Poison Apple
Jan, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo sitting at my kitchen table. The backdrop is a couple of white plates that I blurred out a bit in editing.Time
In the morning. I had spent quite a bit of time experimenting the day before with light, water, and filters, then came back again when the light was better the next morning to get the almost toxic glow!Lighting
Because of the in-camera filter I was using, I wanted natural light, nothing harsh, and definitely not the in-camera flash, which is the only one I had. My window faces north so the light was pretty defused.Equipment
Nothing particularly special. I took this picture last year before I upgraded my equipment, so I was using a Panasonic bridge camera, the FZ-70, which I bought for it's super zoom (20-1200). I used an internal filter that they call "dramatic art". I had the camera on my Gorillapod. Other than that, apple, water bottle, white plates.Inspiration
I always liked the Disney witches with their tasty apples in the cartoons. And I have always been a huge fan of Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty - I love her wit and horned helmet. I had some Granny Smith apples at home and the light clicked to try my version of the poison apple. None of them had that perfect skin, so I spent some time at the grocery looking through the apple display for just the right one. I wanted it to look very tasty but just a little suspicious if it was being offered by a lady with horns on her head!Editing
Just some minor things. I blurred the background a bit so that it wasn't so obviously china and cropped it close, as I wanted to frame it square.In my camera bag
I recently have upgraded to an Olympus OMD-EM10, which is a micro four-thirds camera. I love the the lighter weight, but the lenses are having to be bought slowly as 4/3's are pricey for my budget. I have the kit zoom which is a 14-48 mm, a mid level zoom 40-150 mm which I rarely pull out of the bag, a long 70-300 zoom, a 9 mm fisheye cap lens, and I recently bought my first prime, which is a 60 mm macro, which I adore. My next will be a 17 mm f1.8 prime.Feedback
For me it's learning to be patient in setting up shots (I need more patience in many parts of my life), and just experimentation. The beauty of digital is you can take 400 shots to get just the perfect one, and you haven't spent a month's food budget on film. It's learning not to relay on the auto setting and having fun. And ignoring the people giving you the side eye that it's taking you a half an hour to pick out an apple! As I mentioned,I don't have a lot of patience, so I'll quickly upload what I'm doing on to my iPad to check how things are looking rather than waiting until I can get to my office and desktop editing programs.
