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My industrial design class just completed their semester-long power equipment design project culminating with the building of full-scale appearance models. I set up a make-shift photo studio in a lightly used classroom and over the past 24 hours shot over 600 images. All were taken in RAW format (DNG) with my Pentax K10D and my 18-55mm kit lens and FA 35mm f/2 AL and processed in Adobe Lightroom. By shooting in RAW I was able to set the white balance for all the shots with one click by selecting an underexposed portion of the white backdrop with the eye dropper tool in Lightroom and then copying and pasting that setting to all images.

Most of the shots required a heavy dose of positive exposure compensation while shooting to keep the white backdrop white and not grey. I was pretty diligent with the use of the histogram while shooting so there wasn’t much need for exposure adjustment. I just made sure there was a good spike on the right hand side of the graph without going very far into the mid tones. Here’s a shot of the “studio” set-up:

I positioned the white paper backdrop centered under a row of fluorescent lights so that there was a row flanking the backdrop on either side. This provided nice even lighting front to back and reduced shadows to a minimum.

For each of the 14 students I took anywhere from 40-70 shots (all hand-held @ ISO 400). I started with low-angle orthographic views at a medium focal length (35-45mm) followed by eye-level perspective shots at a wider angle (35-24mm), short depth of field detail shots (to hide any imperfections), and specialty shots as required (use, high angle, ultra-wide low angle perspective, etc.). All in all I was really pleased with the results right out of the camera and I think the students ended up with great shots for their portfolios.

Unfortunately, the confidentiality agreement I signed prevents me from showing most of the shots or even revealing the client or other interesting project details, but here are a few ambiguous detail shots of the final models to show what I was able to achieve with this make shift DIY studio set-up:

Oh, and I have over 2,000 photos that I have taken of the students working on their projects this semester that I need to burn off onto DVDs within the next week!

April 22nd, 2009 | Tags: Adobe Lightroom, Auburn University, backdrop, DIY, exposure, FA 35mm f/2 AL, final, fluorescent, industrial design, model making, paper, Pentax K10D, project, RAW, Robert S. Donovan, SMCP-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, studio, white balance, whitespace | Category: technique | Comments Off

Mr. UPS brought my new Pentax FA 35mm f/2 AL lens today. It has an equivalent field of view on my K10d of 52.5mm, making it the closest you can get to a real “fast fifty” FoV on a Pentax DSLR. This lens has been discontinued by Pentax so I figured I’d better snap one up while I could. I paid $330 from B&H with free shipping. Good thing I acted when I did because it’s now not even listed on their site any more…

I’ll be testing it over the next few days for my review. Here’s a shot of the kit (shot in my kitchen studio):

I’m really digging the lens hood (and thus planning a new center-pinch lens cap purchace).

April 2nd, 2009 | Tags: B&H Photo, box, case, discontinued, DIY, DSLR, FA 35mm f/2 AL, fast fifty, field of view, FoV, hood, k10d, kitchen, lens, packaging, peanuts, Pentax, pouch, Robert S. Donovan, studio, UPS | Category: gear | Comments (3)

Pentax K10D, SMC PENTAX-DA f/3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL @ 55mm + SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (reversed), ISO 800, f/8, 1/30 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

This tulip was shot hand-held with a DIY super macro set-up. Lighting was via a nearby window:

The title of the photo comes from a portion of a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne called Atalanta in Calydon:

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,

And all the season of snows and sins;

The days dividing lover and lover,

The light that loses, the night that wins;

March 15th, 2009 | Tags: 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, abstract, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon, bokeh, close, DIY, DoF, hand held, natural light, Pentax K10D, poem, reverse mount, SMCP-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, spring, stabilized, tulip, yellow | Category: photos | Comments Off

Pentax K10D, SMC PENTAX-DA f/3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL @ 18mm, ISO 160, f/4, 1/30 sec, +1 EV, IS on

Read all about Auburn University’s Department of Industrial and Graphic Design’s annual Designing Green competition on my personal blog.

Designed by Aran Mun, the hand-made laser cut cardboard trophy above was shot in a simple whitespace studio with a single incandescent bulb behind a white umbrella diffuser (reversed from the set-up shown below):

RAW file processed in Adobe Lightroom to correct white balance and tweak the exposure slightly. I shot another version at f/8…

…but I preferred the way the vignetting and shallower DoF in the f/4 shot really adds depth to the photograph and focuses your attention on the logo. Best thing about having access to a studio like this is that the total time to set up for this shot and snap the four frames I took was less than 2 minutes!

Click here if you’re just interrested in seeing all the photos I took during the event.

March 14th, 2009 | Tags: Adobe Lightroom, Aran Mun, Auburn University, Best Overall, cardboard, Department of Industrial and Graphic Design, Designing Green 2009, diffuser, DIY, INDD, laser cut, lighting, Pentax K10D, recycle, SMCP-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, studio, tree, trophy, umbrella, whitespace | Category: photos, technique | Comments Off