Post Your Tabletop photography, pack shot and still life

[Robin W]

All right... Needa gets a respite today, no more food photos for the moment!


The photographer’s forgotten companions

For many photographers, the standalone light meter symbolizes accessories of bygone days. No one uses them today, even though the chief reason why they were used in the past is still there (measuring incident light instead of the reflected one). Some portrait pros, some studio pros, probably still use one, unless they just “play it by ear”, shoot first and then assess the results on the back screen of their camera, or the screen of their portable computer if they shoot tethered –forgetting that what the camera sends there is a JPEG and not the actual RAW image they have just taken... Some directors of photography in the feature film industry, too...

That is why I will never cease to congratulate companies that still manufacture them and keep developing new and better models. Japan’s Sekonic Corp. arguably makes the best light meters there are, and I have two of them: one Studio Deluxe III which I acquired years ago and that works the old-fashioned, analog way, without any batteries nor any kind of power, and the new L-858D, which does absolutely everything in light metering and flash metering, and which I use routinely in the studio to balance the light between multiples sources. It can even talk to my Phottix studio strobes and trigger them remotely to measure illumination.

For both photos: Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 50mm ƒ/1.8 S “Nifty Fifty” lens, Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. The L-858D is a composite shot made up of 10 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera, while the Studio Deluxe III needed only 7 exposures. Stacks processed with Helicon Focus. For the L-858D, I also had to composite two shots: one with strobes firing to light the device, and one in the dark with just the screen illuminated.

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Nice photos! For some reason whenever I take a photo of words from a book they never turn out. And I probably won't get a chance to try again until after Christmas. Anyway, I am always amazed when I see words from a book that are readable in a photograph.

 

[Blue439]

Nice photos! For some reason whenever I take a photo of words from a book they never turn out. And I probably won't get a chance to try again until after Christmas. Anyway, I am always amazed when I see words from a book that are readable in a photograph.

Thanks, Robin !

 

[Blue439]

Lemon tree (2020)

A present we were given for Christmas 2020, which, as expected, did not survive long... No green thumbs in this house, only weed need apply!

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z “Nifty Fifty” 50mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Single exposure.

 

[Clovishound]

Where I grew up in central Florida, that would just be planted in the backyard and forgotten about, until time to harvest some fruit each year.

 

[Blue439]

Where I grew up in central Florida, that would just be planted in the backyard and forgotten about, until time to harvest some fruit each year.

Well, that’d be subtropical weather, and we’re not there yet in France (fortunately for me! being half-Breton and half-Scot, I am a northern guy...), in spite of the global warming...


What hard disks look like today

When I assembled my latest PC in the Fall of 2020, I kept inside some of the traditional hard drives I had been using before (for backup essentially), but I also included as my main work drives a couple of those spanking new “solid state” ones. They are much faster, much more reliable as they contain no moving parts, and certainly a lot easier to install!

Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm, ƒ/2.8 2× Ultra Macro APO lens, manual focus. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Maybe some focus-stacking, but I haven’t kept the data.

 

[Blue439]

TSL snow shoes (2020)

An exercise in lighting... My rarely used snow shoes.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 14 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

A still life of souvenirs around music: books and records (2020)

Old vinyls: Hawaiian music from the 1950s (that one was bought by my parents), and a Let’s spend the night together single by The Rolling Stones, bought by myself in England during a language-cum-sailing stay in July 1970.

The books are The Life, a biography of Paul McCartney by Philip Norman, and Backtrack, a book of memories and anecdotes by Tessa Niles, one of the greatest background and session singers of the last 30 years. I can recommend both books!

Nikon Z7, Laowa 100m, ƒ/2.8 2× APO macro lens, manual focus. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Flat-lay, single exposure.

 

[Blue439]

Tarte aux framboises (2020)

Needa, avert your gaze!

Raspberry tart with pistachio crumbs. The store says it serves six, I think four are plenty. And I’m quite happy to deal with it on my own.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 10 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

Red and Blue (2020)

I love to light different materials and try to use the way they react to showcase them as best I can. Here are a silk tie and bow tie. I didn’t have to stack focus, as I used the 19mm tilt-shift lens which, appropriately tilted, gave me the depth of field I needed.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens (tilted), manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1geared head. Flash lighting. Single exposure.

 

[Blue439]

My Sony friend (Yes, I do have one!)

When I used Nikon pro bodies such as the D3, D3s or D4, I took advantage of the built-in sound recorder to record notes pertaining to the photos I took.

When I decided to forego those enormous beasts and use regular DSLRs such as the D810 and D850, I lost the benefit of the built-in recorder and bought this little Sony machine (ICD-PX333 I believe it’s called) which does the job quite well, and is even capable of doing tons of other things I don’t use. What matters is that it is light and fits within a small leather case that I slide onto my belt, so that it is always at my side while on photo trips.

Moving to mirrorless has unfortunately not (yet) improved the situation, as the ability to record voice memos linked to photos has been brought to the Nikon Z6 (and the Z9, I think), but (to everyone’s surprise) not to the Z7/Z7 II, which were the flagship models until the Z9 came out...

Nikon D850, Micro-Nikkor 105mm ƒ/2.8 macro lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 7 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

A marine lifestyle (or is it a marine-style life?), 2020

Having fun in the studio building up a still life around an ocean-going theme:

. a Dalmard Marine sailor’s sweater. That brand claims to “clothe the adventurers” —yay, so I am one! (I can see my wife sneering silently);

. my old Tamaya NC-77 astro-navigation calculator, which I intensively used throughout the 1980s and 90s, when navigation was still done with a sextant, before the age of the GPS...;

. a ropework and shackle keychain;

. my old brass and steel dividers, which I used for as long as we had paper navigation charts...;

. the tip a Sebago Docksides deck shoe.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 60mm, ƒ/2.8 D macro lens, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Dark blue leather background. Single exposure.

 

[Blue439]

Classy garden gloves (2020)

Those are tweed and leather garden gloves. I found them so good-looking I couldn’t resist buying them, then ended up never daring to use them for gardening... Also, they look a bit thin for the kind of garden work I do (my garden is a jungle!), and so I favor my thick all-leather gloves for the job.

Anyway, they are so nice, landed gentry-looking, you know, that I wanted to light them nicely and take a shot!

Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm ƒ/2.8 2× macro lens (bow re-sold). Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 17 focus-stacked exposures, set manually using a NiSi NM-180 focusing rail. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

Pushing the cursors (2020)

In June 2020, on what must have been a sweltering day, I took a high-key shot of the most mundane and boring subject I could find, and set about going crazy in post-production by tweaking and pushing all those software cursors I had never used before.

This is the result, and I can’t say I’m overly proud of it —this is just to show how far heat-induced madness can take you. Beware...! ;o))

Nikon D850, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Natural light, single exposure.

 

[Blue439]

Geared head (2020)

The top of my “heavy” tripod with the Arca-Swiss head I use mostly indoors. I see from the EXIF I shot this at 1/400 second, which means I most likely handheld it with the flashes set on high-speed sync.

Nikon Z7, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR macro lens, FTZ adapter. Flash lighting. Handheld, single exposure.

 

[Blue439]

We have a Chef in the kitchen (2020)

Our Kenwood “Chef Premier” food processor.

Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z “Nifty Fifty” 50mm ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 6 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus.

 

[Blue439]

Boils even when watched! (2020)

Our Riviera & Bar electric kettle is the one single appliance that gets the most everyday use in the kitchen! Some days (not often, but it happens) we don’t even switch on the cooking table as we have a light cold meal of leftovers, or eat out, or have food delivered, but no day goes by without numerous cups of tea and tisane!

Therefore, I undertook long and exhaustive research on all models available, before settling on this one. I needed it to be as fast as possible, even when watched... Do you know the joke that says that a kettle that is being watched never boils? Well, this one does, and very quickly, and doesn’t mind being watched impatiently!

I like to tell those little stories, but all in all those photos really are exercises in studio flash lighting...

Nikon D850, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 G VR lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 22 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically using the built-in function on the camera. Stack processed with Helicon Focus. I also composited in another exposure taken without the strobes to see the lit LED temperature indicator.