Early last year, Julie and Tim Gunter contacted me about photographing their product line for a new e-commerce site and catalog for Red Falcon Armouries, which is a York, PA-based company that specializes in high-profile, low maintenance stainless steel armour for live-action combat. In addition, they offer a broad line of clothing accessories for the Renaissance, Medieval, Steampunk and Pirate look.

We had worked out a budget where we would photograph everything in a single day. It was a bit optimistic but very doable. When I arrived at their location, I immediately set up my travel studio. Because of the wide variety of items from large to small and various clothing, I went with a flexible set-up. I used three lights. Two Dynalite Uni400s with 60 inch umbrellas to lighten the background a little and a Dynalite ringflash attached to an M2000er pack as my main light. This worked out quite well as the room was a bit tight. All of the items were shot on Savage seamless paper in Thunderhead Gray.

I took most if not all the photos using Mamiya RZ67 with a 33MP Leaf Digital back and a 110mm/2.8 lens or the 180mm/4, which is a wonderful set-up for product photography. The image above, however, was taken at the end after I had already packed up my medium format camera so I shot that with a Canon 1Ds Mark III and a 35/1.4 .

It was a great day shooting with the Red Falcon team, who took turns donning all the attire. They were professional and organized and we got everything done on time. It was all great stuff and if I had an occasion to participate in any events at venues such as the Renaissance Faire or participate in live-action combat competitions, I would’ve purchased many of the items on display.