My own photo-shoot with a lime and the resources I used.

I am going to do some practice shots in my room just to get a feel for what I will need to do and have.

I decided to test out: 

-Different heights so I could see which was best to achieve the best looking water droplets

-Angles that looked best

and practice shots, preparing fruit and looking and testing out the settings to see which I should use in the real shoot in the studio at college.

So the resources I will use are:

- My Camera (Sony A200)

-My Tripod

-The Fruit, in this case Limes

-A Lamp to light the set

-A Knife (To cut the fruit with)

-Lens Cleaner

-Paper Towels (To cut the fruit on)

-A Set, in this case I am using a small shelf under my fish tank because there is a nice wood grain to it and there will be a white wall for the backdrop

-Something to sit the light on, a box.

-Macro Lens to get up close to the product in hand
-Clear Vanish
-Spray Bottle
-A ruler (To measure the height of the drops)

Health and Safety

-I will have to keep the fruit away from the plug sockets when I am cutting it in case some juice leaks into it and I get electrocuted.

-I will also have to be careful when cutting the limes open because of their shape, they are round and have a wax coating on them, as such they might slip out from under the knife and I might cut my finger instead.

-I will keep all camera equipment away from the limes once they have been cut open because I could get juice on the lens or anywhere on the camera and make it sticky or worse it could brake
-When spraying the water around I will keep all electric items away 

Once I have taken all of these things into account I will start setting up the shoot.

This is the set-up:

That is the shelf that I will take the photos.

That is where the limes will be cut open and the water sprayed, away from all plugs and sockets.

These are the tripod and lamp photos set up.


Testing out heights for droplets:


I started doing this by using a ruler and placing the limes where I would have them in the real shots.

15cm.

 14cm

 13cm

 12cm

 11cm

 10cm

 9cm

 8cm

 7cm

 6cm

 5cm

 4cm

 3cm

 2cm

 1cm

I will start by taking pictures of the limes UNvarnished to see what effect that creates then I will varnish them and see if there is any difference.

Shots in order:


1. Unvarnished and with just the light:

The Camera was on Manual for all shots.

ISO:400

Aperture:5.6

Shutter:1/25

 White Balance:AWB

 ISO:400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/60
White Balance:AWB

 ISO:400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/60
White Balance:AWB

 ISO:400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/50
White Balance:Cloudy

 ISO: 400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/50
White Balance:Tungsten

 ISO:400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/50
White Balance:Tungsten
This is one of my favourites.

ISO:400
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/50
White Balance: Fluorescent

2. Unvarnished with the light and my flash:

ISO:400

Aperture:5.6

Shutter:1/50

White Balance:Flash

ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/80
White Balance:AWB

3. Unvarnished with just my flash:

ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/80
White Balance: AWB

4. Unvarnished with just the light and droplets:

 ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/80
White Balance:AWB

ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/50
White Balance: AWB

5. Unvarnished with the light and my flash with droplets:

ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/80
White Balance: AWB

6. Unvarnished with just my flash and the droplets:

ISO:200
Aperture:5.6
Shutter:1/80
White Balance: AWB
This is another one of my favourites.


So I think that just the flash made the better picture. The lamp that I used created an 'orangey' glow in the picture and I think the flash really brought out the proper colour of the limes and not a fake glow. Their skins were a fresh and healthy green and the insides looked so juicy. So I think my second favourite picture here is: The second 'Tungsten, Just the light picture' one because I think it created a warm glow to the image an made it look more 'homey'. But the picture I think I am going to recreate in the studio is the last one, the just the flash and the droplets one. I really think it shows the best side of the colours and juicyness of the limes.

There is one problem though, the lights in the studio don't create an 'orangey' glow because they have the proper bulbs so I will test out pictures just them too just to see what the best result is.

In the Studio


In the studio I used a range of equipment:
-A Table
-A Light Box
-A Beauty Dish
-Two Apples (One red and one green)
-A dish of water
-A piece of wire
-A fake flower
-Some tissue
-Black Backdrop

The first thing I did was set up the studio to how I needed it.

Then I started to take pictures.

Setting up:

These are the two apples that I used and the plastic knifes I used to cut them.

This is the cup of water that I used on the apples.

Fake Flower.

I used a wire to keep them together.

I put the wire through the middle of both of them.

Both Dish and Box (No drops) :

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/50

White Balance: AWB

ISO: 400
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/40
White Balance: Tungsten

Just Dish (No drops) :

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/40

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/15

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

This is the Beauty Dish I used for these shots.

Just Box (No drops):

This is the Light Box and where I had it placed.

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: AWB

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

Just Dish (Drops) :

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/10

White Balance: Tungsten

Just Box (Drops) :

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/20

White Balance: Tungsten

Main Lighting ( With and without drops):

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/50

White Balance: AWB

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/15

White Balance: Tungsten

ISO: 400

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter: 1/15

White Balance: Tungsten

I think my favourite photo is this one:

The Light Box and drops shot.

Since I am aiming to promote 'Healthy Eating' I am going to add this photograph to Photoshop and add some text and maybe some textures to the background.

In Photoshop

I looked on Flickr to find a great texture for the background of my apple photo to see if I could use it.

I chose some leaves because they are natural and help to create a fresh atmosphere.

This is the photo in Photoshop.

And this is the texture in Photoshop.

I dragged the texture over the photo.

Then I changed the opacity of the leaf texture so that you could see the apples underneath it.

Then I undid the texture just over the apple bit so that you could see it a little better.

I didn't think it worked that well.

So I looked at other textures I could use for backgrounds.

I chose a leaf because it is fresh.

Then I lowered the opacity again so that I could see the apples.

And again erased the texture from over the apple so that I could see it better.

Then I tried a different texture for the background, I tired using some beautiful light spots.

But I gave up on the texture backgrounds because I couldn't make them work.

So I added a slogan that said: 'An apple a day, keeps the doctor at bay.'

I'm trying to promote healthy eating.

I moved the text around to see where it looked best.

Then I tried to add a heart monitor line into the background. I zoomed in so that I could cut around it properly.

But I couldn't make that work either.

Then I googled them so that I could draw one.

The first thing I had to do was go to 'Filter' then 'Liquify', which brought me to this page.

These are all the tools you can use on this screen.

This is the 'Freeze Mask Tool' with it you can highlight an area that you don't want changed.

Then as you are manipulating the background the highlighted area will stay protected.

Then use the 'Thaw Mask Tool' to take the protection off.

I thought it would be awesome to have the table all bumpy and have the apples in perfect shape.

I also tried drawing a heart monitor line.

Then I tried making it look like the colour was melting onto the apples, I did this by changing the saturation down to -100% so that the whole of the photo was in black and white. Then I added a layer over the top and coloured in where I wanted the colour back. But it was a little to arty for a 1950s advert.

So instead I faded the colour because I remembered that the 1950s adverts are very pastel like with their colours so I though by fading the colours of the apples slightly it would look more like them.

Then I drew another heart monitor line in red. I made it that it was flat-lining before it get to the apple and then started beeping. I really fits with the slogan.

I think I will have this as my final image:

I went over the other line with a thicker line just so that it would stand out a little more.
I really think it looks a little like a 1950s style advert.