I posted a long article about shooting tabletop macro this morning along with a review of the EZ Cube. Go to www.everything-foto.blogspot.com
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Very nice and very useful, Marc! Thanks a bunch and I hope to find more like this from you more often!RE Macro work blog article: Good work! ... and much better than what they were doing.
Here are a few thoughts and considerations ...
Hot lights have zero working advantage over strobes ... strobes have modeling lights from 100 watts to 650 watts and can be turned off once the light patterns are established, so no heat is generated. A two mono-light kit with stands and 24" X 24" softboxes can be had for under $200 these days.
Tip: generally when shooting watches, set the hands to 10:09 ... or on a triple dial set them between the inner dials like at 10:40
The EZ Cube is okay for quick macro work for lots of smaller items to show on something like EBay, as are the hot-lights ... because they are inexpensive and produce better results than not using them ... and are better than using speed-lights for the casual uninitiated photographer because they can see what's going on. I have a couple of the EZ Boxes ... the one you use and a much larger one. I also sometimes use a cone shaped light tent
However, it tends to be a one-trick, one shape pony that works for some stuff, and not for others. The light is a bit flat and fails to show rounded shapes like a bubble crystal ... or produces what looks like a dent (like the back of the Altus Glycine watch you showed) ... and obscuring reflections (such as on the back of the Wright Brothers 100 Flyer commemorative).
Watches are interesting to shoot ... they often need a really large directional light source, and large subtractive flags to look correct and convey the design and details.
Here's one titled "Time Machine" with H.G. Wells' signature. It's of a rare antique Pink Gold Rolex worth more than everything in my studio, my entire art collection, and both of my cars
-Marc
Odd similar paths Kit. I spent 20+ years intensely involved in the Martial Arts, but modest compared to the true path you took. I now bare the scars and wounds of those days ... the sins of youth visiting themselves on my later years of life. I used to teach Detroit Homicide Detectives and DEA entry teams "real" fighting, and sustained some injuries that now dog my days. However, looking back, it did save their lives on occasion, so probably worth it in retrospect.Marc, if only.
In a rash of mis-directed 'cleansing' I not only got rid of both my Nikon F2A bodies and lenses but all of the negatives of the images I had shot up until then when, just before my 30th birthday, I decided to go to Japan and immerse myself in my martial art study....
I lived there for four years, and ended up in a Zen monastery. Before I went, I had made a pact with myself that I would try to directly experience my time in Japan, instead of making images about my time there.
The Arnold film survives; I have it on DVD if you'd like to borrow a copy (and the young just-out-of-film-school DOP I engaged for that project was none other than Andrew Lesnie—he of "Lord of the Rings" and Oscar fame). It was actually the horrendous experiences I had on that project (far more than the stealing of the print and the law suit) that led me in the Japan, and total cleanse of my then life, direction.
I am very familiar with your background, BTW; I researched you after reading your truly excellent wedding photography with the Sony bodies analysis. And seeing your images was the major force in me getting out of my Nikon setup a year or two ago!
And your description of your work above, especially in the years before you retired, makes my output look modest indeed. It's an interesting life, to be sure.
Warm regards, Kit
Sorry Aboudd, my apologies for any offense as none was intended.With all due respect to the fine shot by Fotograz. I shot that series of watches for myself to show a quick solution for macro shooting using a specific technique for posting images of watches for sale. Position of the hands was not a consideration of mine for these shots. Had I been shooting for a client I would have spent hours building a set, polishing the metal surfaces, making sure all dust was gone and more. This whole series was shot in under two hours. As to the hot lights versus strobes, each has its application. Yes, there are modeling lights on my profoto system but I find the hot lights easier for me to read in this situation and I do like, in the case of the small set-up the smaller light point than I would get with a large soft box. We all shoot in our own style for our own vision. There is no one way to shoot anything.