Thanks for the insight Stephen, I'm learning all the time.

In a lot of cases, you lot should sell your shots (with royalty, so you get money whenever its published) to the product manufacturer.

Nice to see the coffee mug in the set up shots though, all the best set ups are configured whilst supping a hot brew! ;)



Seriously, great set up and result.

Nikkor shot.
 

The Nikkor shot was lit in a fairly standard way with equal lighting from above left and right at full power see pic 1. Light power however was a problem hence the proximity of the brollys. To get something in the left front element a third flash was used again at full power through a reflector (pic 2). To eliminate a brolly artifact in the lens a black flag was used to prevent any light forward of the subject, unfortunately due to lack of hands even with an assistant this could not be shown in the photos.

In the course of this photo a problem in Nikon's creative lighting system has been found. Using SB800 in commander mode set to manual full power on channel 1 and a SB600 in slave mode set to full power on commanding SB800 flash power is REDUCED not increased. There must be some light metering through the SB800/600 there is not a doubling in output in this configuration. Optically triggered SB28's may be confusing SB800/600. SB600 was omitted in this photo realying on one flash in each brolly and a third behind a reflector overall exposure had to be increased by 1 stop in Capture NX when a fourth flash should have been used.

Abbot Ale shot
 

Its true we have run out of beer and we plan to do more shopping in 3-4 days. I decided to photograph the can to get some further benefit :rolleyes:

The general arrangement was to show the 'All gone....' situation with a crushed can on the foreground and open cans to the rear. This is the first shot I have used a mirror, its the bathroom mirror I took of the wall earlier :o

Black velvet was wrapped around a picture frame and provided the background and the mirror did the rest (see pic1).

Initially I decided only simple lighting was required and intended to use one flash and brolly. Although pleased with the result of one flash to the left I thought to improve the shadows to the right of the picture by adding another (pic2). Main light set to full and the second to 1/2 providing some shadow, but not much - this setup is dismantled and I wish I had experimented with less power on the right (pic3)

Very clever Stephen. I was unsure about the base, hence gallery comment. The lack of double reflection, normal from glass over velvet puzzled me a bit. All answered now. So how does Sarah feel about taking the house to bits for the benefit of photography. ;)

I agree with a touch less power on the second flash 1/8 - 1/16. Another trip to Sainsburys required, but perhaps we should wait on Ians verdict. :D :D

Don

Sarah is very pleased with the nice clean mirror now hanging back in the bathroom :D Sadly the composition was dismantled before I did the write up table and dining room rearranged for lunch so only a thought for reduced power on right hand side.

Progress made with the mirror and I am happy with the photo just could be that little bit better with the use of hindsight.

The only help I can offer, is emptying more cans

Ian
p.s. Super shots yet again

This my first attempt at a shot a la' Foxey Bob and Flash gorDON,;)
As Most of the light was from patio doors I set the D70 at 2.5 secs and counted down 2 secs then fired off a flash manually to the left and above head hight to give me a little more reflection. Not bad as I've spent the last two days in bed and still feel lousy today,(Apparently the family said the Turkey tasted very nice, I wouldn't know as everything I have eaten over the last three days all tasted the same to me:(
All I want to do now is to go out and try out this d70:)
PS
This photo is in my gallery

I'm relatively new to photography, and seeing some of these shots and how they are achieved has opened my eyes and mind to a whole new dimension of capturing an image. The Abbot Ale shot is simply marvelous. Many thanks to you all, to inspire some one in any subject is a blessing, and I'm inspired.
Dean.