I figured that I’d try to find a cooperative model so that I could play with some different lighting options. The USB cord for my card reader doesn’t have much fight in it, and I was able to take shots with multiple different lighting setups without any protest from the “model”.
Lighting for the above shot was done with a strong light camera right slightly in front of the end of the cable. A slightly dimmer light (achieved by moving it away from the lightbox a slight bit) at camera left. I think out of all of them, it was my favorite.
All post processing of these was really simple. In Lightroom, I simply adjusted the blacks slider (black clipping) until the whole background was clipped. This is important as it ensures that any changes to exposure won’t bring back details that I didn’t actually want. I was then able to slightly raise the exposure.
For the first outtake, the lights were moved such that they were slightly behind the cable end. This gave a more dramatic look, which I also like. For the second outtake, I had both lights about even with the cable end.
Which one is your favorite?