Still life: Snare Drum

rdlugoszrdlugosz Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
edited March 28, 2007 in Other Cool Shots
Here's a still life I shot this weekend for a "music"-themed print contest.
138270027-S.jpg
Snare Studies <-- click for larger view

Lighting was a medium softbox on the left, sandwiched with a black bounce and heavily flagged to prevent spill onto the background. A gridded spot was very close on the right aimed near and slightly above the throw off (the thing with the strings). I ended up putting a paper towel (ha!) over the grid to diffuse the light a bit.

Post was pretty minimal - a few dust spots (chrome is hard to keep clean), desat of the blue and red in the chrome highlights to remove some CA, and a levels adjustment of the background to crush the black completely.

C&C welcomed...

Comments

  • gavingavin Registered Users Posts: 411 Major grins
    edited March 27, 2007
    Great shot and set up. Light is perfect. Love how you did this shot. Great everything.
    D700 and some glass

    www.gjohnstone.com
  • ShepsMomShepsMom Registered Users Posts: 4,319 Major grins
    edited March 27, 2007
    Very nice, very clear with great colors and light. clap.gif
    Marina
    www.intruecolors.com
    Nikon D700 x2/D300
    Nikon 70-200 2.8/50 1.8/85 1.8/14.24 2.8
  • SkippySkippy Registered Users Posts: 12,075 Major grins
    edited March 27, 2007
    rdlugosz wrote:
    Here's a still life I shot this weekend for a "music"-themed print contest.
    Snare Studies
    Lighting was a medium softbox on the left, sandwiched with a black bounce and heavily flagged to prevent spill onto the background. A gridded spot was very close on the right aimed near and slightly above the throw off (the thing with the strings). I ended up putting a paper towel (ha!) over the grid to diffuse the light a bit.
    Post was pretty minimal - a few dust spots (chrome is hard to keep clean), desat of the blue and red in the chrome highlights to remove some CA, and a levels adjustment of the background to crush the black completely.

    C&C welcomed...

    Very nicely done, the end result is excellent clap.gif
    Hope all goes well in the competition for you thumb.gif ..... Skippy
    .
    .
    Skippy (Australia) - Moderator of "HOLY MACRO" and "OTHER COOL SHOTS"

    ALBUM http://ozzieskip.smugmug.com/

    :skippy Everyone has the right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege :dgrin
  • rdlugoszrdlugosz Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Thanks all!
  • SwartzySwartzy Registered Users Posts: 3,293 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Yes....you nailed it.
    Very nice shot and love the lighting. Thanks for sharing that info as lighting can be so ellusive rolleyes1.gif
    Swartzy:
    NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
    Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
    www.daveswartz.com
    Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
  • USAIRUSAIR Registered Users Posts: 2,646 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Yep you sure did nail it
    Great photo

    Fred
    http://www.riverbendphotos.com/
    http://www.facebook.com/Riverbendphotos
  • AiredrifterAiredrifter Registered Users Posts: 253 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Would it be out of line to ask...
    if you don't win could you get us links to the winners? I enjoyed yours so much. I am skeptical that superior competition exists. bowdown.gif

    Moreover, I appreciate the sharing of the lighting info. I hope to remember your ideas and just plain steal them in the future.
    http://mikesawyer.smugmug.com
  • TylerWTylerW Registered Users Posts: 428 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    I've got that very same snare drum! Pearl 13" maple shell picollo snare! thumb.gif
    http://www.tylerwinegarner.com

    Canon 40d | Canon 17-40 f/4L | Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/1.8 | Canon 70-200mm f/4 L
  • rdlugoszrdlugosz Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Airedrifter wrote:
    if you don't win could you get us links to the winners? I enjoyed yours so much. I am skeptical that superior competition exists. bowdown.gif

    Moreover, I appreciate the sharing of the lighting info. I hope to remember your ideas and just plain steal them in the future.

    Ha! Thanks very much. I'm pretty happy with it myself. It's a print contest, so I'm not sure if any of the winners will be online. I'll link if they are. Display and voting is on Thursday; this is the themed "5th Thursday" print contest at my camera club. First Thursday is always an unthemed contest, but when the 5th Thurs happens we throw in a twist. :)

    Speaking of which, I will probably reprint tonight on some Epson HW Matte. I originally printed on Canon Photo Paper Pro and I'm not happy with the blacks - they're a little too light on that paper; I believe I'll get deeper blacks on the HW matte. We'll see. Only problem with it is that the paper tends to get a bit saturated on my i9900 whenever there's that large of a solid dark area....

    Happy to share the lighting info. I'll blog about it (complete with a setup shot) when I get a chance & post here.
  • rdlugoszrdlugosz Registered Users Posts: 277 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    TylerW wrote:
    I've got that very same snare drum! Pearl 13" maple shell picollo snare! thumb.gif

    Cool! I use coated Remo Emperors on the batter side and an Ambasador on the resonant. I'm pretty happy with that head setup. I think I need to replace my top rim though - I think it's a little bent 'cause it's extremely hard to get the tuning balanced out... One lug always seems loose. I sometimes wonder if it took a spill when I wasn't around to see it happen... :cry
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