A little experiment

Today I tried taking just 5 pictures (well really 4). I decided to use my little light tent thing that I made. I turned off the lights, and opened the window so only natural light came in. This required a longer exposure, so  I got out my remote shutter thing and turned on the mirror lockup option. I put the ISO to 100 to minimize noise. I used my 18-55mm lens almost all the way zoomed.

The first picture here I used to set a custom white balance. It was just a piece of printer paper:

I looked around for a subject, and saw my gyroscope.
f/16
10 sec
ISO 200

pattern metering mode

Next I photographed a dried out rose.
f/16
15 sec
ISO 200

pattern metering mode

I realized that the pattern metering mode was making the flower too dark, so  I switched to partial metering (which I also like to use for bugs and flowers).
f/13
30 sec
ISO 200

partial metering mode

This is where I put the ISO down to 100, and used one of my homemade reflectors to put a bit more light on the front.
f/14
30 sec
ISO 100
partial metering mode

If you have any tips, hints, or suggestions about how to make this better or what I might have done wrong, please leave a comment. I think a few things that I'll do are: (ooo I found the bullet points)

• add more light to get rid of the lengthy exposures
• start with the ISO down to 100
• use my 50mm 1.8 lens, it is a bit sharper
• try a different background besides white