Put away your cameras, and get into the kitchen...

[Dave Humphries]

First of all I just want to say that for me these things are incredibly difficult, and I don't have an eye for it at all, so C&C on composition, lighting, cropping is greatly appreciated.

I'm already aware that this shot is quite noisy (forgot to reset ISO to 200 )

I kind of like the lighting in this one, but wonder if I should black out or crop the background.

These are just experiments, and a learning exercise for me. I'm working with a 75W halogen floodlight (not photographic) clamped to a step ladder. I have another one of these lights but nothing to clamp it to at the moment. I had the white balance set to Auto, but had to adjust it quite a bit in LR, as the colour was way to yellow (still is actually). I'm pretty sure I have a grey card around here somewhere in one of the Kelby books. I'll try to find it for the next series.

Any help or suggestions on this or any other shot I post in this thread (there are more to come) is appreciated.

Thanks Wendy


1/60s: f18: ISO 800: 18mm: Spot -1 (which made it too dark, but otherwise I had blown highlights)

Of these; I think this is my favourite. I think it works as it is, you have something from outside (which has an almost correct WB) brought inside and lit by 'inside' means.

Any attempt to white balance for the light will make the (daylight) background go quite blue.

I had (quite a long) play with this educating myself what does and doesn't work.
What do you think and can you see what I all the things I have done?
(I haven't made notes, so I'll be relying on memory )
Let's play 'spot the difference'



Cheers,

[Klickit]

Kitchen at 8pm.

[carregwen]

Kitchen at 8pm.

What! 8pm and you are only half-way through the bottle of bourbon. You need to get Colin round to give you a hand.

Good shot, and thanks for posting.

[Colin Southern]

You need to get Colin round to give you a hand.

Nah - I have a couple of double Bacardi & Coke's about once every 5 years. A man has to know his limitations!

[carregwen]

A couple more from yesterday

Slide show here of all my kitchen shots (although not all of them are in this thread)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carregw...50048645/show/

Pre-dinner



Fork

[JK6065]

I love the use of light and shadow in the last one to support to form and make it more abstract.
May I ask you ow you did this? Flash from above and a white background in the aim of the flash? And besides that, did you do a lot of contrast boosting in this shot? Is the black-white contrast at the teeth this way about straight from the camera?

[ScoutR]

Of these; I think this is my favourite. I think it works as it is, you have something from outside (which has an almost correct WB) brought inside and lit by 'inside' means.

Any attempt to white balance for the light will make the (daylight) background go quite blue.

I had (quite a long) play with this educating myself what does and doesn't work.
What do you think and can you see what I all the things I have done?
(I haven't made notes, so I'll be relying on memory )
Let's play 'spot the difference'



Cheers,

Hi Dave: Thanks for working on this. Here is what I think you did:
1. Overall brightening (which would have really brought out the noise in shadow areas)
2. Reduced Noise with Neat Image (This was key in being able to do anything with it)
3. Selectivley lightened (Dodged/Burned) the shadow on the apple. (which you were able to do after you got rid of the noise)
4. Selectivley darkened (Dodge or burn opposite of whichever you used in step 3) the highlight on the apple, which would have blown out when brightening the rest.
5. There is something different about the cutting board that the apple is on too. Maybe a result of noise reduction, but the grain is not as sharp.

Thats all that I see. Let me know if there is anything else.
I like what you have done. Aside from re-shooting this at a lower ISO I think all I would do would be to clone out some of the hot spots in the background.

Thanks for the feedback
Wendy

Edit: Just going by the histogram and comparing mine to yours, you did something with colours, but I don't know what. Your histogram shows much more blue than mine. I don't know if you adjusted white balance or did something with saturation. Increased blue or decreased yellow, I'm not sure, just know the histogram looks different and it's not just brightening.

[rick55]

I love the last one ("Fork"), Rob. It's like an Escher print. Blending the far tine into the background is perfect.

Cheers,
Rick

[ScoutR]

Wendy

Have you still got that cracked egg? If so, how about it alone, on a matt surface, in landscape format? First impression was that that could produce an amzing image.

I gave it a try Donald. Let me know what you think. I'm open to any and all suggestions.

For this I used plain white matt board under and behind. For lighting I used the Halogen lamps. One on the step ladder to the left and the other one I held high at the front (to try to reduce the shadow) For placement I tried to get the centre of the crack in the top right third.

Wendy

[Donald]

I gave it a try Donald. Let me know what you think.

Don't what anyone else will think, but I love it. It's something about the simplicity, yet brilliant construction, that is an egg.

[rick55]

I love the pic of the egg, Wendy. Great composition and exposure. If I can pick one nit, the frame is distracting to me: when I first looked at it, I thought you had included your backdrop in the image. I tried a quick touchup of the frame to show a different concept, lightening the border and darkening the drop shadow: hope you don't mind.

Cheers,
Rick

[carregwen]

I love the use of light and shadow in the last one to support to form and make it more abstract.
May I ask you how you did this? Flash from above and a white background in the aim of the flash? And besides that, did you do a lot of contrast boosting in this shot? Is the black-white contrast at the teeth this way about straight from the camera?

Jeroen,

I shot it on a work table. The fork was laid on white watercolour paper. The studio flash was about 18in above and positioned behind the fork. I was at an angle in front of the fork. See plan below. I boosted the contrast in CS4 quite a bit - it may come as a bit of a shock to see the difference. I always shoot in RAW because I often want to make radical changes like this. I think it would be very tricky to get the effect I got straight out of the camera. I know what I want it to look like before I shoot/process it, I can see it in my head (there's plenty of space where the old brain used to be), and I think that helps a lot in getting a decent end product.



As it was out of the camera (50D)


and after processing...

[carregwen]

Blending the far tine into the background is perfect.

Cheers,
Rick

Yes, I thought that was quite neat. It gives a sense on infinity?

[carregwen]

For this I used plain white matt board under and behind. For lighting I used the Halogen lamps. One on the step ladder to the left and the other one I held high at the front (to try to reduce the shadow) For placement I tried to get the centre of the crack in the top right third.

Wendy

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob

Enough of that - I don't know what it means, and nor did Lennon.

You are improving Wendy. An eggcellent offering. You could also try a high-key effect with more light. You know what I mean, think minmalist, contemporary, Manhattan pad, no furniture, and an egg on the wall!

We are the eggmen.

[ScoutR]

I love the pic of the egg, Wendy. Great composition and exposure. If I can pick one nit, the frame is distracting to me: when I first looked at it, I thought you had included your backdrop in the image. I tried a quick touchup of the frame to show a different concept, lightening the border and darkening the drop shadow: hope you don't mind.

Cheers,
Rick

Nope, I don't mind at all. I appreciate the different point of view, and I like what you have done.

The reason I matched the frame to the backdrop is because I think I need more space around the egg. This was not possible in camera because the matt board was not big enough.
I think I will try to find some larger matt board and try again. (I'll have to crack another egg though, i just put this one in a salad)

Thanks for the feedback. It is appreciated

From Rob:
You could also try a high-key effect with more light. You know what I mean, think minmalist, contemporary, Manhattan pad, no furniture, and an egg on the wall!

Yes, I would like that. It would also solve the distracting frame issue mentioned above, if I could get uniform lighting on the background, keep it white and extend it a bit. Tricky stuff this. Fun though. I would never ever have thought of taking a picture of an egg. (or any of the other stuff I did yesterday)
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated as always.

Wendy

[Bannacht]

Soldiers!

[carregwen]

Soldiers!

I was waiting for someone to post that! Well done. What is in that white tray next to the egg?

[rick55]

That's a real breakfast, Carol. I really the composition, and the crop creates a nice focus (for me, at least) by catching the corners of the table or tray. My only suggestion would be to try to get the main light a little farther away from the camera, and add a little fill, if possible. If it's a hot shoe flash, maybe you have a cord so you can move it a little farther away, then put a reflector at a different angle to fill in a bit.

Cheers,
Rick

[Wirefox]

Phew...sorry I'm late. First week back at work and way too much to do. I had five minutes spare this afternoon I just snapped everything going. I am still sorting through so I will post more if they have turned out OK. We need more of these themed threads

[carregwen]

Excellent, Steve. I prefer #1, #4, and #6. The colour and lighting is great. I think that is what I intended with this thread - to show that creative but simple lighting, even on mundane subjects, can make a terrific difference. You haven't by any chance got Nigella there have you?