brianbaitystudio

Wizard's Keep

Once upon a time a wizard built himself some towers wherein he could study his art uninterrupted. Because he lived alone no one knew when he had passed to anoth...
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Once upon a time a wizard built himself some towers wherein he could study his art uninterrupted. Because he lived alone no one knew when he had passed to another plane. Still, his towers remain tracking the passage of time.
Carved from a single piece of cottonwood bark. 8 inches tall 3 inches wide.
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NIKON D810

settings

Aperture 13/1 ISO 100 Shutter 1/1 Focal Length 105/1

upload_date

Jun, 2018

Views

229

Likes

+20

Awards

People's Choice in Handmade by me Photo Challenge

Peer Award

Outstanding Creativity

Absolute Masterpiece

Magnificent Capture

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I shot this photo in my basement as an exercise in product photography and for use on my website to list it for sale

Time

this image was created around noon but the lighting is all staged and shot indoors

Lighting

lighting for this image was created with two florescent studio lights in 18 inch soft boxes. They were set on the left and right of the camera pointing at 45 degree angles to the carved object and roughly the same height. Highlighting the details of the carving was the biggest priority

Equipment

A Nikon D810 and the Nikon 105 mm prime lens were used for this shot because of their ability to capture fine details. the kit was mounted on a Manfrotto tripod for stability at the slow one second exposure. Lighting was accomplished with two florescent studio lights in 18 inch soft boxes

Inspiration

The inspiration for this photo was two-fold, the creation of an image for marketing and to document my carving for provenance and to improve my product photography abilities. I hope to enter the product photography arena real soon and practice as often as possible. And for the record, this carving has been sold

Editing

The only post-processing done here is a bit of sharpening. I have not yet learned to process photos and do not have the software to do so. I learned photography in the days of film where each shutter click cost money so I taught myself to get as much as possible right in camera

In my camera bag

My kit contains a Nikon D810, which has been my goto setup with a Nikkor 105 mm f2.8 lens. Recently I upgraded my second body to a Nikon D500. I bought this body for it's lowlight capabilities. Normally the Nikkor 16-80mm f2.8-4 lens resides on the D500 and is the setup I carry when I want to travel light. For those special occasions where I need a wide view the Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 fills the void and a Tamron 150-600mm f5-6.3 helps me reach out long and far for those subjects that don't like us getting close or the animals that might cause severe bodily harm. The Nikon speedlight system works wonders for all my supplemental lighting and I have a collapsible 12 inch reflector which is easy to stick in my pocket when out in nature or where flash won't work. I use aManfrotto tripod when needed.

Feedback

To capture such an image i recommend patience, practice, and study. patience because lighting for objects can be tricky. Practice is paramount because every object photographed has different characteristics and the more knowledge you have the more intuition you will have for future photographs. Study is really important because you can shorten your learning curve by learning from the experience of others. I recently acquired a mentor as well to help me with hands-on lessons

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brianbaitystudio

brianbaitystudio

Wizard's Keep

Once upon a time a wizard built himself some towers wherein he could study his art uninterrupted. Because he lived alone no one knew when he had passed to anoth... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow brianbaitystudio

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Once upon a time a wizard built himself some towers wherein he could study his art uninterrupted. Because he lived alone no one knew when he had passed to anoth...
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.