lighting question.

[JDEORTA]

Hello,
I was asked to photograph a girl drinking tequila out of a small cup or shot glass, they want a black background focusing on the lips and the cup/shotglass. the rest of the girls face has to be in the dark, I dont have any strobes just yet but can anyone suggest any ideas? thanks

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Well, you could use your 580EX II off camera... either by using a hot shoe sync cable (around $40 depending on brand and where you buy it). A PC cable, or wireless transmitter (cactus transmitters are around $30 and work fairly well, I use one for my 580EX II).

maybe snoot the flash directing the light just to her lips. Black backdrop of course... Also have an "assistant" (if you dont have one find someone that isn't doing anything at the shoot) hold the snooted flash or have the flash on a tripod/light stand about 3-5 feet away from her.

Maybe dial the flash down to -1 exposure so its not too harsh but you can play with it to see what looks best.

And then play with the angles of the flash direction so that you get a little "sparkle" in the glass, or a look that the client (a bar/company I'm assuming) wants to achieve.

Thats what I would do if I had to do this shoot. I'm sure theres something else you could do that might be "cheaper", but the equipment/technique I recomended can be used for other sessions in the future and cut down costs of other "temporary" fixes.

[JDEORTA]

Thank you for the help I ended up finding a use canon cable and I set the flash on the tri-pod. I set it up like you described and I thought i was working out great but they ended up picking the first couple shots where i bounced the light from the ceiling. Im not pleased with the way they want the photo to look but its what they want so ill do it. Ill post the final shot when im done with it. Thanks again!

[Jeremy Winterberg]

Your welcome... I'd like to see some of the ones where you used the setup I described too...