I was working in my studio last week (translation - the basement) photographing some products I was going to use in a presentation. Two keys to any good photo are light and background. I often use a black backdrop as it highlights the product. And I learned long ago that with lighting, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) was a good rule for me to follow. Good light doesn't necessarily mean lots of lights. This time, though, I needed just a bit more.

I've always liked the quality of light from a softbox. It's not hard or harsh, but still easy to control, letting me direct it just where I need it. When shooting tabletop objects, having it overhead can create a nice look. There are rigs you can buy that will position the softbox overhead, and if you do this a lot, or have large softboxes, they're well worth the money. With my small softbox, though, I can just lean the light stand against the table, bracing the bottom of it against a heavy case and get the same result.

The problem with an overhead light source, though, is that you can sometimes lose detail in the sides of the object, especially when the object is sitting on a dark surace (nothing to reflect up). That's where reflectors come in. Again, there are all sorts of fancy reflectors you can buy. I bought mine too - they're the boxes that my Epson paper came in. With one of those standing to each side of the object (braced up with DVD spindles), just enough light gets kicked back in to bring out detail without throwing shadows.

You can use this idea when doing other types of photography as well. Sidelight is great for portraits, but can sometimes leave heavy shadows in the far side of the face. A sheet of paper, a white board, a white sheet, even asking someone wearing a white shirt to stand near that side of the subject can bounce just enough light in to make the range from light to dark more acceptable.

Remember, any time you're working with lights, it's not the number of lights that matter but the light itself. Stay focused on that and you'll make nice photos.