For this challenge we focused on (literally, focused on) some type of food, be it fresh food or a prepared dish. No need to spend hours in the kitchen to get this shot… it could be a favorite fast food. Just get in close, pay attention to your background and shoot! But I was not prepared for the effort and time that went into getting our first entry. And with that hint, I am sure you now know who I am referring to. Lorraine does not take the easy route to getting her shots. She obsesses over them and rarely gets her shot on the same day that her quest has begun. And so it was with her desire to shoot the “perfect” apple. No cooking involved!
So I get an e-mail from Mike saying that Lorraine has gone to the store to find the perfect apple. I can picture her now picking through the apples, discarding any with a blemish, poorly shaped or not red enough.
And then came another e-mail from Mike along with a photo! Seems that Lorraine was setting up her apple shot in the back yard when she remembered that I had said to look at the background and not to have it too busy as that would distract from the focal point of the shot. Indeed she had a problem with the background. Seems that she had set her apple on a post and put her camera on a tripod but when she looked through the view finder there was a dead shrub in the background detracting from her perfect red apple. Rather than shoot from a different angle or move to a different area, Lorraine did what any crazy woman would do… she armed herself with serious tools and chopped that dead bush down!! Thank you Mike for getting this sneaky shot of Lorraine doing the dirty work!
Now when I asked Lorraine if she would mind if I posted Mike’s shot… this is what she said:
” Now…..about that “other” photo! Oh man…I didn’t bring that up as I was hoping that would be forgotten! I am kinda embarrassed about it and was going to say no….BUT Mike said it was HIS picture. I told him, but it was a picture of ME and that I wasn’t aware when he took it. I was so involved in cutting that stupid dead shrub down that I didn’t hear him come out and snap the picture! He then reminded me that back in 1982 when he got his first SLR that he had me sign a “Consent to Photograph” form. At the time Mike worked for the Wichita Public Schools Cable Television Station and had to get forms signed from teachers and students. When he started taking pictures of me he had me sign it as a joke but he still has it and WON’T let me out of it!!!! Its like I have the Paparazzi with me at all times now! GEEEEZ!!!!”
Soooo… here is the infamous shot in preparation of Lorraine getting her food photo.
(Photo by Mike)
“When I learned that the next challenge was going to be photographing
food, I thought to myself…I am in trouble now! I spent some time looking
over photos of food like Fay suggested. Fay made a statement when
giving us this challenge about making or keeping it simple and with this
I found some hope.
Enjoying the outdoors so much, I decided to start with this being the
setting and working the food into it . I had thoughts of visiting
orchards but decided I would stay in my own backyard and create my own
little setting with a simple food item.
First, I had to find “the perfect” apple. I must admit I did get some
funny looks from people watching me so carefully analyze the apples in
the store. I had it all figured out and thought to myself about how this
should be fairly easy. I was wrong!! I ended up having to work on this
three different days….about two hours each time. Temperatures over 100
degrees didn’t help the situation. The angle of the sun had to be just
right. The depth of field was a challenge and I had issues with things
in the background interfering. After all that, I ended up using an image
from the first day!
I used a cross screen filter for the star burst effect. I like the
effect and hope to use it on other images. I used aperture priority
mode. I also learned more about my camera and adjusting the exposure compensation. It was another good learning experience for me.”
The Perfect Apple
(Photo by Lorraine)
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