Let's talk lab photography
Lab photography can be tedious, but it's great when you have a willing subject.
The University of Florida's College of Medicine is redoing their admissions booklet and they asked me to take a photograph of a student in a lab to replace the previous photo of a student in lab. The other photo was great, but this student was featured too many times and she also recently graduated.
I usually cringe at the thought of taking another lab photo. I've had terrible experiences with very shy subjects. I understand they are not models, and I am in some way intruding in their work day but it makes it very hard to produce a great image.
Medical students are usually very happy at the opportunity to be featured in any publication, and this student was great!
I absolutely HATE those lab shot with cheesy blue lighting, so I just use natural light.
What is this CSI Miami? I mean no disrespect to chemist Raymond Davis Jr. , I am just critiquing the photograph.
He was great at giving ideas when I told him I didn't want another photograph of someone pipetting. I tried different angles to get a shot that I thought was just right. I used to get really nervous coming into labs. They all look so different, but they all have a lot of supplies stored around. I've trained my eye to look for things that don't belong or clutter the photograph. I try to look for a cleaner background or crop out boxes.
Isn't the bow tie adorable?