andrea-ioana

blue berries

NIKON D3200

settings

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 800 Shutter 10/400

upload_date

Apr, 2014

Views

143

Likes

Awards

2020 Choice Award

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

Superb Composition

Behind The Lens

Location

As a self taught photographer with no studio I often have to come up with creative ideas for my setups, but mostly I focus on simple things. This photo is taken at home in front of a window, I used a wooden cutting board, those little paper cups where you bake cupcakes and some blueberries. All natural light and things I had at home.

Time

It's unlike me to shoot in the middle of the day but as it comes with most ideas I have, this turned out to be quite the spontaneous photo shoot. Nothing planned, just a spark of an idea and a quick photo set-up. I didn't want to wait for a better time of day so I shot this at about 3pm and I tried different angles until I was happy with the shadow in the picture.

Lighting

The lighting in this photo is simple. I use natural light in all my images. When I shoot indoors I try to shoot next to a window, but mostly I prefer shooting outdoors. My advice? Don't let the lack of professional lighting equipment hold you back!

Equipment

This photo was shot with a Nikon D3200 and the 18-55mm kit lens.

Inspiration

It's hard to talk about inspiration sometimes. Shooting this photo was a very spontaneous process. Sometimes ideas just come to me and I have to take a picture right away. May it be the way the light shins in, or something I have on my desk, in this case the blueberries I had just bought. And then the idea just came, I grabbed some things and set up the shot.

Editing

My post-processing is usually very simple and done in Lightroom. For this photo I didn't have to do much. I like to enhance the colors and brightness, adjust shadows and darks and if needed I will also reduce grain.

In my camera bag

My equipment hasn't changed much. I still shoot with my Nikon D3200 and I also like shooting with my new 50mm lens. My bag still has the kit lens in it - 18-55mm - for backup and for situations where I need to shoot somewhere between 18mm and 30mm. When I go out on a walk I like taking my analog camera with me. It's an old Ricoh KR-10 Super I bought at a second hand shop. It has a 50mm lens as well as a macro lens at 35-75mm. For my self portraits I also use a tripod and a remote control.

Feedback

If you're new to food photography my advice is to start small on focus on the basics. You can shoot at home, in your living room, in your bedroom, in the kitchen. What's important is not the location or an expensive studio, but keep in mind to have a clean environment free of clutter so there won't be any distracting objects in your pictures. Same goes for colors and patterns in your photo: use a wooden cutting board, a big white plate, a white table cloth or anything that will give you this clean background in your photo. Shoot next to a window if you don't have lighting equipment. Should the light on your window be too harsh and casting strong shadows, then you have two solutions: use a white sheet or cloth as a diffuser or make your own reflector to bounce the light back and minimize the shadows.

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andrea-ioana

andrea-ioana

blue berries

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow andrea-ioana

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