[matthew]

I tend to get distracted easily -- somewhere between absentmindedness and the "ooh, shiny!' reaction that's typical of some men and Magpies. I was unloading the dishwasher this afternoon, and was laughing because I can always tell who unloaded it last. I put the water glasses on the shelf top-up, my partner puts them in upside-down. Then I stopped what I was doing, dishwasher still half-full, and grabbed my camera.









The initial available-light photos were coming out with "character" - 1/50s at iso3200 will do that - so I grabbed a pair of remotes and a flash. Here's the high-end studio setup:



Processing was done with a custom WB per photo and auto-tone in LR with a +.5 to +1EV adjustment, clarity and vibrance ranging between 20-40. The final photo in this series (a different angle of the set-up shot) is #956 with my E-3, and was taken exactly one week after I walked out of the camera store.

[Irma]

Beautiful pictures Matt... The reflection in #2 is great.

I like a lot #4, very nice picture to place near the bar...

[NT73]

Crisp shots. Glass is very difficult to expose correctly.

[aine-caitlin]

Very nice shots. I really like photos like this that show the form and beauty in everyday objects.

[matthew]

Thanks, everyone. This was a lot of fun -- so much that I thought about saving this to make it into an assignment. (Expect one similar anyway.)

Irma, I may try to print and frame a few of these in a small portfolio. I have a book for 20 5x7 prints that's just sitting around, and plenty of paper. The challenge will be to see if I can get the subtleties in print. That's going to be another good learning experience.

NT, I thought I was pretty good with the exposure, and I was chimping the histogram, but I still wound up underexposed. Next time I'll do better. And the crispness comes from the flash -- my first batch of 100 shots had a 0% keeper rate. I was trying to shoot handheld, no flash, inside a cupboard at +1EV. I was at f/2-2.8 at macro distances. Just for fun, I've downloaded the DOF chart for this lens: at 30cm working distance, f2.8 gives me a suggested DOF of 2mm. Shooting something curved. At iso3200. They do have "character", but nothing's in focus.

aine-caitlin, thanks. I can see myself working my way through the kitchen with this idea in my head, but the real challenge is to find these possibilities most (any?) situation. I'm a long way away from that kind of seeing skill.