Autumn inside

Autumn is a perfect season for still life photography — with its colorful leaves, extremely orange persimmon, hot drinks, red apples, pumpkin soup, and wild grapes. Every local market and park is a ready-made vanitas.

I wanted my light to look natural, so I took a large softbox (my favourite is the Westcott 43″ Apollo Orb) and put it behind my background, slightly on the right side.

Inside it, I set a typical speedlight adjusted to shoot splashes: low power (1/8 up to 1/128 power provides a very short pulse that will freeze the motion of liquid).

There also was a reflector at the left and a small black panel to cut some of the light on the right top angle of the frame.

I found that the nice and easy way to create a rain effect is to pour water through a strainer. This way the flow will be scattered and we can have some small, beautiful drops.