We picked candy as a daily subject because we thought it would be fairly easy. And it is, sort of, since it's easy to find, there's a lot of variety, most people have it handy. What I didn't consider was composition. Candy in a dish is not so bad if you have colorful candy and a nice dish. Candy outside of a dish, on its own....a bit harder. Food styling is not my forte and I struggled with this. I originally was going to use two of the Ghirardelli squares, with one broken to allow the raspberry center to spill out. But try as I might, no matter what angle I placed the piece on top of the whole square, I couldn't get it to look compelling on its own. Then handling them caused some issues, so sadly some of the pieces had to be retired. To my stomach. Then browns.... the list goes on and on. I raided a box of candy we were given as a gift for some taller pieces to fill in the composition and remembered I still had some of my Pi raspberries left over, so they got pulled in, too, since they echoed the inside of the chocolate squares.
I'm sort of happy with the composition, though it could be tweaked further. I used natural light, coming in over my right shoulder as I took the picture, and the shadow on the rear piece of candy on the left seems a bit strong. But, it is what it is.....too much time devoted today already.
Thanks for any comments, suggestions, tweaks....
Yum, yum! My favorite chocolate candy! Very nice and you're keeping with your color theme too!
ReplyDeleteOh, that looks so yummy. I think the composition is fine and the red inside is so enticing. I didn't expect it to be so pretty. I really like that you put the raspberries in the background as a recall of the raspberry liqueur. Not sure what browns are but I'm guessing those chocolate squares. I wouldn't have to be begged to try. Well done, Carol - and what's most important with food, is that it makes you want to have some. :-) Eury
ReplyDeleteI was happy to see you had some raspberries left to create an echo of colour. You managed to stay in colourconcept and create a very elegant image.
ReplyDeleteWhen shooting still-life with natural light from one window on the side I almost always use a white reflector (can be as simple as A4 paper) or a mirror to slightly fill in the shadow on the other side when I feel it's to deep. I have a Canon 60D with a rotatable display & live view so I can check the effect from a not to far distance. Of course I focus manually ;), the camera is on tripod and timer so I have time to position the reflector.
Thanks, Marga! I'm glad you like it, and I'm trying to stick with a color scheme, but it's hard! :) Thank you also for the very helpful tips on the lighting. I focused manually to get the very shallow DOF I was aiming for. I wanted sort of a dreamy effect, which I think I achieved. So many things to think about that I never noticed the heavy shadow until I was post-processing and cleaning it up. I have white poster boards I can use to reflect light, as well as a small reflector, but I always forget to use them!
DeleteThe raspberries are inspired as they really do finish off the whole thing in the manner of professional food styling! Very well done! The shallow DOF is heavenly and I like the softness it lends to the subject. Fill reflectors are definitely the way to go with these sorts of small field shots. I often have a piece of A4 paper in my hand and with the camera on a tripod and a remote trigger I just keep shooting and moving the paper around till I get what I want. Sometimes the paper has to be bent around or over the top of the subject just out of frame, but if you manually move it around you can get better results than a static reflector. I think the light temperature on this is a bit too warm too, although I realise you wanted to echo the colours in your other shots, but perhaps just a tad more natural and white might have shown up the hues of your subject a bit better. Overall a lovely product shot though . The out of focus raspberries really do make it!
ReplyDeleteOkay so I admit the first thing I wanted to do was lick the open piece, with the beautiful goodness leaking out. But then I remembered, and I am sure you know but "Castoreum (or castor, not to be confused with the oil of a castor bean) is a yellowish-brown, unctuous substance with a strong, penetrating odor which beavers secrete from castor sacs located in skin cavities between the pelvis and the base of the tail and spray when scent-marking their territory. (The location of the beaver's castor sacs means that castoreum also often includes a mixture of anal gland secretions and urine as well.) Due to the beaver's typical diet of leaves and bark, castoreum doesn't "stink" as other similar animal secretions do, but rather has a musky, vanilla scent" "Less certain is products you may be consuming that contain castoreum. It shows up in the ingredient list of raspberry-tasting items masked as “natural flavors.” Although you made these look beautiful, I think I will leave the taste testing to you...LOL :)
ReplyDeleteThis info will do wonders for my diet..... :)
DeleteVery nicely composed with the raspberries and the wonderful DOF. I really feel like some chocolate now even after reading MML's piece (which sounds an expensive way to flavor food)
ReplyDeleteMmm, looks yummy. Until I read MMLs comment! There's something a little off with the lighting for me. Perhaps it's coming in from the side a little too much - maybe a touch from the back - or reflected slightly off the other side may have changed this. I think I still would nibble though :)
ReplyDelete