Plum-tastic IMG_3779B
Tasty bowl of mini plums sit in a glass bowl on a ledge, backlighting is white and summery.
Tasty bowl of mini plums sit in a glass bowl on a ledge, backlighting is white and summery.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Zenith Award
2020 Choice Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was a spontaneous shoot I put together on spur of the moment. I was feeling particularly creative that morning and thought about my possible locations on my itinerary that morning for something with a bright and light feel. I'm lucky to live in a place with lots of natural brightly lit windows (despite being a densely populated part of Westchester near the Bronx River) and ended up using the kitchen window above my sink.Time
I had the creative itch that morning, before I had to leave the house and remembered we had just gotten a slew of summer plums, which looked mighty tasty. Since I was getting ready to start the day, I squeezed this in before taking off. The morning light was inspiring me, so this set of shots came together before 8 am on a weekday morning!Lighting
That background window actually faces a house to the west, but the alley is quite ample and lets in the morning sun. I liked how part of it was in shadow, softening the light being kicked into my window. There is also another window, more directly exposed to the sun, off-camera to the right, but a good distance away (about 8 feet). I grabbed one of our glass bowls (medium sized, so the bowl would look full and the clarity would keep light moving around from behind the plums). Since the plums were quite dark looking, I decided to use flash. Since I also wanted to preserve the "summer dust" plums usually have, I dialed my flash down to the minimum (-2 EV's). That also helped prevent aggressive specular flares while still lighting the subject and adding a little interest to the edges of the glass bowl. To keep the WB even, I actually turned off the overhead light, relying on the natural backlighting and my on-camera flash.Equipment
This shot was so spur of the moment, I decided to use it to force a little bit of technique on my Canon Rebel T5. I spent some time thinking more about the composition and lighting, then shot handheld rather than using a tripod, which also allowed me to crop out less interesting features in the background by "zooming with my feet." Although I didn't use my tripod, I did make use of my camera strap while trying different angles and varied the camera height using my stance. I also used the on-camera flash, but dialed it down to fit the scene. I shot this using my latest baby - the Canon EF-S17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM, on my Rebel T5.Inspiration
My wife and I recently upgraded my go-to lens as a birthday present to me. Juggling a full time day-job and the demands of parenting a toddler mean I don't always spend as much time as I'd like being creative while shooting images. The new lens, the morning light, and the thought of juicy, colorful summer plums gave me an itch I had to scratch!Editing
I've always dabbled in PP but only recently started developing my own style, which I still consider fluid. Currently I'm using Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (depending if I'm on the road or in the office). This capture was part of a series I took in one morning and I picked it as the best composition. I cropped in a bit more to minimize distractions (it was taken on the window sill above my sink, after all!). I decided the wall under the window sill needed a little spot removal, since the tile was distracting from the white and fresh feel of the background. I decided to leave the touch up imperfect, since the feel I was going for was "fresh & light" but not "cold & sterile." I brightened the exposure a little, did some curves balancing for my white point and black points, and bringing out the mid-tones, so that the beautiful purple color came through, but the "plum dust" wasn't lost either. I also wanted to keep the beautiful "glass" texture of the bowel. After that, I tweaked the color a little bit to the cool side to make sure the purples worked well with the different textures.In my camera bag
Aside from my T5, I always pack at least 3 spare batteries, my trusty nifty-fifty and my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8. Aside from that, my important little doodads include: plenty of microfiber cloths, a lens pen, a folding flash diffuser (pulls on like a sock!), some UV filters and a polarizer, a small bean bag (to act as a stabilizer when I have to shoot where tripods aren't allowed), a penlight, so I can peer into my bag and find the things I need. have also come to rely on my Magsphere when using OCF.Feedback
Capturing this shot, for me, was more about shifting my mindset and practicing spontaneous use of the skills I've been honing. My mindset was shifted to: what makes me think about delicious summer plums and eating them in a cool home after a hot summer walk. And, like I mentioned above, trying to flex those creative muscles within a compressed time frame while the inspiration struck! I'd been reading and watching videos about product photography for a few weeks and was able to put sme of the key concepts into play: lighting and post processing. Int he moment it was also a little about experimenting. So my advice would be to get into the headspace of what you're trying to capture but keep it loose and playful enough to discover new options, and that means trying different combinations of techniques while shooting and in post processing!
