2006 #Gibson #LesPaul #R7.
Nikon D600, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/60th second. Shot one year ago, in the basement of my old home in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
When I lived in Peterborough, I used to complain a lot about the lack of natural light. However, one thing living there did for me was force me to learn a bit about how to use flashes and light modifiers. Before moving up there, I never had to do anything but the point the camera and snap away because the house was filled with natural light. I used to take some decent shots in my old house - as long as the light was good (I used to struggle a bit in the winter when it the days were short and often grey and dim). But moving to the house in Peterborough, where the light was ALWAYS dim, very quickly taught me that I was totally screwed if there was no light available to work with.
Thanks to my time there, I now at least have a *clue* how to set up a flash or two in a soft box, position them, and use some techniques to further soften the light and curb reflections. It's a lot of work to get artificial light to look right, and I still have a lot of trouble with it (I take about 50 terrible pictures for every OK one!), but I am learning and practicing.
Since moving back to my house in the Toronto area, I have been able to work with 100% natural light again, which at first was a huge relief to me (it's a lot less "work" than setting up flashes and fiddling with their positions, settings, etc. lol). But now, if anything, I actually have trouble working in natural light only! It turns out what I thought was good light in my old house is actually INCREDIBLY DIM compared to a flash! In the old days I thought nothing of bumping the camera up to ISO 4000 to capture shots in my house. But working with flashes over the last 2 years and getting used to the rich colours and low grain of ISO 100 - 400 shots, there is no way I can go back to anything over ISO 800 now. I just cannot stand the graininess and degradation of colour in high ISO shots!
So, most of my shots since May 2022 (when I moved back here) are a mix of natural light and flash, shot between ISO 400 and 800.
This one is 100% flash tho
#guitarphotography
