I tried focus-stacking for this image, but it didn’t work out properly: the end result was pixelated and generally pretty messy.

So I tried stopping my lens down to the minimum aperture [f36] and the result is a bit better, if not quite perfect.

I think what you might need here is a perspective control lens, though I’m not sure even that would bring everything completely into focus.

The background was generated in Adobe Photoshop, using the generative A.I. feature.

[The subject here is my old FitBit watch — a shiny new item would have been better, but you have to work with what you’ve got.]

I used two studio strobe lights here: one through a piece of opal perspex behind the clock; another through some diffusion material to the right.

There’s also some bounce-fill from a piece of matt silver card to the left of the picture.

Next up, I think I might try a photograph of a watch, which will be more challenging.

I had photographed this bottle, or one like it, several months ago.

All I had then were two small flash units.

Today I received in the mail a couple more studio lights, which gives me a few more options.

Here, I used a softbox from the right and some opal perspex behind the bottle.

I lit the label with an optical snoot — just a cheap Chinese one, but for now it’s adequate.

I did some retouching in Photoshop to accentuate the colour of the oil.

Looking around for something to take a photograph of, I found this Stanley spirit level.

I had to use the minimum aperture on my Nikkor lens (f36) to get it all in focus.

I also had to do a bit of retouching, since there was a bit of damage to one of the glasses.

This measuring tape was a little scuffed as it had been kicking around the house for a while, so I had to clean it up a little in Photoshop.

Light was from the right through a sheet of diffusion material, with bounce-fill from a sheet of matt silver card on the left.

The lights I’m waiting on should be here at the weekend.

This is a photograph of an older Rolleiflex camera; specifically a 3.5 F.

The lighting is pretty straightforward: a studio flash, through a diffusion panel from the right, and bounce-fill from a matt silver card at camera left.

The background is a sheet of brushed metal of some sort: maybe aluminium.

I had to do some minor retouching in Photoshop — the backdrop has some scratches on it.

I have a couple more studio lights coming in the post, which should give me a few more options to explore.

Looking for something to photograph, I decided to do a little food photography with this muffin.

I’m currently avoiding sugar, so photographing this bun was a better option than eating it.

Lighting for my table-top studio was with one monobloc strobe though some diffusion material.

I bought this bottle of T-Cut to polish my car, since I was thinking about trading it in for something newer.

This image would look more professional with another light from the left.

I should have another two lights from eBay by tomorrow I hope…

I had a few problems to overcome with the chrome lid on this jar: mainly controlling reflections and colour balance.

After some retouching work in Photoshop, I had something close to the image I wanted.

I have a couple of lights coming in the post, which should make this sort of product shot a bit easier. (I was just working with one studio light here, something commercial photographers wouldn’t do, in all probability.)

This is a camera I am selling on eBay.

The original photographs I had of it were okay but not great, so I decided to re-photograph it.

I used a diffused light source from the right of the picture, with a bounce-fill from the left.

Background is a sheet of brushed aluminium.

Looking for an interesting bottle to photograph, I found this bottle of ‘Protect Oil’.

I’m not sure what this might be for, but it’s an interesting colour.

At least this was a new, off-the-shelf bottle, so I didn’t have to clean it up before photographing it.

The background was a bit problematic — I used a cheap diffuser, when I think what I need is some frosted acrylic.

This particular small electrical product is a razor I bought a while ago.

I used the Godox Lux Junior flash units here — one quite close on either side of the razor, with the power dialled back quite a bit.

The background was isolated, then colourised.

I’ve been using Godox’s Lux Junior flash for a few months.

It’s incredibly useful for lighting small products like this perfume bottle.

Here, I held one unit above and slightly in front of the perfume bottle; and a second one just above the backdrop (A sheet of card).

This image looks a lot different to the one I made earlier of the same bottle — it’s maybe a little more dramatic. (It’s an old bottle, too, so it’s a little scuffed here and there.)

Still quite a way to go.