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Even More Fun Pictures with Nikon

shtarka1

Active member
Steen, the IQ & Color are Superb on the "Junk" house!

Viablex....This would be a cool place for some eclectic model shooting...

TR...Did you pull the trigger on the Zeiss 100 yet?
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
Steen, the IQ & Color are Superb on the "Junk" house! (...)
Thanks Steve, btw. it is not true that the "Junk" house picture was taken with the cheap little 18-70 kit lens, it was taken with the Zeiss ZF 1.4/85 Planar.
But I can no longer make any corrections to that post. I apologize for any confusion caused.
It is even not the first time I make this error, too much copy and paste ... :rolleyes:



Nikon D300 • Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm • 1/20 sec. at f/8 ISO 200 • Capture NX
 

shtarka1

Active member
Thanks Steve, btw. it is not true that the "Junk" house picture was taken with the cheap little 18-70 kit lens, it was taken with the Zeiss ZF 1.4/85 Planar.
But I can no longer make any corrections to that post. I apologize for any confusion caused.
It is even not the first time I make this error, too much copy and paste ... :rolleyes:



Nikon D300 • Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm • 1/20 sec. at f/8 ISO 200 • Capture NX
The ZF 85 1.4 is Insanely Sharp! BTW...Love this shot!!

TR..I adore my ZF 100 Makro Planar!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Obviously you did a perfect job, Jorgen, despite the lack of a meter by hand.
Looks great and ready for the brochure. I want one immediately :)
Is it a "Stressless" ?
Thanks, Steen and Lloyd. Unfortunately, the job wasn't all perfect. The lower right strobe was a little too "hot", so the ottoman is slightly overexposed, but I believe they'll fix that during post-processing.

It's not a "real" Stressless, but a similar concept, made by a manufacturer originating from the same little village on the west coast of Norway.

Steen, if you have problems seeing the difference between the Zeiss and the 18-70, I believe that I can help you by taking care of that silly, old manual focus lens for a couple of years :D
 
Thanks Steve, btw. it is not true that the "Junk" house picture was taken with the cheap little 18-70 kit lens, it was taken with the Zeiss ZF 1.4/85 Planar.
But I can no longer make any corrections to that post. I apologize for any confusion caused.
It is even not the first time I make this error, too much copy and paste ... :rolleyes:
Whew... you had me scouring ads for an 18-70 for a second there!! :ROTFL:
 
But my living-room is rather tidy :D

D80 with 80-200 AF-S @ 80mm and f/9.0



Actually, it's a studio shot from this morning. I was picked up at 6 P.M. with all my gear, including 6 strobes with stands, to a factory way out in the middle of nowhere, to take photos of 2 – two – recliner chairs. One of them had to be white, isolated on white, straight from the camera. And I don't even own a meter :(
That's OK. I don't own that many strobes. Awesome and challenging work!

Especially since that's not even post processed. That will be even better.

Funny how much better the pictures turn out when they are wonderful straight out of the camera!

Great stuff!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Thanks, Jason. Usually when I work for those people, we do five pieces of furniture per hour for two days non-stop, each piece in around 10 different positions. That's a bit more stressful, particularly since some of the furniture is literally arriving unassembled from the production line and assembled on the studio floor. The limited time is also the reason for the number of strobes; because of this, I need to cover every angle by rotating the chair or sofa, mostly without moving any of the strobes. Adding to the challenge is a ceiling height of less than 250cm (around 8 feet), and yes, the ceiling is white.

This is all a result of lots of experimenting. Until three years ago, I hardly knew what a studio strobe looked like, but I participated in a local workshop and adapted what I learned to real life. During the process, I've learned that unlimited amounts of tape and cardboard in assorted shades of gray, black and white is at least as important as how fancy the lighting equipment is.
 
Thanks, Jason. Usually when I work for those people, we do five pieces of furniture per hour for two days non-stop, each piece in around 10 different positions. That's a bit more stressful, particularly since some of the furniture is literally arriving unassembled from the production line and assembled on the studio floor. The limited time is also the reason for the number of strobes; because of this, I need to cover every angle by rotating the chair or sofa, mostly without moving any of the strobes. Adding to the challenge is a ceiling height of less than 250cm (around 8 feet), and yes, the ceiling is white.

This is all a result of lots of experimenting. Until three years ago, I hardly knew what a studio strobe looked like, but I participated in a local workshop and adapted what I learned to real life. During the process, I've learned that unlimited amounts of tape and cardboard in assorted shades of gray, black and white is at least as important as how fancy the lighting equipment is.
2.5M white ceiling? 3 strobes bounced off at congruent angles and 2 strobe softbox or through umbrellas to soften and eliminate shadows?

I need to learn about studio lighting. I'm so impressed!

Two more weeks and I'm in your neighborhood!!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
My standard setup for furniture is as follows:

- One strobe with softbox on the left, as high up as I can get it, pointed 30-45 degrees down. One of two main lights.
- One small strobe on the left, almost at floor level, low power but only softened with a couple of layers of semi-transparent plastic. This is to avoid hard shadows under the armrest.
- One strobe with reflective (silver) umbrella high up on the right. Lower power than the one on the left, but more contrasty light.
- One strobe lower down on the right with a small softbox or a transparent umbrella. This is to give even lighting when shooting sofas from the front and recliners from the side. This is also the one that was too hot yesterday.
- Two strobes symmetrically on the background, shielded from the product with cardboard that is black, corrugated (totally non-reflective) on the side towards the furniture and white, reflective on the side towards the background.

Because of the low ceiling, I often use cardboard or black fabric to avoid light from the strobes reflected in the ceiling. This is particularly important with the background strobes, and when shooting products with black, reflective, horisontal surfaces.

I would like to experiment with two tall light boxes, one on each side, but they are expensive, so I've pulled the brakes until I can get a studio with a higher ceiling. One of the beauties of the system that I have now, is that it goes into three bags, one for the three large strobes and all cables, one for all stands, softboxes, umbrellas, tape and whatever and on ThinkTank Airport Addicted for four small strobes, two camera bodies, lenses, chargers etc. All in all, just over 40 kilos. If I have to go by air, I skip the bag with the three large strobes, take the ThinkTank as carry on luggage, and I'm all set :)
 
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Corlan F.

Subscriber Member
Terrific job you did there Jorgen, really.
And great insight, with a particularly bounding location.

A couple of questions though, if you don't mind.
I guess this time you shot Manual mode, what was the actual speed? SOmething like 1/160th or 1/200th?
Was it a trial and error not having a meter?
Last, how do you synchronize (chords, PW, auto detection with pop flash...)?

If the posted image is pretty much on echot "out of camera", what i find the most
impressive is the HL reflections in the metal legs (while keeping details and good exposure allowing details on the white leather).

Great skills are required to achieve that kind of details, exposure and structured lighting especially in not-so-controlled conditions and a relatively reasonnable level of equipment. :thumbs:
(though i also see there another proof that this 80-200mm is a treat) :)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Thanks, Jason. Answers in the quote.

Terrific job you did there Jorgen, really.
And great insight, with a particularly bounding location.

A couple of questions though, if you don't mind.
I guess this time you shot Manual mode, what was the actual speed? SOmething like 1/160th or 1/200th?

Manual mode and 1/60th. A faster shutter speed would have been better, since I would pick up less ambient light, but I've found the right WB for this speed with the current setup, so I'm leaving it at that for the moment.

Was it a trial and error not having a meter?

Yes, it was a trial and error, but I've been taking product shots there for 5-10 days every year for the last 4 years, so I don't start from scratch every time. I started with 2 strobes though, then went to 5 and now 6 plus a backup.

Last, how do you synchronize (chords, PW, auto detection with pop flash...)?

I use IR, but I'll change to PW or something similar later this year. IR isn't 100% reliable.

If the posted image is pretty much on echot "out of camera", what i find the most
impressive is the HL reflections in the metal legs (while keeping details and good exposure allowing details on the white leather).

I always bracket 3 shots (different apertures) in 1/3 steps, 4 shots with black leather. Black leather is the most difficult, since details often disappears if it's only slightly underexposed, so I have an extra overexposed shot, just in case.

Great skills are required to achieve that kind of details, exposure and structured lighting especially in not-so-controlled conditions and a relatively reasonnable level of equipment. :thumbs:
(though i also see there another proof that this 80-200mm is a treat) :)

The 80-200 is a bit long on DX for this, and I'm mostly at 80mm. I'm considering a Tokina 50-135. An alternative would be to upgrade to FX, obviously, but the cost would be higher. I can almost get a D300s plus the Tokina for the price of the D700. I do think the 80-200 AF-S is one of the best lenses Nikon has ever made. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the lens they looked at when updating the 70-200.
Edit: If you look at the central leg of the ottoman, you can actually see that the lower left strobe is placed lower than the one to the right. The right one is partly shaded by the pillow. This is deliberate and one of the challenges; the furniture should be very evenly lit but still with small variations to avoid making it look flat and lifeless. There are lots of considerations regarding shadows and reflections, how strong and where.

One more thing: This is a little bit cold, I believe around 4300K. I did that to make the white chair stand out from the neutral background. To most people it will look white, while it is in fact blueish.
 
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