I thought I'd share a behind-the-scenes photo of part of a fall shoot I did recently.  I had picked up a vintage book of poetry from a library $1 sale and wanted to shoot it. I picked up the cool jar from the thrift store.  I loved the color and texture. I got the fall berry branches from Hobby Lobby and liked the look of them.  I decided to use the plain, green wall in our living room as the background because I liked the mood it provided and how it worked with the other natural colors in the scene. 

How did I shoot it? (scroll down if you don't want all the details)

For a main light, I used my Westcott Solix LED light at about a 90 degree angle to the left of the diffuser. (A 43", 5 in 1 reflector that I got free, with my education through New York Institute of Photography). Here's a link to a similar one, from Neewer.  I clamped some extra pergo planks I had, to a 2'x4' table.  I used some foam board on the right as a fill.

For this shoot, I used a Canon 70D because it has the articulating LCD screen (on which you can see the image as I had it framed up) and it makes it easier to see what I'm doing, especially if I am changing angles a lot or shooting from overhead, for a flat lay in stock images.  One of these days i'm going to shoot tethered.  I will probably love it.  I need to JUST DO IT!

*I took the BTS image with my iphone 8+

Below is the final image that I was taking in the BTS photo above. I love how this image came out!  

I post processed it in Lightroom and I warmed it up a bit, to accentuate the autumn vibe.

Below are a few images of the same book on an old wooden barrel, that I did using macro.  I used different lighting, but the same background.  The background looks black due to how I set up the lighting, though. 

There's just something about old books...the smell, the yellowed pages, the rugged edges, the worn covers. I love thinking about the story of the book's life.  Who may have held it and also read its pages?  Was it stored on a bookshelf, coffee table or stored in an old trunk?  Did its owner have a family? What kind of house might they have lived in, and where?  What type of life did they have?  So fun to imagine!

Do you love books?  Do you especially love old books?  If so, let me know in the comments!  I'd love to hear about it.