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Classical Guitar: Strings and Gloss

Musical instruments combine every difficult surface type in one object. Glossy lacquer that reflects everything, dark rosewood that absorbs light, thin strings that disappear in glare, and fine wood grain that needs to stay visible. This classical guitar needed clean catalog documentation where buyers could see construction quality and finish detail.

Shot vertically in playing position rather than laying it flat. This shows the instrument how it's actually used and creates better visual flow down the neck toward the body. Centered composition with equal space on all sides — straightforward catalog presentation where the guitar is the only element.

Lighting used three sources to handle the mixed surfaces. Large overhead softbox provided the main illumination, diffused enough to prevent harsh reflections on the glossy body finish. Two strip lights positioned at 45 degrees on either side created gentle edge lighting that defines the guitar's contours and separates it from the white background. All three lights at equal distance to maintain even coverage.

The nylon strings were the trickiest element. Too much light and they turn into glowing lines with no definition. Too little and they vanish entirely against the fretboard. We angled the overhead softbox slightly forward so the strings picked up enough illumination to stay visible without creating specular highlights that would blow them out.

Exposure was metered off the natural wood soundboard and slightly overexposed by half a stop to push the background to pure white while keeping wood grain detail. The rosewood back and sides required enough exposure to show their texture without making them look artificially lightened. We checked the histogram to ensure the wood tones occupied the middle range with no clipping in the shadows or highlights.

Shot at f/11 to keep the entire instrument sharp from headstock to bridge. Instruments need complete front-to-back sharpness for catalog work — buyers want to zoom in and examine the tuning pegs, bridge design, and rosette detail around the sound hole. Shallow depth of field might be artistic but it's useless for product evaluation.