Words
Sep, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my living room after my family had gone to bed for the night. I spend a lot of time burning the midnight oil trying new things and teaching myself new techniques.Time
Earlier that day I had thought of the candy heart idea, planned out how I was going to do it, and purchased the supplies needed to take the photograph. It was probably around 10:00 PM MST on a Friday night when I finally shot the photograph.Lighting
I wanted the shot to look like it came out of a food magazine so I tried to get the light as even as I could and as bright as possible to get the High-Key look. My overall goal was to make my viewers want to eat them as well as tell a story.Equipment
I used a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, 50mm 1.8 "nifty-fifty", tripod and the following items to create the DIY Lightbox. 5 white foam board sheets from Wal-Mart (Elmer's brand that kids use for school projects), 2 metal clamp lights from Home Depot, 2 - 100w Full Spectrum GE Reveal Light Bulbs (for the daylight balance), piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper with hearts on it to go under the candy, and a piece of white poster board. There are a ton of tutorials out there to make these but I will explain how I built mine. I took the 5 pieces of foam board and cut the ends to make a square, used masking tape to tape them together into a box. I then taped the poster board to the inside rear-top and let it flow to the bottom front to create a seamless background. I had to notch the left and right panels because the clamps wouldn't sit correctly and you need to get the lights further inside the box and angled upward to bounce the light off of the top of the box.Inspiration
I was working on a Project 52. For those that don't know what it is, it is a photo a week for 52 weeks. The theme I had for this particular week in February was "words". What matches that any better than Valentine's candy hearts? right?Editing
Yes, I did use PhotoShop to do minor adjustments to the contrast, exposure as well as sharpening. The majority of post work was layering a linen texture and masking out where I didn't want it and I also did a slight edge burn around the image to pull the viewers eye to the subject.In my camera bag
My bag is a Lowepro sling which I keep my Canon 5D Mark III, 50mm 1.8 "nifty-fifty", 85mm 1.8, 24-105 4.0L, an old FD 50mm 1.8 which I reverse mount for macro, 3 spare batteries, a few 32gb CF cards, business cards, my Square card reader for taking payments and other misc filters, batteries, etc...Feedback
Don't be afraid to try something, don't think you need top of the line equipment either. This image was made using an entry level camera and some cheap supplies from a couple stores. If you have the vision of what you want in your head the options to convert it into a splendid photograph are limitless. Now get out there and shoot!
