These Gurkha cigars are pre-embargo Cuban cigars. I forget the exact price on each of these cigars, but it was something like $175 - $200ish per cigar.
This product photography was for a local Phoenix client. This photograph ran in the New York Times travel section, as well as being used for advertising and commercial use. I arrived on location with a bunch of expensive studio lighting equipment in the car and went in to scout the photo shoot. I ended up using all natural window light and some reflectors to bounce light back into the set….all the strobes stayed in the car!
PS: All natural window light/ Existing Light with bounce reflectors… I left all the expensive lighting packed in the cases for this shoot! 
Adam Also received a Kodak Gallery Award in EI (Electronic Imaging) for this image at a Arizona State PPA print competition.
Here is the unprocessed, un-leveled, and un-edited photo.
So a lot can be done in post production using Photoshop and good digital editing skills, however, “Trash in = Trash out” Good lighting and composition is important and was used. The edit helped make the shot even better. Is this cheating? Not really. If photographed using film, I could have used Fuji Velvia, a super saturated E6 (color slide film) to show rich colors. I could have also used a vignette during capture to darken down the corners to draw your eye to the center of the image.
This is an example of a Deluxe ACME Edit.
Attention to detail in post production creates a more powerful image which is important in advertising campaigns and marketing pieces.
Adam Nollmeyer
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix Commercial Advertising Photography
February 28th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Looks very good, i don’t smoke but , if i see this i would start.