First Try at Studio-Esque Shooting! (Leica Summaron 35mm f/2.8) (QUICK HIGHLIGHTS)

Hey, Norman here. The following is actually one of my first attempts at doing studio-esque shots for the fun of it. Now before anything else, let me say the following things:

1. I should have scrubbed down the lens more (dust and cameras are a unforgiving combination)
2. I should have adjusted the white balance on-camera or in post production to make the images uniform
3. I should have balanced the exposure better so that the images are consistently exposed
4. I should have shot in RAW for better image quality and flexibility in post production (JPEG here for convenience)

With my snide comments to excuse my laziness/inexperience aside, the following set of pictures are from a "product-shoot" I did on Saturday. I knew someone that was selling one of their vintage lenses, and I asked if I could take some pictures of it before they sent it off to the cold harsh world.

After about 40 test shots, I finally narrowed it down to the following ten shots. All in all, I'm pretty sure I learned a great deal (though still not enough) about studioish shots.

Here's what I used:

• Nikon D90
• Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G Lens (This is the only lens that allowed me to focus close enough. Luckily, it comes with most cameras. I was actually surprised on the
• Cheapie Sunpak Tripod (In order to use such a dark lens and take sharp pictures, a tripod is NECESSARY)
• Powerade Fruit Punch Variant Sports Drink (for holding my background paper up-- very important that you use this flavor of sports drinks; safety not guaranteed for any other type.)
• 11x14 Sketchpad Paper (used for a solid-color background)
• Leica Summaron 35mm f/2.8

Click on the READ MORE text to see completely unprocessed, out-of-camera JPEGS!

The warm lighting is provided by my Samsung S3's flashlight with toilet paper used as a light dampener. Turns out the flashlight actually emits a soft summer yellow when bouncing off its own diodes.

The mark on the left side is actually a wrinkle in the paper I used. A quick-fix would have been to unwrinkle it during production or to clean it up afterwards with GIMP/Photoshop.

Might have been a good idea to use a bubble-level to help ensure a balanced image without resorting to cropping.

Always clean what you're about to shoot, people! (Unless you're shooting people, which is a different story entirely)

Love the fiery flare, not happy about the small smudge on the lens filter.