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Strawberries

© Charlotte K. Lowrie

Strawberries

Uploaded: March 17, 2006 18:32:25

Description

Strawberry still life. Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. Exposure: ISO 100, f/16, 1/125th sec.

Exif: FNumber: 16, ExposureBiasValue: 0/1, ExposureTime: 0.008, Flash: flash did not fire, ISO: 100, WhiteBalance: manual white balance

Comments

Bunny Snow August 09, 2007

You strawberries look absolutely yummy! What lighting arrangement did you use to create the image? And, did you do anything to the berries themselves to make them so appealing? Thanks! #710679

Charlotte K. Lowrie August 09, 2007

They WERE yummy! Thank you so much for your kind comments. I took this image in the studio with my usual lighting setup:
- Two background lights
- One main or key light slightly to camera left, placed over the subject and tilted down a bit to fill shadows at the bottom of the bowl
- One light with an umbrella at a 90-degree angle to the left of the camera
- A large silver reflector to the right of the camera at a 90-degree angle.
I use studio strobes, but you can use continuous lights - even shop lights that you can buy at a hardware store - to simulate the same lighting. Bright, clean light with snappy color really makes the color of fruit and vegetables pop. And it's that bright, clean light that really adds to the appeal of the food. I also use only unblemished berries that are just at peak ripeness. It's also good to have the green tops which gives some color contrast to the red.
Also, I only photograph food that I love to eat. The anticipation of finishing the shoot and having strawberries and ice cream is good motivation to get the shots right before I eat the subject! ;)
Take care and good to hear from you,
Charlotte #4626562

Laura Berman September 05, 2007

Hi Charlotte,

Thanks for the lighting details. I find it helpful when learning to light properly to study other photogs' lighting and try to reverse engineer it.

I like the way you've lit this so am trying to figure out the placement of your 2 background lights. They give that nice backlighting effect that is so flattering to food, but without making it look too obvious, especially in this overhead shot.

Can you tell me if I have the placement of your 2 background lights correct:
If the camera is 12 o'clock, then the background lights are at 4:30 and 7:30--or approx 135-degrees angle to the camera both left and right of the camera axis?

I'm also surprised that you got such long DOF with an aperture of 2.8. I would have thought is was more like 5.0.

thanks very much,
Laura #4750180

Charlotte K. Lowrie September 05, 2007

I agree with your approach entirely on reverse engineering. Both background lights are pointed at the white seamless paper with one slightly higher than the other to ensure continuous top-to-bottom light on the paper. So if the camera is at 12 o'clock, the background is at 6 o'clock with lights on the left and right pointing to the paper.

The aperture for this shot was f/16 which gave the extensive DOF. I think you are looking at the lens description in the caption. I was using an f/2.8 (maximum aperture) lens set to f/16. ;)

Great to hear from you. #4752197

Laura Berman September 05, 2007

Hi Charlotte,

Thanks for the lighting info. Using the white background to reflect those 2 lights does give the strawberries a very nice soft backlit feel.

And yes, I did make the mistake of not reading further concerning your aperture. But at least I was right about it looking as though you had a much deeper DOF. That will teach me to just glance at the written part. ;o)
Laura #4752757


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