How to shoot still life with studio strobes

Look at pretty much any of my previous articles and I will tell you natural light is great for still life photography. And it is. It’s free, it’s beautiful and easy to work with. But…it’s not always available. One thing I have learnt over the last 18 months is you need to be flexible. So how to shoot still life with studio strobes if that’s all you have available?

Shooting with studio strobes

You might think this studio strobe is overkill, but not really. I used a Godox AD400Pro with a 36″/90cm Octobox (with double diffusion) and turn it down to 1/128 power as well as a Godox X1 trigger. I placed this side onto my table to give cross light across the image. The actual globe position is slightly higher than my scene and angled slightly up so that the light is a little indirect and feathered. Next was a 5 in 1 reflector with a silver side facing the strobe to reflect light back. I used a Wimbley Plamp to hold the reflector (fabulous clamp).

Then it’s just a matter of setting your scene and capturing your images and editing them to your style and taste.

Still life with side light

Using the reflector means that my shadows are soft, if you’re after something a little more contrasting and punchy, you could try without the reflector.