Lens Cleaning Tip

Today I decided to drag out my lenses and give them a clean.

They really did not need much in the way of cleaning, as I always keep them clean, and generally give them a clean after use if the nature of the shoot warrants it.

When I looked at one or two of my lenses, I discovered that the black rubber focus or AF stop ring was almost grey due to either dust, scuffs or both.  The textured surface of the control rings on lenses, as well as the material from which they are made, makes the use of a blower or dust brush ineffective at cleaning them.

I decided that in order to get into the grooves of the rubber rings, I needed to scrub, so I opted for a soft-bristled toothbrush, which I dampened and then used to scrub ‘along the grain’ of the rubber rings.

I found that did a good job of restoring the rings to their black colour, and makes them look as good as new.

As for my technique for cleaning the optical surfaces of my lenses, I firstly use a rocket blower to blow off any surface dust, and then I use a soft-bristled brush to physically wipe off any remaining surface dust.

Finally I use a LensPen, which has a soft, carbon-tipped, triangular-shaped cleaning pad which effectively cleans the glass and gets into the nooks and crannies where the edge of the glass meets the barrel assembly.

Glowing

Here is a still life image I shot back in 2008, but which I only published recently:

Glowing

This was from a series of wine glass images I captured.  At the time I only published one image, but I liked the drama and contrast in this different version of the same subject.

The lighting setup was quite simple:

1. Canon Speedlite 580EX II at 1/64th power and 24mm zoom, positioned behind the subject, outside a light tent with a blue backdrop, and triggered with a PocketWizard PLUS II.
2. Desk lamp with fluorescent light globe at 90 degrees camera left.
3. Desk lamp with tungsten light globe at 90 degrees camera right.

Luxurious Hydration

Lately we have been buying and drinking a lot of wine.  Tough life, I know.

The cellar — actually a climate-controlled refrigerator specifically for wine — has got rather full, and I have lately felt inspired to photograph some of the good stuff.

For inspiration I had been looking at other marketing-style images of wine, and I had an idea of the kind of image I wanted and how I would light it, so last week I went shopping for some ‘studio’ supplies (backdrops).

This afternoon, I set up a ‘studio’, grabbed some Grange and Bin 707 from the cellar and set about photographing it.

Being the fussy sort of photographer I am, I mucked around a lot with lighting and positioning, as well as my studio set, to achieve the kind of result I wanted.

And here it is:

Luxurious Hydration

The background consisted of black cardboard, which I had bent to form a seamless background.

The key light was a Canon Speedlite 580EX II shot through a softbox positioned at 45 degrees camera right.

For separation lighting, I positioned another Speedlite behind the wines and pointed it at the backdrop.

The last source of light was a white reflector dish placed to the left of the subject to bounce some of the key light back onto the bottles to provide some fill in those deep shadows.

I used my PocketWizard PLUS II triggers to fire the flashes wirelessly.

All in all, I am happy with the result.

The wines, by the way, are spectacular.

The Making of “Riedel”

A couple of years ago I created a simple still life image, which I still enjoy viewing.

The image is titled Riedel.  Here it is:

Riedel

As simple as the image appears, so, too, was the work that went into creating it.  It is surprisingly straight-forward.

The image consists of four Riedel wine glasses.

I photographed them inside a light tent, with a blue backdrop.  Using a ruler I aligned them precisely so that I could produce a symmetrical image.

The lighting setup consisted of two desk lamps (one with a tungsten globe and the other with a fluorescent globe), each placed on the outsides of the light tent on the left and right.  This produced the orange glow visible on the stems and bases of the bowls.

The backlighting was achieved with my Canon Speedlite 580EX II positioned outside the light tent, to the rear.  I triggered it wirelessly with a pair of my PocketWizard PLUS IIs.

There was very little post-processing involved: just some simple straightening, cropping, contrast and sharpness adjustments, plus some clone-stamping of a few distracting specular highlights.

A simple setup, but an effective result to my eyes.