D-SLR - Improvised Studio Shots Part II

I never thought I'd need to make a "Part II" for these posts, but it turns out a few days later, I learned how to set up more improv studios around my house. I made another setup, which was based around my desk:

Here, I have set up a model of the solar system, on a black bristol board as a backdrop, and the fluorescent lamp for lighting. I used side lighting mainly here, to show contrast, and to easily make out the planets and the sun in the model, defining shape. From this setup I got these shots:

Afterwards, I decided to use a wooden set of a study and an airplane as my subject. However, the side lighting proved too harsh on the wood, the contrast being too high. Instead of getting a reflector, I used a piece of white bristol board instead, ending up with this setup:

And from it, I procured these pictures:

Lastly. as I was putting the wooden sets away on a shelf, I realized how good the composition was. However, when I tried to take a picture, the lighting was too strong, so I decided to try and get even lighting all around. After a couple of tries with two pieces of of white bristol board and lots and lots of tape, I was able to set up a poster board, the kind you use for school presentations. Even then, I had to use a lot of tape, some sticky tack, and a couple things falling down. The end result and setup are shown here:

I finally got the nice even lighting in the end, although it wasn't the best. But with a few post-production tweaks, one could be able to fix it.

D-SLR - Improvised Studio Shots

Recently I've been practicing more and more with my D-SLR, and I realized that a lot of my subjects would be a lot better and well framed if I had a studio to work with, to choose backdrops and to change lighting around my subjects with. But since I'm not interested in buying any professional grade equipment any time soon, nor do I have the means to, I decided to settle with an improvised low-cost studio that I easily set up in my own bedroom.

Pretty much what my studio was.

I took a couple of practice shots with my new ability to change backdrops, but since my space is severely limited in my apartment, I doubt I'd be able to provide backdrops to anything larger than what would usually be considered macro or small subjects. Below are a few shots I gleaned from my short time with this small studio.

The last one was a bit more abstract, and even a hint morbid almost, but I'm sure it won't ruin anybody's day. It's a portrayal of electronic life, how the plug is "hanging" itself with the wire, and you can make many different messages from this picture. I hope it's thought provoking for you too.

An Introduction to: D-SLR Photography

For those of you who don't know, D-SLR stands for "Digital - Single Lens Reflex". I find the Wikipedia description quite adequate enough to describe its differences from a normal digital camera -

" A D-SLR is a digital camera that uses a mechanical mirror system and pentraprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder at the back of the camera."

In layman's terms, simply because I don't quite get all the inner workings of a D-SLR itself, personally I'd describe it is a high resolution digital camera with more options like setting the lens aperture and shutter speed, as well as usually viewing your subject through an optical viewfinder instead of an LCD one. This also allows it to have real time changes made without and lag time at all, unlike some digital cameras on the market. But enough with all the technical info.

I've obtained a D-SLR camera from my dad, who had just gotten a new one and decided that I could have his old one. Although I can't take video with the D-SLR he gave me, it allows me to take professional level photographs already. Below are a couple experiments of pictures as I played around with the D-SLR on my free time.