After Three Curls, comes Three Hands

[Risacher]

Next in the cello making series, and first time playing with strobe flash. I give you Three Hands: Shaping a Cello Arch.

Let me know if you have any tips/tricks for this strobe technique.

20673

Enjoy!

[Moghrion]

You sure you need any tips_
This is great!
I love stillness on the left against motion on the right...
And just maybe, some diffusion on the light would suit better

[Marko]

I dig the image big time - nice play. First thing I'd do - I'd burn down the white caps in the bkgd. If I reshot it, I'd consider the reflectivity of everything in the background to make sure there were no distracting highlights.

My general tips for this stuff.
1 - this takes practise, especially with minimal equipment but it's fun and you learn a lot. The trick is always how to control the spill of light of the strobe - Often, less is more. This is especially true of still lifes where you are blasting so much light into a small space.
2 - For this shot, You need the bright strobe for the freeze effect but my eye wants to see lower more romantic lighting here as Moghrion, I believe is hinting at.
To do that, It's gonna be hard to (gobo - block selective areas using tape, plastic, whatever) the flash or position the flash so that it goes mostly on the hands...but that's where the finer play is imo.
It can Either be done during the shoot, (best for learning) in pp (try it now perhaps - burn down the highlights on the wood so they they better match the contrast level of the hands - imagine the scene as more of a Rembrandt painting) , or both.
Hope that may help and I'd love to see more.