Final image (on right): Canon 5DMkII, Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, 1/8 sec at f/8, ISO 100

I recently photographed a blender filled with fruit for my stock portfolio, and the setup was unique to my usual food photographs so I thought I’d share it here on my blog. I almost always use diffused daylight for my food images (with a few exceptions) so I wanted to go with that and, even though this was a setup that would have worked just as well with strobes, I thought I’d give it a try with window-light to see what I could come up with.

When you photograph glass, or any reflective surface, you need to watch out for stray reflections. If you’re in a room with colored walls and the walls are showing in your surface then you’ll see that color in your image, just as I did with the gold-colored stripe at the bottom of the image, which is a combination reflection of the wooden surface and gold reflector I used for fill. You also want to try to add light to the sides of the glass to outline it so it doesn’t “disappear” into the background, especially if you don’t have anything inside of the glass when you photograph it.

I also wanted a backdrop that was simple, and neutral, so I added a piece of white foam board at an angle directly behind the blender. My focal length was long (180mm) so that at ƒ/8 the DOF was shallow enough so that any imperfection in the board blurred away, and it add a nice gradient to the background as well (I didn’t add any vignette to the final image since it would have introduced banding in the corners).

Here are all of the elements to my setup:

• Camera: Canon 5DMkII
• Lens: Canon 70-200mm ƒ/4L IS
• Tripod and head with Custom Bracket
• Lighting: Back-lit with diffused window light (North-facing)
• Four pieces white foam board
• Small gold reflector for fill light in the front

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, 20 sec at f/16, ISO 100

I had a nice, early morning today. I got up before the sunrise to meet up with my friend Jacob Lucas at Kerry Park in Seattle to do a sunrise shoot of the city. I’d heard of this spot several times in the few months since I moved hear and this is the first time I made it up. As you would expect it’s not always clear skies in this part of the country, so when the opportunity presents itself it’s difficult to say no. It’s always a wonderful thing when Mount Rainier is visible in the distance. :)

I got to the park earlier than I had planned, which was good because I got this “still dark” photograph, and I ended up liking it much better than my later shots when the sky started to get bright and colorful. I was also running on “battery fumes” because I forgot to throw a fully-charged battery in my camera bag and it was flashing red/empty at me by the time I called it quits. Thankfully a nice Canon photographer nearby let me use one of his spares for a bit so I didn’t feel too rushed … I like nice people. :)

I don’t expect to live in Seattle forever, so I’m trying to get some of the beautiful cliché scenes while I’m here and it’s easy transit (I live about a stone’s throw from the Space Needle). I’m sure this won’t be the last time I head up to Kerry Park, either. I may test the waters at sunset to see what the light is like, and I’m sure I’ll eventually head up and shoot some timelapse footage as well.

Just a few months ago, in November 2011, I took a three-week trip to Vietnam, and this is a quick video of some of the beautiful sights I experienced. I’m still going through and editing my images and will put a more detailed post of my travels, but for now take a look at the video to watch one of my favorite hobbies-within-photography: timelapse photography.

I just love getting excited about something, even if it is just for fun … it always seems to fuel my passion for other things I do, like writing and photographing food. I also plan on really exploring timelapse photography in-depth over the next year, so if it’s something you’re curious about watch my blog … I’ll have some great tutorials, webinars and resources for everyone.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 24mm ƒ/3.5L II lens, 55 sec at ƒ/16, ISO 100

One thing that always gets me revved about photography and excited to create photographs is reading about light. Light its, after all, the only reason that photography exists. I’ve been wanting to shoot some food photographs that have a lot of glass-work in them, or just with interesting lighting setups, so I decided to dust off my copy of Light, Science & Magic and check out the chapter on lighting glass. (This book, BTW, is THE BEST resource for photographic lighting … they cover everything, all from a very scientific perspective.) While reading through the intro something caught my attention and I felt was worth a mention here (bold-face type added by me for emphasis):

Successful photographers depend on the photographer more than the equipment. Inexperienced photographers work best with the camera with which they are familiar. Experienced photographers work best with the camera they like. These human factors sometimes have more to do with the success of a photograph than the purely technical principles.

You hear it all the time, that it’s not about gear as much as it’s about vision, or skill, or maybe even just a bit of planning. But those words above summed it up so much better than I’ve ever seen. It’s a no-brainer, really—if you are in love with the camera you are using then you will be more passionate about your work and you will make better photographs. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new Canon 1DX, a Nikon D4, a Fuji x100 or an old Polaroid. Use what you enjoy working with, or what you’re most familiar with, and you’ll find you have better success with your photographs.