Photo-Off: Food

This week's Photo-Off challenge was food. I wanted to shoot something warm and steamy -- tomato soup, or maybe hot chocolate -- but apparently steam is this whole big thing and is not (as I now know) as easy to capture as you'd think. My warm and cozy bowl o' soup photos turned out incredibly dull, and the steam didn't even bother to show up on film (or, um, in pixels).

I tried grapes next. After my soup failed so spectacularly, I spent some time studying up on the art of food photography. One thing I learned is that light kept low and behind the subject will produce more interesting texture in the final product. With that in mind, I stuck some grapes on top of Romaine lettuce leaves and put them on a chair in front of the open front door.

I should have remembered to turn off a nearby lamp; you can see the bulb's orange reflection in the grapes. If I allowed myself any post-processing in these challenges, I'd simply clone those out. I should probably also have spritzed the grapes with water throughout the shoot, but my spray bottle was in the room where Tres was napping and I didn't want to risk waking her. Oh well. Small details.


Nikon D70 - 85mm prime lens; 1/250 at f/2.2; ISO 200

So what's the verdict? Anybody hungry for grapes? Or a salad? ;-)

Uno turned six yesterday and received, among other things, a Fisher Price digital camera. She says she wants in on these Photo-Offs, too, so she's been taking food pictures all day. I'll post her results later!

Mary, your challenge for next week is to interpret [LDS scripture] D&C 93:36, specifically the phrase "The glory of God is intelligence." Drop by a school or library, photograph a stack of books or someone with really thick glasses (lol), or even submit a totally random photo for which you have learned a new technique. Whatever! Education, knowledge, intelligence, learning. It's all good. :-)

(Are you proud of me for remembering to issue your challenge this time, lol?)


~RCH~