17/10/2012 ~ Lapsang Souchong
This is a bit more like it - muuuuch happier with this shot. To me this shot is about sharp focusing and good control of light without light being the subject (which it was yesterday).
I started off with a wider composition using a bone china dish as a tea caddy but the composition I had in my mind didn't even remotely work through the viewfinder so I very quickly found myself swapping to my macro lens and getting in close.
This was shot at a fairly extreme f/36 because I wanted to get good sharp focusing front to back and I'm pretty happy that I managed that with only the leaves at the very back losing sharpness. This was side lit with a diffused SB-900 on full power to combat the small aperture and the same desk lamp that caused me so many problems yesterday. At first I was only using the desk lamp to aid focusing and switching it off to take the shot but eventually I started leaving it on and dropping the shutter speed to bring in some ambient light which warmed the image up a bit and gave a more even lighting across the image. Lastly I had a small reflector positioned below the lens to bounce some light into the area just left of centre. The desk lamp was softened a bit using a white plastic bag which I could only leave on briefly whilst I fired the shutter due to the heat of the lamp ;).
I like this shot and I particularly like texture in the surface of the left most half.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.
This picture is #17 in my October Challenge project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the October Challenge Flickr Group page.