When you are practicing your skills by doing a product shot setup it pays to use a lens as subject matter. This give you a shiny/matte surface to light and shoot as well as a really good look at how clean your glass is.
This is a shot of my Fujinon XF 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6 R LM WR OIS lens. What you think is lint and dust free isn’t really when you get in close. You will need a lint free cloth to clean your lens. I don’t suggest a paper towel as that may end up putting more dust on the lens than you started with. Cleaning your subject saved lots of time in post production.
So get in close and really look at how clean your lenses are. You may be surprised.
Product shot with my new 8″x 36″ strip box on Strobelite ISO 200 F11 1/200 second.
I like it when a camera starts to get the patina of use. The little wear marks near the flash shoe. A bit of loose material by the back buttons. It means that the camera is being used. The more you use the camera the better the images become.
I’ve had the Fujifilm X-T1 now for over 2 years. Shot a lot of images in that time. Some of which were good, most of which were part of the journey of discovering my eye. I shoot with a lot more confidence now. I have several really good lens and the X-T1 provides some stellar capturing. I am starting to be able to capture what I see. And my camera shows it’s been used. If you look closely at the 4 way pad at the bottom right of the image you might see where I got a little bit of crazy glue in the workings when I tried to paste down the bit of leatherette near there. I was able to scrape out the excess and get the button back to working.
So if you camera seems a little too pristine, if your confidence level seems to be lacking, spend a little more time pulling the camera out of the bag and give it a little wear and tear.
Oh yeah and another good tip is to get some good closeup shots of your cameras and lenses. You be amazed at how much dust and junk you find that you really couldn’t see unless you get real close. A good cleaning every once in a while doesn’t hurt.
I just spent the last hour (maybe more) looking at cameras. I started at eBay looking at cameras similar to my newly acquired old Yashica A twin lens reflex camera.
Yashica-A Film Camera Produced from 1959-1969
I always wanted one of these cameras even if I’ve left the film world behind. It does look good on the bookshelf. I purchased a roll of 120 film and prepaid developing envelope for $20 which is almost as much as I spent on the camera. This is why I do digital while the cameras cost much more the image making costs next to nothing.
Anyway, I started looking at the Yashica’s on eBay and found myself soon searching for the more expensive Rolliflex Twin Lens cameras that the Yashica was modeled after.
The Yashica and the Rolliflex are 120 roll film so they have a bigger negative. With the bigger negative you get more resolution. With more resolution you get better images. You know the drill. I was soon searching for Hasselblad cameras which were better still. I then switch to the medium format digital Hasselblad’s and soon was looking at a new Hasselblad kit with a 100mp back and a price tag very near the price of my new car.
I was after that all inclusive better resolution which would make my images oh so much better. Better camera, better pictures yada yada. I was on the slippery slope.
I finally shut down the browser and came back to reality where I re-affirmed for myself that I do have plenty of camera now and I have nowhere exceeded it’s possibility for taking good images.
If I work at it I can get the light right, get the exposure right, processed correctly, and produce an image the will stand up to scrutiny. Case in point this image of my Tesla Watch (i can tell you were to get one if you really need one).
Tesla Watch Fujifilm X-T1 XF 50-140mm F2.8
This image meets all my expectations for a well processed image. So while it may be good to once in a while dream about using a monster camera with a monster price tag, it pays to work at using the camera you have and getting it right, right now.
You can become immobilized by the shear mass of advise in print and on line about how to be a better photographer and how to take better pictures. As in most things lot of the noise falls to the wayside with just a little common sense. Here we are going to explore how to use common sense to make you happy with your art as you explore the world of photography.
