PEELED light experiment

[FUJI]

Nooo!

 

This isn't the same Satsuma as photographed the other day, instead this was an experiment in Light:

 

Just prior to my retinal surgery, I purchased (via eBay) a POLAROID 16 LED Ring LIght (meant for Video) it came with a series of Filter threads so fits most lenses.....then I forgot all about it....(i's an age thing ;-)....I rediscovered it, still in its box this afternoon:

 

Now! I'm not a fan of the standard Ring Flash....had one, then sold it, because it fklattened everything:

 

This battery powered 16 LED Ring Light is a different kettle of fish entirely..........I really like what it has done here:

 

Here, you can see the results of an experimental few minutes, getting the exposure and white balance just right.

 

I knew hat I wanted to achieve so I followed up with post processing in CS6, to darken the background and to enhance every tone and texture....to make the pic POP! even more I have applied three separate tageted High Pass sharpenings, all at different levels and hardness:

 

I can reccommend that you consider adding one of these very useful lights to your kit, especially for winter projects:

 

Best viewed LARGE....Click on Pic:

 

 

 

FUJI

[Korky]

I thinks it works well - an everyday fruity thing that most photographers wouldn't give a second thought to.

 

The processing is great, but the top left corner seems to need a bit more burning - that's the way it looks on my laptop anyways.

 

Korky

[FUJI]

Yup!

I see it too......but only on my iPad screen, on the 27 inch monitor upstairs the background is as black as your hat......it is calibrated using the free CALIBRAZE software,which seems to work well.

I will return to the RAW original to give it another shot with the dark Curves.

Thank you for pointing it out Korky.

FUJI

[FUJI]

There you go Korky....

 

.....Sorted!

 

I have played around very slightly with curves to add a little more shape too:

 

Best viewed LARGE.....Click on Pic:

 

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

You still have a large area of lighter background in the top left hand corner and there is significant detail showing elsewhere - the background is definitely not as black as my hat.

As you can see from the below screen grab I have asked Lightroom to show the areas that are clipping and are therefor actually black - these are shown in bright blue. Anything else within the image isn't black and I am able to see plenty of detail of what looks to be a wooden surface with the grain running horizontal, dipping ever so slightly towards the bottom right. 

 

 

Other than that the image appear overall very warm - possibly intentional - but its your selective sharpening where I have a real issue as it makes it look like you miss focused the shot. The points of sharpness (focus) seem to be part the way down the orange and not the top area - its weird looking, somewhere between poor focus and too limited a depth of field. Personally I find it very distracting and to my eyes spoils the shot.

[FUJI]

Cheers! BP, accurate and honest as always.............the final version is how I wanted it to look.....But why you might ask?

A day or four ago I visited an Art Gallery where an Artist was painting brightly lit, half peeled fruit onto to Matt black panels, using Acrylic paints, I was very taken by them and thought the idea would make a great photographic subject......hence my experimenting over the next few days.

I must admit, that I rushed this version, because I had re-discovered my forgotten Ring Light, instead of placing the Satsuma on to my Matt black BG I used the dark walnut sideboard which is highly polished.....that is what you can see through my processing.

A smacked wrist for me then;-) .....blame it all on my sometimes intuitive Artistic/creative mind set, I have never been logical, I just like what I see.......and I liked what I saw here......the sharpening was targeted deliberately to emphasise edges, there is no softness in the original, the focus was spot on the plump peeled segments of the fruit, just below the central hole.

As you say in the post on shooting RAW, it allows the photographer to take control, to be the creative artist......here, I was doing just that, so it is a painting as much as a photograph......experiments done, I can work on a much better version now......must buy some more Satsumas;-)

Your observations and comment have been very useful.....thank you!

FUJI