Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — full exif
Chinese Cabbage in Fumie's Kitchen

While Fumie was cooking dinner the other day, the proportions of a Chinese cabbage (hakusai – 白菜) in the kitchen caught my eye. I thought it was beautiful, so wanted to try my hand at photographing it.

The difficulty in many aspects of photography – as in life – is knowing first what you want to accomplish, and then how to go about it. Unlike my earlier water-glass shots where I just copied someone else's setup, in this case, I had an immediate gut instinct about what I wanted to do, and, especially after having read Light — Science and Magic, I knew exactly how to approach it. The problem this time was the third step: actually putting a plan into action.

Metaphorically speaking, it's as if I knew I needed to hammer a nail into the wall, which itself should be a simple task, but in my case, all I had on hand to complete the task was a broken umbrella and a slightly-ripe banana. In photography – as in life – not having the proper tools can make an otherwise simple task gruesomely frustrating.

I got the shot I wanted, but it's almost comical how I eventually did it...

The Setup

I knew that I wanted the light to come from above and slightly forward, and that I wanted a diffuser in between to soften the light. So, here's how it went...

I took a tray that had a slatted grill-like top and short legs, and propped it up on four up-ended tissue boxes so that it was well above the cabbage. On top of the tray I then lay a tissue, which acted as my diffuser. If I could then position the flash above the tissue and aim it down, the light would filter through and illuminate the cabbage below. From the cabbage's perspective, light would engulf it from the entire surface of the tissue, bathing it in a light that softened the harsh shadows that the bare, small flash area would normally create. But since the bulk of the light would come from above, there was enough “direction” to the light to create shadows in the many veins and ripples of the cabbage, giving it definition.

The next step was to actually get the flash up there. I didn't feel like drilling a hole in my kitchen ceiling, so I had to jury-rig something. I ended up taking a cheap tripod and attaching a lighting umbrella clamp to it, then extended the closed umbrella out from it like an arm. Onto this arm I rubber-banded my SB-800 flash unit. To keep the thing from tipping over, I had one leg in the sink and another had a heavy beanbag draped over for support. (The SB-800 was controled remotely by my Nikon D200, with its on-board flash acting in Commander Mode.)

To keep the background from being cluttered, I propped a large futon mattress well behind the cabbage. Then, to block light from “spilling” from the flash to the mattress and the counter behind the cabbage, I taped a sheet of paper onto the back edge of the flash and let it hang down to the tray. (It ended up not blocking enough light, so I eventually added a big sheet of heavy cardboard, which did the trick. Still, I wish I would have had a black cloth for the background.)

I also draped a sheet in front of the flash, as a precaution against flare from light shining directly into the camera lens.

I took a few test shots, and after adding the extra cardboard, I felt that the shadow under the cabbage was a bit too harsh for a pleasing balance, so I added some aluminum foil on the sides to reflect a bit of the wasted side light back into the scene. This filled in the shadows just a bit, and I got the result I wanted.

Not having the proper equipment turned a 10-minute task into a 45-minute task:

The moral here, of course, is that I should go out and buy a bunch of lighting equipment. The problem is that the moment something is labeled “for photographers”, they add a zero to the price, and maybe a second zero if it's for lighting. I was at a huge camera store last month and considered some $50 “photographers gloves” (gloves that allow some of the fingers easier access to camera controls), but $50 for a pair of gloves is just too much. Last week, I found the same pair of gloves for $8 at a home center, the only difference being the label.

Another example is that a cheap lighting stand to hold an off-camera flash might run $60 here, but a cheap $9 tripod can do the same task, as seen here.

Last week at the home center, I also found a bunch of small clips, stands, and bendy things intended for point-of-purchase displays (to hold price/info cards, etc.). At only a couple of bucks each, I picked up a few. They wouldn't have helped much with this shot, but I'm sure they'll come in handy some day.