Zested Sugar

For the last two years, I focused my photography on shooting people. When The Big Move took us to Idaho, I shut down my teeny barely-a-business; although bittersweet, it was one of my smartest moves.

You see, I jumped into a business too fast.

Hindsight, this is what I’d tell me two years ago, “Just shoot for the love of it. The business side of photography can suck the love for it dry before it even has a chance to grow roots”.

So now, I have no business, I shoot what I love, all for me and no one else.

I love food. I love to eat it, and I love to be in the kitchen. My interest in food photography is purely motivated by my love of these two mediums. I’m excited to learn all about the way FP works.

Gear and Deets:

Rebel T4i w/ 50mm compact macro

ISO 200–F10–1/200sec

OCF w/Gary Fong Lightsphere

The Sitch:

I decided to shoot this (beginnings of a cheesecake) on a whim. I put little thought into the set up. I didn’t take out my tripod or spend an extended amount of time setting up. Posing stationary items, how hard can that be, right?

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA. It’s like learning photography for the first time all over again. This shot is plain, and lacks any real interest, but it is my first attempt at a legit FP image. It is going to be interesting to see where this takes me. Tomorrow I will be photographing my home made chocolate truffles, along with my finished cheesecake. In the meantime, I am studying up on how to make my paltry equipment work hard for me.

Thank you for stopping by, Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers,

N.

Metamorphosis of the Amethyst

These images show my first attempts at OCF. I was given loads of help from amazing photogs in Facebook groups I am a part of. Their direction and suggestions made me a better artist this week.

Thank you Aaron for all your recommendations. Hearing CC is difficult, but I really took to heart what you had to say and practiced EVERY thing you suggested. Give Aaron a shout out on his FB page, here

Also, a heart felt thank you to Reji, your advice was also essential to taking this simple image to the next level. Check out Reji’s work here

The first shot. As you can see, it isn’t really in focus. There is nothing fantastic about it at all. I used OCF, and lit it from directly above.

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My second attempt. This one, I used the advice of Reji, and moved my flash from above to perpendicular to the camera. I changed the position of the jar, because the MAS was distracting. Better, right?

Settings: 50mm compact macro: 200ISO–F5.6–1/125sec

The CC I got from Aaron was that I needed my Fstop much higher, put the camera on a tripod, do mirror lock up, and a delayed shutter to reduce shake

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This was my third attempt. I used everything he suggested. Below you can even see my set up. As you can tell, I really struggled with the reflection on the glass, and it affected the sharpness of the image

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My fourth and final attempt. I moved my work into my office where the light is much more even, and significantly less glare. The only difference between these two shots was the placement of my flash.

Settings: 50mm compact macro–200ISO–F20–1/15sec

As you can plainly see, the last two images are much stronger. I am so thankful for these photogs taking time out of their days to help me improve. Note, all these images are shot with TTL flash, I am still intimidated with manual flash (The only suggestion given I didn’t have the balls to try)