My Ghetto Setup

Here's my "studio".  I pushed all of the crap on the dresser top to the sides and lay down a black curtain drape which I got from Wallmart. The lens in the photo is a 100mm macro which is the lens I used to shoot the jewelry.  The scotch tape is to pick up lint and dog fur that is constantly floating around and landing on top of the black surface.  My reflector on the right is a foil-wrapped binder.  I like it because I can bend it to my liking.  I didn't use any flash.  Light is coming from the windows in back of the dresser and to the left of the dresser.  Our neighbor on the left built a second floor extension which reflects beautiful light onto the dresser top. I opened up the shades wide on the left.  I closed the shades halfway down on the window in front of me.  I used a stool so that I could shoot from up pointing downward.

Here's another one of my ghetto setups:  My New Rocks.




With macro shooting you should ALWAYS use a tripod to get sharp and crisp photos.  That's what the books say anyway.  But I'm too lazy to set up my tripod. Plus my tripod is a cheapy $35 one that doesn't adjust quickly or easily . . . there are screws and hinges that you gotta move and tilt to get things just right and it takes too long.  And then I would have to move the bed back just to fit the tripod between the narrow space between the bed and dresser. So never mind . . . FOGET IT.  That means though, that by hand holding the camera with a slow shutter speed, I gotta be reaaaaaal steady.  But then . . . I am . . . and that's why they call me . . . "da rock".  LOL.