Guitar: Fender Stratocaster

[Mike Buckley]

This Fender Stratocaster electric guitar was made in 1999, though I don't yet know when my friend purchased it. Various models of the Strat, as it is commonly called, were played by famous musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly and many others.

Photo 1 Setup
The tabletop and background are a single sheet of black velvet. Two medium continuous-light lamps are on the top and middle right side. A small continuous-light lamp is on the bottom right. Those three lamps evenly light the six strings from top to bottom. A reflector on the left side casts the reflection on that side of the body. A reflector on the tabletop casts the reflection that wraps around the bottom of the guitar.




Photo 2 Setup
The background is black velvet. Two white reflectors larger than the subject are immediately to its right and left. A medium continuous-light lamp casts light on the subject and both reflectors from above.




Photo 3 Setup
The tabletop is black felt embedded with shiny flecks. A medium continuous-light lamp above and on the right side lights most of the body and the right side of the tabletop. A small continuous-light lamp above and on the left side lights most of the shiny metal. It also lights a reflector on the right side that bounces light onto that area of the body to definte its edge and shape. A medium continuous-light lamp near the tabletop at the upper left side lights that area of the tabletop and defines that area of the edge and shape of the body. It also lights a reflector placed underneath the camera that brightens a small part of one piece of shiny metal to define its shape. A small continuous-light lamp to the left of the camera at the level of the tabletop brightens the lowest, horizontal shape in the scene. A reflector resting on the neck and positioned at a 45 degree angle above the scene brightens the three smallest strings. Just in case you lost count, that's four light sources and three reflectors, which is surely a record for my tiny makeshift studio.




Photo 4 Setup
The background is brown art paper. The light area in the background was created during post-processing. A medium continuous-light lamp very close to the subject to create soft shadows was below it and to the right. A large reflector on the left side created the brightly lit areas of the metal tuning machine and the strings.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures, that streak of blue in the background/bottom on the first gives a bit of an electric feel, was it intentional?

[Wavelength]

Great images

[John 2]

Al the texture, all the colours and no highlight glare. That's really good technique Mike.

[dje]

Various models of the Strat, as it is commonly called, were played by famous musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly and many others.

including two of the best - Hank B Marvin of The Shadows and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits! These guys had Strats with a salmon body and white pick guard. But I digress ..

These are great shots Mike and bring back some fond memories. As usual, the lighting is very good.

Thanks for posting and a trip down memory lane.

Dave

[NorthernFocus]

Mike, your lighting is simply awesome. Using the black velvet as BG for these is perfect. Contrary to you previous guitar shots, in this case I like the prefer the shot of the entire instrument over the close-ups. Among the close-ups photo no.3 stands out for me. Nicely done yet again.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

that streak of blue in the background/bottom on the first gives a bit of an electric feel, was it intentional?

Thanks for noticing! I introduced a blue color cast more so to the first two images and less so to the third one that seems to influence the dark tones more than the bright tones. I did that because doing so "felt" right. The background fabric is nicely draped (sometimes by design, sometimes by accident) to add quite a bit of nice tension to the scene that complements everything about the guitar.

no highlight glare.

Using the black velvet as BG for these is perfect.

I love black-on-black photography but I have to tell you that making it work is particularly difficult, especially when the subject is shiny. My friend's first three guitars that I photographed have black bodies and two of them including this one are shiny. The shiny characteristic is especially prone to unwanted glare (direct reflections of the light sources). It's not easy to make sure the lighting that intentionally creates direct reflections on the strings and other shiny metal to make them appear bright doesn't also create unwanted direct reflections elsewhere. That's especially true in the constraints of my tiny makeshift studio.

Contrary to your previous guitar shots, in this case I like the prefer the shot of the entire instrument over the close-ups.

For me, this guitar's body including the shapes of the double cutout and pick guard and the angular shape of the headstock with all of the tuning knobs positioned on one side lend especially well to displaying the instrument full length and upright. The shape of the double cutout seems to point our eye upward toward the interesting headstock. Nothing of that sort happens as much with the other two guitars I've photographed so far.

[Mike Buckley]

It's time to confess my rookie mistake. I photographed the first two images before I understood my subject. Worse yet, those two profiles are always more difficult to photograph than the images that are more close-up. After making the first versions not shown here, I took a break and looked up the history of the guitar just for fun. That was when I noticed that all of the photos I saw included a tremolo bar. (That's the long chrome thing attached to the body with the white handle at the end.) So, I looked in the guitar's case and, sure enough, found the tremolo bar. I then remade the two most difficult photos to include the important tremolo bar in them.

Moral of the story: Know your subject before beginning to even think about photographing it!

It's actually a good thing that I made that mistake because both remakes that corrected it are better than the first versions. The full-length shot was initially made using three captures, two by design and a third one to correct yet another mistake I had made. The version shown above was made using just one capture, which makes it especially gratifying that it turned out better.

[bje07]

another proof of your skills, well done, I like it.

[madcrow]

Exceptional work, lighting and exposure. Master at work.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Jean and Maurice!

[bnnrcn]

All nice images but #1 stands out for me Mike

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Binnur!