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Posts tagged studio

studio shoot

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My industrial design class just completed their semester-long power equipment design project culminating with the building of full-scale appearance models. I set up a make-shift photo studio in a lightly used classroom and over the past 24 hours shot over 600 images. All were taken in RAW format (DNG) with my Pentax K10D and my 18-55mm kit lens and FA 35mm f/2 AL and processed in Adobe Lightroom. By shooting in RAW I was able to set the white balance for all the shots with one click by selecting an underexposed portion of the white backdrop with the eye dropper tool in Lightroom and then copying and pasting that setting to all images.

Most of the shots required a heavy dose of positive exposure compensation while shooting to keep the white backdrop white and not grey. I was pretty diligent with the use of the histogram while shooting so there wasn’t much need for exposure adjustment. I just made sure there was a good spike on the right hand side of the graph without going very far into the mid tones. Here’s a shot of the “studio” set-up:

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I positioned the white paper backdrop centered under a row of fluorescent lights so that there was a row flanking the backdrop on either side. This provided nice even lighting front to back and reduced shadows to a minimum.

For each of the 14 students I took anywhere from 40-70 shots (all hand-held @ ISO 400). I started with low-angle orthographic views at a medium focal length (35-45mm) followed by eye-level perspective shots at a wider angle (35-24mm), short depth of field detail shots (to hide any imperfections), and specialty shots as required (use, high angle, ultra-wide low angle perspective, etc.). All in all I was really pleased with the results right out of the camera and I think the students ended up with great shots for their portfolios.

Unfortunately, the confidentiality agreement I signed prevents me from showing most of the shots or even revealing the client or other interesting project details, but here are a few ambiguous detail shots of the final models to show what I was able to achieve with this make shift DIY studio set-up:

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Oh, and I have over 2,000 photos that I have taken of the students working on their projects this semester that I need to burn off onto DVDs within the next week!

Pentax SMCP-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited User Review

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Ever since I started shooting DSLRs with APS-C sized sensors I have struggled to find the perfect go-to lens for the majority of my photos. I love the speed and image quality of my old A series 50mm f/1.7 but the lack of autofocus and relatively tight F0V (75mm equiv.) makes it less than ideal for a lot of my shooting. When my friend Stephen said he was sending me his DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited to take for a spin I was pretty sure that it was going to be the lens I have been looking for. I had read all the reviews so I knew that it was a sharp lens with top-notch build quality. All that remained was for me to live with it for a few days…

Pros:

  • Razor sharp starting at f/2.8.
  • Virtually no flare and very low CAs or fringing.
  • Wonderful bokeh (especially during macro use).
  • Impeccable Limited build quality.
  • Smaller and lighter than most 1:1 macro lenses.
  • Durable*
  • Ultra close focusing capability.
  • Built-in lens hood.
  • Excellent bang-for-the-buck.

*I didn’t test this lens’ durability but my friend Stephen did. Within minutes of opening the box he dropped it from a height of 1M onto concrete. The filter mount ring took the brunt of the impact (note silver filed away area in these shots) but the function of the lens was not otherwise affected. Wow!

Cons:

  • Slow focusing due to extremely long focal range.
  • Lack of focus limit switch (might correct previous point).
  • Focus ring spins during autofocus operation.
  • Included lens cap falls off too easily.
  • Extremely limited stand-off distance at 1:1 magnification (read: “none”).
  • Diffraction may be a problem above f/8 with non-macro shots.

Conclusion:

Turns out this is not the do-it-all lens I’ve been looking for. Now, before all you Pentaxians out there start accusing me of bashing Pentax again, let me explain…

The DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited is one of the best macro lenses I have ever used. It absolutely blows everything away within 2 feet of the front of the lens. I love the natural look the 35mm (52.5mm equiv) FoV provides. I can easily see this being one of the best lenses available for shooting products in a studio setting. If I were still walking the floor at Asian electronics trade shows it would be my go-to lens (lots of close-up shots of products held in my hand). However, the things that make this lens so good at what it was designed to do also make it less than perfect for my everyday use. If your primary interest is up-close hand-held macro photography, look no further. Buy this lens. If, like me, you are thinking that this lens might double as a good medium focal length lens for everyday use, please read the rest of my review and decide for yourself:

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new toy

I love the smell...

Mr. UPS brought my new Pentax FA 35mm f/2 AL lens today. It has an equivalent field of view on my K10d of 52.5mm, making it the closest you can get to a real “fast fifty” FoV on a Pentax DSLR. This lens has been discontinued by Pentax so I figured I’d better snap one up while I could. I paid $330 from B&H with free shipping. Good thing I acted when I did because it’s now not even listed on their site any more…

I’ll be testing it over the next few days for my review. Here’s a shot of the kit (shot in my kitchen studio):

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I’m really digging the lens hood (and thus planning a new center-pinch lens cap purchace).

Designing Green 2009

Designing Green trophy

Pentax K10D, SMC PENTAX-DA f/3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL @ 18mm, ISO 160, f/4, 1/30 sec, +1 EV, IS on

Read all about Auburn University’s Department of Industrial and Graphic Design’s annual Designing Green competition on my personal blog.

Designed by Aran Mun, the hand-made laser cut cardboard trophy above was shot in a simple whitespace studio with a single incandescent bulb behind a white umbrella diffuser (reversed from the set-up shown below):

RAW file processed in Adobe Lightroom to correct white balance and tweak the exposure slightly. I shot another version at f/8…

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…but I preferred the way the vignetting and shallower DoF in the f/4 shot really adds depth to the photograph and focuses your attention on the logo. Best thing about having access to a studio like this is that the total time to set up for this shot and snap the four frames I took was less than 2 minutes!

Click here if you’re just interrested in seeing all the photos I took during the event.

PMA bound

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Tomorrow evening I fly out to Vegas for 3 days at the Photo Marketing Association’s (PMA) 2009 trade show. I’m all geared up with my Pentax K10D, new SanDisk 8GB Extreme III SDHC card and ExpressCard reader, custom printed business cards, and press badge. Unfortunately, my extra battery and battery grip look like they won’t get here in time. Shame.

I’m sure there will be plenty of coverage for the big name products. Rather than just add to the noise, my plan is to blog about the products I find most interesting. Hopefully this will add a slightly different perspective to the show coverage than the typical mainstream media coverage. Of course I’ll probably get caught up in any big announcements just like everyone else but I’ll do my best to find a unique angle to cover. Check back often for updates throughout the week.

BTW, thanks to the snow today for providing nice flat whitespace studio-like lighting for this shot:

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Making lemonade out of lemons, my friends ;-)

About

I'm an industrial designer and an avid hobbyist photographer. People are always asking me "how'd you do that?" So, I decided to create this site as a place to share my experiences and insights about photography, the gear and what it all means to me. I'm not sure if this site will make anyone besides myself a better photographer but I figure it's worth a try. Take a look around and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!

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