By: Gary Fong
Photographer: Craig Lee
Without light, there would be a lot of unexposed film, not to mention pixel elements that never see the light of day. There are users of light, masters of light, and Craig Lee, a tinkerer of light.
How does one make something as boring as a soybean look elegant? A photographer could have all the light in the world and still not make an image that looks good enough to eat. The objective for a food photographer is to make the subject look good enough to lick off the pages.
When I see pictures that intrigue me, I try to figure out how it was made, the lens, the technique, the lighting. With some of Craig’s material, I often find myself wondering, “How did he do that?”
Lee would study the object to be photographed, examine the texture, and start building an image in his “sky’s the limit” conceptual mind. One of his more innovative lighting techniques is the use of an ordinary flashlight to illuminate small objects like soybeans.
Craig tells me that, after the initial setup, he turned off all the lights in the studio. He broke out his MagLite and panned a feathered beam over and under the soybeans during a very long 25-second exposure. The light adds the warm tones to the image. There are no strobe lights or grids use in his soybean image. It’s got depth, texture, and character...even the hairs on the pods show up.
It’s simple light that can be most effective. When it comes to lighting. Craig would rather use a cheap flashlight, than a $4,000 strobe setup. Imagine having all the elegant light one needed in your back pocket, anywhere you go.
Now that I’ve explained an easy technique, I have one more question. How did he levitate five bean pods without strings or PhotoShop?
