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Kristina_Krause

They Toil Not, Neither Do They Spin

They Toil Not, Neither Do They Spin
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Canon EOS REBEL T2i

settings

Aperture f/22.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/1

upload_date

Jan, 2014

Views

204

Likes

+29

Awards

Great Shot

Superb Composition

+16

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

Exceptional Contrast

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Top Ranks

Top 20 rank

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Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in my kitchen, which often doubles as a studio of sorts.

Time

Most of the time, I work in the morning when there's good, strong, angled light coming into my kitchen.

Lighting

Nearly all of my work is shot using solely natural light. Where I live, there's strong, angular light in the mornings and early evenings. I take advantage of this kind of light as it will illuminate my subject while the background remains dark. To make the background even darker, I use the exposure compensation function in my camera.

Equipment

I use a Canon T2i with a variety of lenses. The two lenses I use most often are an L series 24-70mm and an L series 100mm Macro, both Canon lenses. Occasionally, I also use a Canon telephoto 70-200 lens. I also used a Manfrotto tripod to produce this shot. Sometimes I also use a black background to provide a deep contrast to the white lilies.

Inspiration

I love calla lilies. I love having them in my house, but I was also inspired by the lily photos of Robert Mapplethorpe, Imogen Cunningham, and Tina Modotti, all three photographers being masters of black and white images.

Editing

I use Adobe Photoshop and Silver Efex Pro, but I try not to over process any shot. Post-processing software is useful for cropping, enhancing contrast, sharpness, and tweaking tones, but I don't like to over manipulate any image in post-processing.

In my camera bag

I have in my camera bag my camera (of course), lens cloths, extra batteries, sometimes an additional lens, lens hoods, and a handful of postcard-sized business cards featuring some of my images.

Feedback

As I said before, strong, angled light focused on the subject with a dark background is what I'm either capturing or creating. Using the exposure compensation function helps to deepen a dark background, the more negative the number, the darker the background, but the light on the subject must be strong or exposure compensation will darken the subject as well. I also use a dark background, which is a large, black matte piece of cardboard.

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Kristina_Krause

Kristina_Krause

They Toil Not, Neither Do They Spin