Get your insulin ready...

Having fun with food tonight, and my daughter's new favourite dessert ended up in front of the lens for Day 63.

BEHOLD THE RAINBOW CHOC-O-RAMA!



Arrowroot cookies, a smear of Nutella, and a sprinkling of mini M&Ms.

I made a bit of a challenge for this one, as I wanted to make it more than just a picture of food. There was plenty of colour and contrast already, a lightbox to use, a crystal plate to put it on, but I took several shots before settling on this. This is the first shot I took at the exaggerated angle, and it just works. I've noticed this is a lot of food shots, especially in shots of repeating objects like cupcakes and cookies. I can't explain why it works, but this was the best shot by far.

ISO 100, f/10 at 1/60th shutter. 580EX II remotely fired with the pocket wizards at 1/8th power, from above.

I (Heart) Chocolate

Day 42, and it's almost Valentine's day. Thus, the stores are packed with candy and knicknacks in a million shades of red. Naturally, a young man's thoughts wander to the various ways he can attempt not to disappoint his wife this year.

A secret Valentine project has begun, but I dare not speak of it here, since my good lady wife reads this blog. Instead, I shall throw out another Valentine's inspired photo, courtesy of the candy that was purchased for my Daughter's pre-school class:



Is there anything that says Valentine's Day more than a heart made of hearts that are made of chocolate and are also suckers? I do not think so.

ISO 100, f/20, 1/200th shutter in the lightbox. 580EX II to the right at 1/4 power, and the LP-120 on the left at 1/2 power, fired with the Pocket Wizards.

Risque photography...

For day 25, I wanted to tell you a story. A story about a nut, who likes to get naked in front of people.



Okay, so it's not exactly NSFW. I felt a bit goofy today, and came up with the idea of a peanut M&M that likes it when you watch. The original plan was to have the second shot with all the shell removed and just the chocolate, but it appears to be impossible to separate the shell from the chocolate, so this had to suffice.

Critical components in this shot: Lightbox, pocket wizards, tripod, shutter release. Without all of that I wouldn't be able to get such clean, identical framing on the little photos. Gear may not make you a good photographer, but it sure helps.

I really like this picture, I hope you do too!

A few shots of the week.

So, another week with not much shooting, but as I mentioned before, this is about learning. Here are a few more other shots I liked this week.

One more shot from my training sessions at Riverview Health Centre. This one is a tight shot of a wonderful Blue Spruce on the grounds of the hospital itself.



I was hesitant to post this shot earlier, because the composition is not particularly strong, but I think the pale foreground colours work well with the darker background. Not a great shot, but not a bad one I hope.

This morning, my wife and I took the kids to a craft show at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, and there were some limited opportunities to shoot. I didn't bring the big flash (should have) so I had to rely on the pop-up with a the puffer for diffusion. The lighting was less than optimal even with the flash though, so only one salvageable shot:



I liked the deep colours and the repeating shapes. If you blow it up though, the focus was a bit too much on the back row, and the DOF was too narrow. Still, it kinda works.

Somedays, you just have to take the 'kinda' shots :)