Before I hit the sack then.....

With product/technical shots, I start by knowing exactly what the dynamic range of my camera/film is. I will measure the highlights and shadows with a lightmeter and either add of take away light so that the image uses all of the dynamic range of the medium I am using. Adjustments to the light will me made so that I can shoot at the optimum aperture and ensuring that everything I want in focus - is in focus, and within the depth of field. Some of the product shots I took for a book on narrowboat art, were done on 5x4 stopped down to f45 or more, took around 20 flashes from the studio lights with the shutter open to get enough light.:eek: Be very careful with your backgrounds - try and avoid distractions such as red tops on WD40 cans

For the 'arty' shots, use YOUR imagination. But try and break a few compositional rules and make the image feel 'wrong' but at the same time 'right'. Let some of the lighting block out to emphasize a small portion. Make the image sweat and live. In the end, what you may do will probably be totally different to what I may do - and that is the point of it all.

Good luck.

Before I hit the sack then.....

With product/technical shots, I start by knowing exactly what the dynamic range of my camera/film is. I will measure the highlights and shadows with a lightmeter and either add of take away light so that the image uses all of the dynamic range of the medium I am using. Adjustments to the light will me made so that I can shoot at the optimum aperture and ensuring that everything I want in focus - is in focus, and within the depth of field. Some of the product shots I took for a book on narrowboat art, were done on 5x4 stopped down to f45 or more, took around 20 flashes from the studio lights with the shutter open to get enough light.:eek: Be very careful with your backgrounds - try and avoid distractions such as red tops on WD40 cans

For the 'arty' shots, use YOUR imagination. But try and break a few compositional rules and make the image feel 'wrong' but at the same time 'right'. Let some of the lighting block out to emphasize a small portion. Make the image sweat and live. In the end, what you may do will probably be totally different to what I may do - and that is the point of it all.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tips:thumbup: and a gold star for the WD40 spot:thumbup:. It is easy to get to wrapped up in the subject:(.

As for f45, I will leave that to you pros for now:D