I don't really want to review my camera as such as many sites on the net have already done that in a LOT more detail than I am able to do. I will point you at a couple of of good reviews though.

See here :- www.dpreview.com
Also Here :- www.luminous-landscape.com

For a great photo tutorial check out this :- www.dansdata.com

What I really want to do is explain is how I use my camera along with the various lenses and gadgets to take many of the shots used on this website.

The first lot of photographs show the lenses I use with the camera.

These are :-

Canon EF 50mm f2.5 Compact Macro Lens see here for more

Canon EF 17-40mm f4L USM Zoom Lens see here for more

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM Zoom Lens see here for more

Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6L IS USM Zoom Lens see here for more

Other equipment is (Not all of this is shown) :-

2off Canon Speedlite 550EX Flash Units see here for more

Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 See here for more

Canon TC80N3 remote timer release See here for more

Gitzo G1228LVL Carbon Fibre Tripod See here for more

All of this kit may seem a little overwhelming but please don't be put off by it. I am a self confessed equipment nut. As many of you who have been following my reviews already know.

I like the technical aspects of photography. The art side is and probably always will be a bit of a mystery to me. LOL But I do manage to take the odd photo I like!

Still life is always a good challenge as you are usually fully in control of all aspects of the operation. So it's up to you to get the lighting positioning and camera settings right. No blaming the conditions! LOL

A lot of the secret of taking these types of pictures is with the lighting. Or more accurately the use of light. It not how many lights or flash units you have it is where the light falls on your subject that matters. Light controls the way we perceive the subject. It can be manipulated to bring out certain traits and accent the surface finish or the detail. Even a single light source such as the Sun can be used to good effect. So don't think that a lack of equipment is an excuse!

A good book on lighting is this one Light: Science and Magic 
by Fil Hunter, Paul Fuqua ISBN: 0240802756
I learned a lot from reading this. Recommended.

I use the following setup for the majority of my still life shots.

Canon 1DMKII Digital SLR with EF 50mm f2.5 Compact Macro Lens.

Two Speedlite 550EX Flash units off camera with a ST-E2 unit to trigger them. The remote trigger allows the two flash units to be placed anywhere in line of sight of the trigger. I can also ratio the light output between the two units sending more light to one or the other. The same effect can be achieved with two fixed light sources by moving one further away than the other. My camera uses a clever through the lens metering system (E-TTL2) that will control the flash power even when my other camera settings are in manual mode. This saves me a lot of time and effort during the process.

Be careful with using flash though. As in a lot of cases it will not allow you to take nice close up images. A typical compact digital camera mounted flash will give hard shadows and reflect off shiny subjects confuse the camera metering and generally give you rubbish results. If you camera is like this you are better off turning off the flash and using an alternative light source.

Alternative light sources such as the Sun are ideal. But again watch out for hard shadows and reflections. An typical overcast day will probably give you better results than a sunny one due to the soft light produced.

That is unless you use other means to give you a nice soft light. One of these ways is to use a light box. This is usually some form of wire frame covered in a translucent material. It is designed to diffuse you light source into a nice soft light with no hard shadows.

If you look closely at my light box. You will see It's a spring out laundry basket from the pound shop covered in a white sheet.

This setup with ANY digital camera and two fixed light sources. I.E. a couple of halogen desk lights will give similar results for very low cost. Just don’t get them too near to anything flammable.
A professional light box looks better and may be larger but costs £80 or more.

The cheap box is a good way to start. You can then experiment with different light sources and setups.

Use a tripod or place the camera on a flat surface. You will only get sharp pictures with a still camera at slower shutter speeds. A still camera will allow you to use longer exposure times and small apertures to get sharp pictures.

Aperture and shutter speeds.

First read your camera manual. You need to understand what the aperture and shutter settings do and how to adjust them. Full automatic modes can take decent pictures. But for better control you need to set your camera to manual mode.

The aperture setting controls the size of the tiny hole that lets the light into the camera. You may think that it only controls the amount of light reaching the sensor. But it also controls the depth of field (DOF) of the photo. What does that mean then?

Well lets look at an example.

With these two photos the one on the Left it taken at f25 with the one on the Right taken at f3.5. Larger numbers in aperture settings mean a smaller hole.

So we can see that the aperture controls the overall zone of sharpness. The depth of field is very small at large (f3.5) apertures making the Right hand picture blurred where the object is behind or in font of the focus point. The Left hand picture is taken with a small aperture (f25) and this increases the zone of sharpness so that the whole object is within it.

If there is one thing that you learn from this article it should be how to control the depth of field. This will allow you to manipulate the subject and control how it looks in relation to other objects and the background.

Here is a good article on DOF

Often I am after the sharpest image I can get. So I use a small aperture. But there are other considerations. A small aperture also dramatically reduces the amount of light reaching the camera sensor. So to compensate for this we must open the shutter for a longer period of time to get the correct exposure. Or we must increase the amount of light falling on the subject.

In my case the two EX550 flashguns can light the subject even at the smallest aperture. But you may need to use a longer exposure when using Halogen lamp for instance.

This is why you need a tripod or stationary mount for your camera.

The other thing to avoid is moving the camera when you press the shutter. This is easily achieved on most cameras by using the self timer or a remote release. I just set mine to a 2 sec delay. It also give me chance to close my eyes so I don't get blinded when the flash guns go off.

Colour temperature.

You may find your camera has some settings for adjusting the colour temperature. This will control how the overall colour tint will appear. If you are using daylight or a xenon flash unit (the built in flash) they should use the same setting. But if your light source is a halogen or tungsten filament bulb you will have to adjust them. Otherwise your pictures will come out looking yellow or straw tinted. Fluorescent lights will look green if not corrected. So adjust to your light source. Or as it is so easy now correct the colour afterward in a photo editing program such as Photoshop.

I do try to get the best picture I can using the lighting and camera. You can play all day in photoshop but why bother if you get it spot on out of the camera.

A few tips.

I find that as I am mainly using a white paper background along with a white plastic flat surface that the camera exposure needs to be tweeked slightly to compensate. So I set my flash exposure setting to over expose by about 3/4 of a stop. Otherwise you end up with a nice white perfectly exposed background and a dark subject.

Use an infinity curve backdrop. Sounds complicated but it's not. Just curve a normal peice of paper or thin card into a 90 bend with a large radius. This will give you a great background and prevent and sharp changes in light distracting you away fron the subject. Simple and very effective.

Hopefully this article will have helped a few of you improve your still life images and learned a little in the process. I certainly did reasearching all the links in the above text. :-)

Manufacturer:- www.canon.com

UK Dealers

www.parkcameras.com