repellant (although I used

WD40 for the image here).

On reflection

Create your lighting

template using

acetate or lighting gel.

An angle-poise lamp

allows you to change

the angle.

Refraction plan

Light the background

rather than the drops.

I used a flashgun,

angled down on the

baubles, with the glass

supported on chairs.

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