My favorite thing: FRUIT!

I was told vegetables with seeds are technically fruits.  For the fruit assignment I chose strawberries (my favorite) then headed to the grocery store check out but the peppers caught my eye. They were so vibrant ! So, I tossed one in the basket.  Once I began shooting in the studio the afterthought purchase ended up becoming my "star."  The color was so bold.  Food is usually shot backlit.  This assignment encompassed food photography, but added something new called "light painting."  This image was one of my "light painting" images.  All lights were turned off and the shutter opened for 3.2 seconds on my Canon Rebel XTI.  During that time, I used the light gun to "paint" my set.  My camera position was high and slightly tilted above the table top.  My square yellow plate from home was turned so the lines would be diagonal for a more interesting effect.  I may not call it a fruit but it is beautiful and edible in its own right.

Chocolate Assignment

This table top image was created in studio with a farrell light and a digital scanning back for a medium format Hasselblad camera.  This was my first experience with the scanning backs.  I loved it.  I wanted to take a popular chocolate, but connect it back to nature. I took it a step farther and added "dirt"(cocoa powder) in the background.  Despite popular belief; chocolate is healthy in moderation and is frankly a lot of fun to shoot.

HDR

Saturday afternoon, before the sun went down, I ventured out to shoot some HDR while a few of the fall colors are around.  My sister and I used to play with this old tractor chassis down in our pasture.  The texture caught my eye.















I used a Canon 40D f4@1/5 of a second with only ambient lighting.

Water Assignment

My object lighting class was given an assignment that required us to shoot an image that portrays "water."  The difficult aspect of the project was to shoot an original image that brings only the word water to mind.  I photographed a vase of water containing blue food coloring; while a classmate used a coffee stirring straw to drop water into the vase.  f5.6 @1/125 accompanied by a Vivitar 285.  I used 2:750 hot lights to illuminate the white partition walls that was placed on three sides of the vase.  The reflections of the lights on the glass produced the above image.  I used photoshop to clean off a few imperfections on the vase in the image and increased saturation in select areas.

Central Park, New York City

I recently got the opportunity to go to New York City to the annual Photo Expo.  What would any school trip be without a few assignments?  I shot my panoramic assignment in Central Park, at the Ice Skating Rink.  It was captured with my Canon Rebel XTI.  The aperture remained at f4 and I bracketed the shutter speed to ensure proper exposures.  "Serendipity" may have been my favorite part New York, but Central Park was a close second.

Photo Safari in Downtown Asheboro

Last Wednesday my Object Lighting class shot on location in downtown Asheboro. Our teacher asked us to shoot anything that caught our eye and disregard the "rules of photography." The point of the project was to encourage us to be more aware of the things we walk by each day, that have the potential of being a nice photograph. My images were not as abstract as my classmates, but I thoroughly enjoyed the "fun shooting" in the middle of a very stressful semester.

I produced the image above by combining these 2 images and doing some fun tricks in Photoshop.  This became one of my favorites!

This image challenged me.  However, I can say I learned a lot through trial and error in Photoshop. I got close to what I envisioned as the final image.

All of the above images were captured with my Canon Rebel XTI.  I used a fill card to help illuminate some shadowed areas in addition to the ambient light.