207. Condiment - May 28-June 3, 2017
Don-
Please be forgiving, it has been a very stressful week. B&H has been shut down for two days and there are no daily specials. Life is so hard for a photographer. I digress; allow me to weave the tale...
Theme Condiment,
I follow a couple of photographers on Lynda.com. Ben Long is one and he interviewed photographer Bob Sober (artsimportant.com) a photographer of bugs. His equipment is Bratonistic in nature. What I have taken from this interview was the stacking of photographs taken with a macro lens to maintain focus. Difficult at best with a Macro Lens.
In this image of pickled relish I took 45 pictures attempting to maintain focus with a Macro Lens. I put pickled relish on a CD cover and lit it from an angle of about 60 degrees below. I took the 45 pictures into Adobe Camera Raw, adjusted one and synchronized all of the photos then moved the pictures to Photoshop as layers. I stacked the pictures to get a final image. I returned the image to Camera Raw and the added vignette and darkening to the bottom edge of the photograph.
I had purchased an adjustable X – Y axis camera mount from Banggood for very cheap. I attached some Acra-Swiss mounts for the camera and the Arcatech ball mount on the Vanguard tripod. I took 45 pictures over a distance of about 2 inches. Camera was my trusty D810 and loaded with the 105mm 2.8 lens. The exposure for all 45 pictures was 1/500; f/4; ISO 400; matrix metering. The camera was on a 5 second delay with a mirror popup of 3 seconds giving 8 seconds to reduce vibration of the camera. Well there it is pickled relish, a condiment.
Please be forgiving, it has been a very stressful week. B&H has been shut down for two days and there are no daily specials. Life is so hard for a photographer. I digress; allow me to weave the tale...
Theme Condiment,
I follow a couple of photographers on Lynda.com. Ben Long is one and he interviewed photographer Bob Sober (artsimportant.com) a photographer of bugs. His equipment is Bratonistic in nature. What I have taken from this interview was the stacking of photographs taken with a macro lens to maintain focus. Difficult at best with a Macro Lens.
In this image of pickled relish I took 45 pictures attempting to maintain focus with a Macro Lens. I put pickled relish on a CD cover and lit it from an angle of about 60 degrees below. I took the 45 pictures into Adobe Camera Raw, adjusted one and synchronized all of the photos then moved the pictures to Photoshop as layers. I stacked the pictures to get a final image. I returned the image to Camera Raw and the added vignette and darkening to the bottom edge of the photograph.
I had purchased an adjustable X – Y axis camera mount from Banggood for very cheap. I attached some Acra-Swiss mounts for the camera and the Arcatech ball mount on the Vanguard tripod. I took 45 pictures over a distance of about 2 inches. Camera was my trusty D810 and loaded with the 105mm 2.8 lens. The exposure for all 45 pictures was 1/500; f/4; ISO 400; matrix metering. The camera was on a 5 second delay with a mirror popup of 3 seconds giving 8 seconds to reduce vibration of the camera. Well there it is pickled relish, a condiment.
Byron-
I went with a rather traditional, menu looking picture. I shot it on my patio. I like that spot because there are 3 white walls that provide reflected light. I took a piece of well used plywood and placed it vertically on my glass-topped table. It is leaning against the umbrella post. I lined up the condiments like the good soldiers of flavor that they are. I then took a SB-700 with a warming gel and held it under the table. It gives the glass a warmer tone. Unfortunately, no olives were harmed in the production of this photo.
ISO 100, 50mm lens, f8, 1/40 sec, EV -3
I went with a rather traditional, menu looking picture. I shot it on my patio. I like that spot because there are 3 white walls that provide reflected light. I took a piece of well used plywood and placed it vertically on my glass-topped table. It is leaning against the umbrella post. I lined up the condiments like the good soldiers of flavor that they are. I then took a SB-700 with a warming gel and held it under the table. It gives the glass a warmer tone. Unfortunately, no olives were harmed in the production of this photo.
ISO 100, 50mm lens, f8, 1/40 sec, EV -3
Kevin-
Honestly I played around for a long time with the idea of photographing the most ubiquitous condiment, which is in this country is ketchup. Stop at Smashburger and get a burger and fries to go, combine that with a lot of torn open ketchup packages, perfect I thought!
But first I set up to photograph my favorite condiment/appetizer/ingredient which is olives. A nice looking plate, a macro lens and a big jar of olive muffuletta (mixing olives with olive oil and other yummies) from That Pickle Guy placed on pieces of mini bruschetta. I had planned to experiment for the first time with focus-stacking, taking exposure after exposure with incremental focus shifts between each frame and then assembling them via software to create the unlimited depth of field look.
Unfortunately while shooting this photo a reflector card fell, knocking the huge jar of olive muffuletta onto the concrete floor of the studio. So I spent over and hour on my hands and knees picking tiny glass shards off of the floor, tending to several small cuts on my hands from doing so, and crying over the wasted olive goodness 😢. So I had to forget about the focus stacking as well as the additional burger/ketchup idea and just go with this instead.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor lens, one studio flash with a snoot providing the light from behind, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
Honestly I played around for a long time with the idea of photographing the most ubiquitous condiment, which is in this country is ketchup. Stop at Smashburger and get a burger and fries to go, combine that with a lot of torn open ketchup packages, perfect I thought!
But first I set up to photograph my favorite condiment/appetizer/ingredient which is olives. A nice looking plate, a macro lens and a big jar of olive muffuletta (mixing olives with olive oil and other yummies) from That Pickle Guy placed on pieces of mini bruschetta. I had planned to experiment for the first time with focus-stacking, taking exposure after exposure with incremental focus shifts between each frame and then assembling them via software to create the unlimited depth of field look.
Unfortunately while shooting this photo a reflector card fell, knocking the huge jar of olive muffuletta onto the concrete floor of the studio. So I spent over and hour on my hands and knees picking tiny glass shards off of the floor, tending to several small cuts on my hands from doing so, and crying over the wasted olive goodness 😢. So I had to forget about the focus stacking as well as the additional burger/ketchup idea and just go with this instead.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor lens, one studio flash with a snoot providing the light from behind, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
Paul-
You may be interested to know—though the smart money is probably falls the other way—that Condiment has an interesting etymological background:
It is derived from an early 15th century French word of the same spelling, as well as an earlier Latin word form “condimentum” which refers to spice, seasoning, sauce. It also refers to the Latin word “condire” which means to preserve, pickle, or season. Also, the Latin variant, “condere” meaning to put together or to store. Pretty neat, huh? [Paraphrased from Online Entomology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=condiment]
I decided to go with a picture of a condiment in a condiment in a condiment. Kind of a thematic transition. The nachos are, of course salt, the salsa is well…salsa, and who doesn’t put avocado over just about everything these days? (Does lemon count? The avocado was brushed with lemon in advance to ease the worst of its visibly short life span in open air.)
Clearly, I am not a food photographer. The picture doesn’t strike me as particularly appetizing (which I wanted it to be) and I should have drained some off the liquid off the salsa before shooting. The water was osmotically attracted to (or possibly flirting with) the chips and the avocado almost immediately. Trying to keep the coquettish, advancing red stain off both was difficult while also experimenting with different angles and settings. Too, my remarkable lack of discipline--as evidenced by munching a few nachos while moving things around--meant more time wasted brushing away little crumbs from what was in-frame.
Still, the worst of the food challenges were ably mitigated by my spouse who dutifully took direction from me on what to lightly sop up here, reposition slightly there, and how hard to slap my hand when reaching for the bag of nachos. Thank you, my dear.
A bare toilet paper roll was also used for the shot. (Though not as a condiment.) I employed a tape-wrapped toilet paper role as a snoot. It was covered at one end with a piece of Nikon-brand archival paper towel which I ordered from Adorama. Did it work? Technically, yes. Did it provide a focused and diffused source of light as intended? ‘Got me. I just wanted to try something different that Byron would deign to give a slight-but-approving nod to. (Man, approval-seeking behavior is demeaning.)
A little of this and a little of that: Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 30mm; ISO 1000; 1/60 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; WB Flash, +1.0 on the fill flash, +0.7 EV, the camera was tripod-mounted. Post was done (and not terribly well) in Adobe Lightroom. I opted to drop the clarity a little to make the image a little less harsh-looking.
Postscript: My wife and I ate part of the props after the shoot, and then transformed what was left into something we ate with dinner. We had to. It’s the WPOTM way.
You may be interested to know—though the smart money is probably falls the other way—that Condiment has an interesting etymological background:
It is derived from an early 15th century French word of the same spelling, as well as an earlier Latin word form “condimentum” which refers to spice, seasoning, sauce. It also refers to the Latin word “condire” which means to preserve, pickle, or season. Also, the Latin variant, “condere” meaning to put together or to store. Pretty neat, huh? [Paraphrased from Online Entomology Dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=condiment]
I decided to go with a picture of a condiment in a condiment in a condiment. Kind of a thematic transition. The nachos are, of course salt, the salsa is well…salsa, and who doesn’t put avocado over just about everything these days? (Does lemon count? The avocado was brushed with lemon in advance to ease the worst of its visibly short life span in open air.)
Clearly, I am not a food photographer. The picture doesn’t strike me as particularly appetizing (which I wanted it to be) and I should have drained some off the liquid off the salsa before shooting. The water was osmotically attracted to (or possibly flirting with) the chips and the avocado almost immediately. Trying to keep the coquettish, advancing red stain off both was difficult while also experimenting with different angles and settings. Too, my remarkable lack of discipline--as evidenced by munching a few nachos while moving things around--meant more time wasted brushing away little crumbs from what was in-frame.
Still, the worst of the food challenges were ably mitigated by my spouse who dutifully took direction from me on what to lightly sop up here, reposition slightly there, and how hard to slap my hand when reaching for the bag of nachos. Thank you, my dear.
A bare toilet paper roll was also used for the shot. (Though not as a condiment.) I employed a tape-wrapped toilet paper role as a snoot. It was covered at one end with a piece of Nikon-brand archival paper towel which I ordered from Adorama. Did it work? Technically, yes. Did it provide a focused and diffused source of light as intended? ‘Got me. I just wanted to try something different that Byron would deign to give a slight-but-approving nod to. (Man, approval-seeking behavior is demeaning.)
A little of this and a little of that: Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 18-55mm lens focused at 30mm; ISO 1000; 1/60 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; WB Flash, +1.0 on the fill flash, +0.7 EV, the camera was tripod-mounted. Post was done (and not terribly well) in Adobe Lightroom. I opted to drop the clarity a little to make the image a little less harsh-looking.
Postscript: My wife and I ate part of the props after the shoot, and then transformed what was left into something we ate with dinner. We had to. It’s the WPOTM way.
Jerry-
It took great fortitude to not burn, blow up, or shoot a packet of hot sauce. So I rode over a few, first with my bike and then the car. Did you know Taco Bell hot sauce packets are nearly indestructible? The shot I chose was with some packets on a foam core board over which I drove my Corolla. Kind of a splat art project.
Camera was the Sony a6300, 50mm lens set at 1/160 @ F16, ISO 1600.
It took great fortitude to not burn, blow up, or shoot a packet of hot sauce. So I rode over a few, first with my bike and then the car. Did you know Taco Bell hot sauce packets are nearly indestructible? The shot I chose was with some packets on a foam core board over which I drove my Corolla. Kind of a splat art project.
Camera was the Sony a6300, 50mm lens set at 1/160 @ F16, ISO 1600.