6th photo of 365

As a photographer there's one thing we all (generally speaking, of course) hate more than anything in the world; post-processing.

Now, there are ways to make your life easier, as to automatize large chunks of the process. There are numerous plug-ins, actions for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop available out there, but at a price. I've never been a fan of Photoshop. I used to tell people that I'd like to get it right in the camera. In reality though, I just didn't know my ways around the software. I would even go as far as to say that I was afraid of Photoshop.

Having said that, one of my goals this year is to more familiarize myself with the infamous king of post-processing; the Photoshop.

Now, what I have done in Photoshop here might not be very noticeable, so I'll list number of things I have done here.

First of all, I corrected the barrel distortion as much as I could. I can still see little distortion nearing the edges of photo, though. I've also exaggerated vignetting. The vignetting was already present in the original photo, but I've boosted contrast and added little bit of magenta tint to make it more "pop."

And lastly, I've added so called Film Grains. I've basically found and downloaded a film grain texture from one of those license-free websites, and created and merged texture layer on top of initial photo.

Aforementioned process might not take more than couple of minutes for seasoned Photoshop artist, and it can surely be automatized with simple action pack. I didn't wanted to do that. I wanted to learn the software from the very beginner's point-of-view. Instructions of this process can be found on various websites, and would be a great beginner's exercise to get one's feet wet.

5th photo of 365

Well, I don't have much to say about this, so here it is.

 

Now, there are so many things wrong with this photo, I don't even know where to begin. Having said that, I've gotta say, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Nothing is easy in life, of course, but this simple looking photo required three light sources and two v-flats, which is a lot more than what I'd like to use.

I've setup a temporary platform with a sheet of glass on top of a box. Usually this kind of photography would be shot on a piece of plexiglass or acrylics, but I had a piece of glass lying around, so that was my natural choice.

I placed my 430exII with a grid inside the box facing upward at the bottom of the plastic cup at 1/2 power setting. That alone gave me enough illuminations to light the subject, but the problem was that the subject was disappearing into the background. I've tried using my optical slaves to side-light on each side, but that didn't give me the definition I wanted; naturally, next step was to find something to illuminate whites onto the sides of subject. I simply folded two A-4 printing papers, placed them on each sides and lit it with optical slaves. That gave me the definitions that I wanted, but it now looked too even. I wanted to differentiate the intensity of those side lights. From that point on, it was just matter of finding right placement. Oh, by the way, the optical slaves that I used doesn't have power settings, and I think are fixed at Guide Number of 33.

I was inching away my light stands each time after a exposure to figure out the ratio, and after a while, I eventually found the ratio I wanted.

I think I've spent total of 2 hours. Again, that's a lot more time than I'd like to spend on any single subject, and definitely a lot more time than I'd spend on portraiture.I could have reduced the time, if I had lights that I could adjust power settings, but I was too lazy to bring out my "heavy-guns," so to speak.

 

Anyhow, this was my first time attempting such photography, and I've learned a lot. In the end, it was worth it.

What I've really learned, though, is the amount of patience and discipline that is required in doing such product photography. I just cannot imagine doing this type of work myself, and not just doing it, but doing it good, let alone doing it for living. That to me is just a sure way of becoming insane!
 

 I really give my sincerest respect for the people in this business.

Worst photo I've ever shot, so far.

Last night, after taking the photos of the fast food, I did little research on food photography.

I read bunch of articles and saw videos, and realized that there are few key things and preparations that goes into professional food photography, and those have nothing to do with specific gears or lights.

First of all, background is really important; some famous food photographer even claims that the background is seldom even more important than the food itself. Props are just as important. Say you're shooting a plank of steak; props here and there, silverware, little canisters of salt and pepper, etc., can really sell the mood.

One more thing I noticed is that many art directors and photographers prefer not to use glycerin, and just stick to water, or mix the glycerin with water with 1:1 ratio. Hmm... I doubt it has anything to do with financial concerns.

Anyhow, this is what I shot today.

Well, the focus is off. I would rather have the focus on the Ramen itself, but it has to do with the physical space of my tiny kitchen and minimum focal distance of my 70-200mm f/2.8.

Secondly, I thought I could make the noddles look appetizing. I have failed miserably, of course.

When I shot this initially, with just a kitchen light, I was able to see shadow of myself on the rim of the pot. So I set up my 430exII on the camera left side, but then the inside of pot overexposed, and cast harsh lights on the noodles itself. Now, the noodles look unappetizing enough. I had to diffuse the lights, somehow, and rather than setting up a umbrella, softbox or Gary Fong of some sort, I simply open my wooden cabinet, and bounced my speedlite off of the cabinet.

Gosh, I really need to go out.

I'm not being lazy, I swear!

Last night, after taking the photo of ground coffee, I thought to myself, "I better go out and make some photography to post on the blog!"

That didn't really happen, and I swear, it wasn't because I was being lazy!

What happened was, it started raining all day. And I caught a flu. And I for some reason, started watching Battlestar Galactica.

Anyhow, I felt hungry after being glued to several episodes of ...Galactica, I drove to local fast food restaurant and ordered some food. I got home, ripped opened the paper bag, saw the fries and thought, "oh well, I'll just shoot these..."

But on a serious note, lighting the food was quite a challenge. So after what felt like hours of tinkering with my strobes, I simply gave up! I should've spent few more minutes, and I perhaps have gotten the shot. I mean, the food was cold already, I might as well have spent few more minutes, right?

Maybe I'll rise up early in the morning one day, order some fast food and really setup lights and perhaps give a shot at shooting some food photography... Maybe, just maybe...

2nd photo of 365

Growing up, I never liked coffee. 

The smell of it, the taste of it, and even the people who drank it put me off. It was by an accident, that I opened the door to my soon to be an addiction, and biggest vice. 

I met a woman.

I loved her so much, I started sharing her love for the things she loved; even her love for a coffee.

To make the story short, she eventually left me, and what used to be my better half left a huge space in my heart. But it's okay; my espresso machine, French Presses, grinder and dripper keeps my company. But somehow, the space isn't quite filled, yet.

1st photograph of 365

It's finally a new year. Second day of new year, to be exact.

Ever since I've gotten seriously engaged in the art of photography, I have always wanted to do 365-day photography challenge. After two consecutive years of failing to do so due to the inherent laziness, I finally decided to bite the bullet and started it.

Having said that, I also wanted to share my experience with others; to learn and be taught, and to inspire and be inspired.

Below is my first photo of what will be a 365 series of photographs, and hopefully this time, I could finish it!

I know it's nothing fancy, but take a look at the trails of light; can you guess what I did to make the dotted lines?