best way to take photos of build?

[Chef_Magnus]

Hi there.
i got my build finished but I am not happy with the photos that I took last night.
I was thinking of taking a lot of photos with different focus points and use focus stacking to get a combined finished image. I was also going to use a quadrapod over the open case and reflected light from the ceiling to make sure that I did not have very many shadows . For equiptment i was going to use my Canon 5DMK3 with a 50mm f/1.4L lens. I was going to use my iPad to control via wifi to minimize shake. Which areas of the system would you use for focus points?
I am planing all this to past the hours at dialysis....
Chef

[IntoxicatedPuma]

+1, I'm kinda wondering the same. I usually use a 10-20mm macro lens but it doesn't always come out looking that great. I think alot of it has to do with the lighting.

[Chino]

I remember reading this How to Photograph your Rig guide not so long ago on OCN. Perhaps it'll give you some ideas. 😉

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Try to get as much light as possible from different angles to eliminate shadows and photograph from a tripod at f16 in Aperture Priority to get maximum depth of field....if you use flash use bounce...

I've found 50mm is probably the worst focal length for this....either go macro or wide angle like 14mm or shoot a tele...85 135 200mm

D700 user:cool:

[Chef_Magnus]

Thanks I will give all of those things a try. Should I just do a quadrant style focusing instead of trying to focus on certain items??? I was going with f/1.4 50mmL to cause inside the case is should a low light area. I tried using direct lighting and got harsh shadows everywhere in the case...

Chef

[Arne_Saknussemm]

thing is if you focus on something up at f1.4 the depth of field is going to be so thin that everything not in the exact same plane as your focus point will be, well, out of focus. You can do lovely arty bokeh shots like this. Like focusing only on one detail such as a logo etc. while everything else blurs away.....

At f16 you will have the depth of field to get a lot more in focus but stopped down so far you will need a much longer exposure and hence the tripod. Aperture priority will set your shutter speed for you if you select the fstop.

don't get me wrong the 50 will provide perfectly great results and the resolution of the 5DmkIII means that you can crop stuff at will and maintain a good size for publishing to the web.....

Shooting into a case is quite difficult actually....I have tried it....I resorted to having the camera on the tripod and just to one side a diffuse shaded table lamp for light so the shadows are almost cast from the same place as the lens is pointing and so don't show up. (i.e. lens and light source almost at same point.... and you know what, I'm damned if I can find the pics....annoying....but they were quite good honest!

I kept ISO at native (which for the D700 is 200) to keep noise down and just shot long exposures via remote to eliminate shake......you have your iPad for that....