The assignment calls for "soft tungsten lights", so I had been looking for an object that would have actually been easier to photograph using tungsten lights rather than strobes.This is usually the case when the object is itself a light source that the strobes would overpower even when dialed down. So here it is: a Mac ThinAir in a Crumpler bag.
The light scheme starts super simple: a softbox over the bag (higher on camera side, almost touching the bag at the back) ), with the modeling light on. That gives the nice diffuse light on the cover of the ThinAir and the soft shadows. I then added a white LED light inside the bag to add a little more punch to the white light that comes from the keyboard. The computer is on so that the Apple logo is illuminated. The red bag adds a nice touch of color, but with the tungsten lights balance the computer looks yellowish and the bag has no punch....
The solution is to actually color balance on a grey card. That makes the alluminum a perfect gray and shifts the LED light to the blue: the red bag becomes more saturated and the keyboard now gives a cool "high tech" glow. The logos in the back are sligthly blurred, but that is a feature to
highlight the front corner and make the picture more 3D. There is ample space for text if it is needed. Shot at 100ISO, 50mm,5' exposure. Only minor blemishes retouches in postproduction.
