A history of pharmacyby
H-GComment by snaffles: Greetings from the Critique Club!
Artistic: I think you did a fine job of capturing both the past and present of pharmacology here, this is the kind of shot that could easily get cluttered up, but I'm glad you kept with the less is more principle. The stalks of thyme lead nicely to the cap's green lining...and I know that mortar and pestle are marble, because they have to be very solid. (I have a white marble one too :-)
Technical: Compositionally I like the angle of the pestle leading to the bottle and spilled pills. Looks like you shot with a single light source (skylight maybe?.) A reflector, bounced into the back left area, would help even out the bg. Reflectors are fairly inexpensive and even a pie plate or sheet of aluminum foil will do a decent job. I can see by your settings that you're trying to cover all bases by having a very deep DOF, but that in turn has cut down on your light, leading to underexposure, which will always show up any noise. And as I also shoot Nikon I am too familiar with noise issues. So if you don't want to raise the ISO, you have to learn to expose for the shot. You need more light, so don't be afraid to go for a longer exposure, use a second light source, or open up the aperture. Don't be afraid of overexposing a bit, as black can always be added later.
Overall: A very promising image, just play a little more with the light. You're on the right track, just work at balancing out the amount of light. Especially if you're going to do studio work, you need to light both the background and your subject. There are plenty of excellent tutorials here, and you don't need expensive equipment.
Feel free to PM me with any questions,
Susan
Message edited by author 2012-01-02 19:54:41. 
Photographer found comment helpful.