Roasted Addiction

[Ewie]

This image is part of a set taken for a photography course assignment, the subject was open and I immediately thought of coffee, my one true addiction (apart from photography of course).

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwozzie_nz/2231907143/" title="Roasted Addiction by kwozzie_nz, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2231907143_e759a068fb.jpg" width="334" height="500" alt="Roasted Addiction" /></a>

EXIF
Sony A100 + 50mm F2.8 Macro
1/4sec @ F8, ISO100

I set up a "hack" studio on a desk in my office using a large piece of heavyweight white paper as the backdrop and a desk lamp for lighting. I thought that the CCT of the lamp would work well with the browns of the beans and the off-white colouring of the mug.

I would like feedback on;
- DOF, should it be deeper or shallower?
- Composition, I took several shots and this one is the full frame as taken. Would having more of the mug in the scene work better?
- General. There has been no POST on this shot apart from brightness & contrast in Lightroom. WB was set at time of shot using an Expodisc.

I look forward to your critique.

[steevdavis62]

I actually really like the shot. Althoguh i find the reflection of the beans on he mug, distrating. But it might look weird with out them. Hard to tell. I like your depth of feild, and the compsition is good.. Would make a nice advertising photo.

Jut a thought, be careful if you plan to display or publish it somewhere, because you met get into legal trouble with starbucks. Im not really sure, but just a thought

[wulf]

Having the beans reflected in the mug is good to my eyes - if anything, I would like to see that emphasised more.

However, I am also not sure about the words on the mug. My thoughts are not so much of the legal ramifications of trademarked names but just the question of why you included the letters you did and why did you make the choice of cutting them off where you did (for exmaple, just a hint of the A in STARBUCKS showing on the left)?

Wulf

[Ewie]

I actually really like the shot. Althoguh i find the reflection of the beans on he mug, distrating. But it might look weird with out them. Hard to tell. I like your depth of feild, and the compsition is good.. Would make a nice advertising photo.

Jut a thought, be careful if you plan to display or publish it somewhere, because you met get into legal trouble with starbucks. Im not really sure, but just a thought

Thanks Steve, appreciate the feedback. I'm only expecting to use the image, or a similar one from the set in my assignment so am not too worried about the copyright implecations. But thanks for pointing it out, definately something to keep in mind. :)

[Ewie]

Having the beans reflected in the mug is good to my eyes - if anything, I would like to see that emphasised more.

However, I am also not sure about the words on the mug. My thoughts are not so much of the legal ramifications of trademarked names but just the question of why you included the letters you did and why did you make the choice of cutting them off where you did (for exmaple, just a hint of the A in STARBUCKS showing on the left)?

Wulf

Hi Wulf, I took several photos using different angles and lighting positions and there was something I liked about this one that I can't really quantify.

The wider shots with the whole mug looked way too much like an advertising shot. This image is closer again with shallow DOF and most of the wording on the mug left out of the shot. I thought that having part of the plain mug in the background was too boring whereas the text added "something"

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwozzie_nz/2232817432/" title="Roasted Addiction 2 by kwozzie_nz, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2302/2232817432_2ae162baca.jpg" width="500" height="355" alt="Roasted Addiction 2" /></a>

EXIF
Sony A100 + 50mm F2.8 Macro
1/5 sec @ F5.6, ISO100 50mm

[wulf]

I definitely prefer the closer crop although I might want to allow a bit more room for the beans at the bottom.

Wulf

[Ewie]

I definitely prefer the closer crop although I might want to allow a bit more room for the beans at the bottom.

Wulf

Thanks Wulf, I'll set up the props again and take another shot.

Do you have any thoughts on the lighting? Does the shadow on the right side of frame work?

[wulf]

I think the lighting is fine although maybe you could use some white paper out of frame to reflect some light across, which might bring out some more details in the beans.

One thing I do find a bit distracting is the brown ring round the bottom of the mug. Maybe more beans to cover it would be good?

Wulf