Stuck inside today

[dbevisjr]

Hot and humid in Central Florida today and the sporadic showers kept me inside. After being bored for an hour I decided to try to find something to photograph indoors. There were a couple things I wanted to try out so I made the best of my day. I tried the "shoot to the right" technique and minimal pp in LR3 and CS4 to eliminate/reduce the clipping, crop and reduce the size. I don't have the proper lense for this type of shot so I couldn't get the shallow DOF I would like to see but I am interested in hearing critique on the composition.





EXIF
18-55 set to 18mm
f 3.5
ISO 100
1/3 second shutter
Flash Off/DNF

[Michael_2010]

Thanks for giving me some ideas. Yesterday, I went out early and late looking for something interesting to shoot. The heat and humidity was so bad I could hardly see what I was doing for the sweat dripping into my eyes. Think I will stay in the AC today, or maybe just do some drive-bys that don't require me to get out of my truck.

I like the simplicity of the shot. How would it look to slice one of those tomatoes and get some type of back-lighting going on?

[dbevisjr]

Thanks for the input Michael. As many photos as I have seen with various different fruits sliced open I can't believe I didn't think to do that! It would add different shades of red, different shapes (seeds) and different lines. Sadly I had a salad with dinner yesterday so the re-try will have to wait for another day. As for the backlighting, I've read the suggestion on here on other peoples photo's but not really sure how to set it up or what the desired effect is. I'm rather new to photography that involves any more than taking a snapshot of Aunt Ethel with fried chicken in each hand at the family reunion. Had an AE-1 when in the Navy in the 80s but did nothing that required more than just the camera. Do you know of any refences or tutorials on backlighting that would be a good place for me to start? Thanks again.

[Michael_2010]

I'm not sure how to make it happen either, but I will dig around a little tomorrow. I know a leaf of lettuce is translucent and filled with veins. I'm thinking if some light was coming through the back of that lettuce it might get interesting. And you are right about the added textures of the sliced tomato with the seeds and maybe droplets of the juice.

Nice subject to play around with and put your camera through the paces to see what ya get. That is if you can hold off on eating the props! lol

[RecurrentNerve]

A couple of other indoor projects for you guys:

- Drip food dye into a clear container of water set on a window sill and shoot as it curls through the water. Prefocus on a chopstick or coat hanger first.

- Carefully smash a regular light bulb, put it in a lamp, set your camera to 1/2500, f/11, continuous shooting, and fire away as you turn the light on... you should get a few cool shots of glowing smoke as the filament burns up. Obviously take great care what with live electricity being involved.

- Another fun project with fruit and vegetables - slice and then reassemble with toothpicks, leaving gaps in between. Snap away, then Photoshop (clone) out the toothpicks (easy as they're so thin), and you get quite a cool effect!

- Have a go at shooting matches and candle smoke.

[dbevisjr]

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

A couple of other indoor projects for you guys:

- Drip food dye into a clear container of water set on a window sill and shoot as it curls through the water. Prefocus on a chopstick or coat hanger first.

- Carefully smash a regular light bulb, put it in a lamp, set your camera to 1/2500, f/11, continuous shooting, and fire away as you turn the light on... you should get a few cool shots of glowing smoke as the filament burns up. Obviously take great care what with live electricity being involved.

- Another fun project with fruit and vegetables - slice and then reassemble with toothpicks, leaving gaps in between. Snap away, then Photoshop (clone) out the toothpicks (easy as they're so thin), and you get quite a cool effect!

- Have a go at shooting matches and candle smoke.

Awesome ideas! Thanks. We often get afternoon showers here in Florida during the summer so I will have some fun trying these things out.

[Michael_2010]

With all this slicin' and dicin' we are going to have a damn good salad before it is all said and done! Now, if we could just borrow a cow from the landscape section.....

[RecurrentNerve]

The only problem is they're so hard to reassemble with toothpicks...