glass metal texture

so this studio session wasn't the most satisfying, but at least the theory behind the techniques was interesting. we were asked to bring our own props for these shots: glass, metal and texture.

here's the glassware shot. materials used: glasses, straws, lemons, lime, blanket, glass tray. the theory for shooting glass is to have a backlight to light up the contents of the glass (or to otherwise show its transparency) and one or more lights in front of the glass to provide reflected highlights (to add depth)
for the metal shot, i decided to go with a ratchet set. the theory for metal photography is that metal acts like a mirror. to get the highlights in this photo, i had to place a strobe with a large soft box over it. without the large light source, the tools would appear completely black and "lifeless." another difficulty with shooting metal (particularly larger objects) is to avoid photographing yourself in the reflection.
for the texture shot, i used a box made of coconut skins held together with stitching. there wasn't much time left for this shoot, so this photo wound up rather rushed but still achieved the effect. the theory behind shooting textures is to use a hard light at a right angle to the object. that way, the texture's peaks and valleys are dramatically shown by highlights and shadows.
during this session, it was evident that photo shoots could last days. i had to shoot 3 photos in 3 hours and that was not enough time.