"hk" wrote in message
. ..


All of the top of the line professional non-news photographers I get to
work with from time to time spend a considerable amount of time in set-up,
lighting, composition, and in taking test shots with a polaroid camera
back.


I remember years ago .... probably 80's through mid 90's .... we would
occasionally have some professional photography done of some of the systems
we built at the business I was in. In those days what you described was
the norm .... set ups with white umbrellas, big, monster power supplies for
multiple flash units, light meters, etc. The camera was a big Hasselblad
and several Polaroid test shots were taken before the actual shooting.

The systems almost always had temporary argon or oxygen bottles nearby and
temporary wiring strung all over the place because they were usually under
final testing before shipment when the pictures were taken. The
photographer would airbrush all the messy ancillary equipment out of the
finished photo.

That all changed when they started using digitals. Half the equipment or
less. Many more pictures were taken, and frankly, for our purposes, the
results were as good or better.

Of course, we weren't entering them in any photography contests. They were
for ads in trade magazines (4 color) or for brochures.

Eisboch