The thing about Kristin is that she is one the most craftiest persons I have ever know. Combined with her free spirtied personality she has created a hand made jewerly line that is both very stalish and afordable.
Back then when I did this shoot, I was mainly experimenting and trying to put into practice some tecniques that I learned from Forrest Tanaka (you can find him on Youtube)
at the time of the shoot I was only armed with two speedlight, 1 SB-600, you can get them here. But I suggest you get the SB-800 it is an overall, superior speedlight. Additionally the SB-800 has an off camera Sync/Multiple Flash Terminal on the side that the SB-600 does not have, should I had know this 4 years ago, I would had not bought the SB-600.
The 2nd speedlight I had was an old beat up Vivitar 285HV which I still use (you can get it here) If you were to compare speedlights to trucks...the Vivitar would be an old Mack truck, tough, bulky, and heavy on the other side it's durable, has consistent output, and its super easy to use. It is a great start up flash and I strongly recomend it. My only beef with this gem is...it has NON standard SYNC port - and thus CANNOT use STANDARD sync cables! you can find them in adorama or ebay, but since this is a unique feature for this flash...many people stay away from it, and overlook the many advantages of this flash. Personally, I got over, all the disavantages and have learn to love this guy specially since it's cheap. Be warned...if you find one for under $100 make sure the battery contacts are free of oxydation/rust and if it is in good working condition...GET IT!
It wasnt untill I found my SB-24 and SB-28 that I sort of stop relaying too much on it.
The other pieces of gear for this shoot were 1 white satin shoot thru umbrella, and several pieces of white reflective foam.
The set up was relativebly easy, SB-600 above the table with umbrella, and the Vivitar 285HV camera right with the reflective material camera left for fill light. I had to "tweak" the set up several times until I got the light I wanted.
As far as the background is concern...I went for a walk in the park (that is...when I lived in Lancaster, PA until last summer) and found some rocks, a tree stump and some foliage on the ground, oh and moss.
This goes to show you that to take good photos, you really don't need thousands and thousands of expensive photo equipment. All you need is a vision, and ingenuity to manipulate light.
Please take a minute to see my friend's Kristin website at http://www.etsy.com/shop/sophieluckjewelry
Until next time....
Ciao.
