How I got the photo: Summer Harvest
As part of a 52-week challenge, I started on January 1st. As a way of thinking creatively and challenging myself, I set up some still-life scenes in my little home studio. The theme was “What I eat.” I wanted to capture something more vintage, more old school ‘Master’s’ chiaroscuro-styled lighting. It was dark and moody, but still with beautiful colour and tones. I also did a B&W version. So this is the breakdown of How I got the photo: Summer Harvest.
Black and white version
How I got the photo: Setting the scene
I placed a timber-look backdrop on an old table and placed a Kate Backdrop foldable backdrop behind the table. I staged my scene with a wrought iron bowl and some vintage weights, as well as some Dutch carrots, heirloom tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cucumber and figs. I sprayed these with water. I also used a vintage set of scales in the other version.
For the lighting, I used the Godox AD200Pro II (1/2 power) and Godox Strip Box. I positioned the light a little to the left and angled at 450 degrees from the subject, the bottom of the stripbox was roughly level with the top of the table. No reflector or natural light.
How I got the photo: Camera gear and settings
Camera: Sony a7R V
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm lens
Camera settings: ISO100, f/8, 1/160secs (handheld)
Godox AD200Pro II Flash (X3 trigger) & Godox Stripbox
I did two slightly different setups, I actually chose the next image as my final image, something about the scales and additional height in the composition seemed to be just right. And then I was torn between black and white and colour. But I think in the end the colour version was my final choice.
So what’s your choice colour or black and white for Summer Harvest? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
