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How I Got That Shot: Jerry Currier
By Jerry Currier | PWS Member News |
Jan 1, 2006
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Some time ago, someone asked me about the image I submitted for a weekly assignment. Just how was it conceived and created? The
themes for the assignment were:
1. Midnight
2. Spring has sprung
3. Orange
Well, I wasn’t going to get up in the middle of the night to take a
picture of the moon or some nocturnal beast or plant. I thought about
taking a picture of a clock with its spring popping out and the hands
set at 12 o’clock, sort of a visual pun. The problem was that all my
clocks are either digital or battery powered, no springs in the lot.
Okay then, I thought, I’ll go for the “Orange” theme. But nothing
seemed to be tripping my creative trigger. I decided to sleep on it and
see what the next day would bring. Wrong! Somewhere around midnight, I
awoke at the urging of Mother Nature. Upon returning to bed, I couldn’t
get back to sleep. Lying there, I started turning the assignment over
in my mind. Finally, I got up, found my way into the kitchen and
started setting the stage to photograph some oranges (we always have
some in the veggie tray of the refrigerator).
I set my Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel on my tripod and hooked up the
Canon RS60-E3 Remote Switch. I found a black tablecloth in the linen
closet and “artistically” draped it from the top of the wall-mounted
microwave down to the carving board. I tried to arrange it in some
interesting folds and began placing oranges in various “poses.”
I decided this would also be a good time to try some shots for Robert
Farber’s quarterly Assignment #23 by using some flashlights and battery
powered lanterns. (This Assignment was “Leaning on the Lamp,” a
challenge to use non-photographic light sources to illuminate an image.)
After numerous light re-positionings and time exposures, nothing seemed
to work out the way I envisioned. So…I ate one of the oranges! Taking
pictures at midnight cannot be done on an empty stomach. The result? I
ended up with the orange peel and one less orange.
Suddenly, I had one of those brilliant light bulb moments! Why not
pursue my “visual pun idea” with the orange peel and a spring. I could
satisfy all three of the themes in one image. However, there was a
problem—I didn’t have a spring! Rats! But at least I was getting
sleepy and I could go back to bed. I put the orange peel in a plastic
food bag and stuck it in the refrigerator.
In the morning, as soon as I thought the neighborhood hardware store
was open, I trudged the six blocks to that worthy establishment. They
had a selection of springs and I found just the one I wanted. Hurrying
back home to the kitchen, I got the peel out of the bag and started
arranging it with the spring on the tablecloth. I wanted it to look as
though the spring had been inside the orange and had “sprung” out
blowing the orange apart.
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©Jerry Currier
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Using the remote switch, a Canon Off-Camera Shoe Cord, on my Canon
550EX flash, I shot several images hand-holding the flash in various
positions. I used the auto settings for both the camera and the flash
which allowed for a perfect balance of light. I should mention that
during the day, my home is filled with ambient daylight. There are
several skylights as well as a central “atrium” roofed over with
translucent glass, along with a window in the kitchen and two French
doors, one in the dining room and the other in a hall opposite, opening
into the atrium. The kitchen shares a common space with a small
breakfast nook and there is a skylight over both.
The black tablecloth just didn’t work. There was too much contrast
which didn’t allow for detail in the remains of the orange, the spring,
or the cloth. I needed some other approach. Back to the linen closet!
There I discovered an orange tablecloth. Perfect.
Again, some artful draping of the cloth, careful arranging of the
orange peel, the spring and camera position gave me the composition I
wanted. In the meantime, the delicious odor of fresh orange resulted in
the consumption of another one. Creative photography should never be
done on an empty stomach!
I shot a number of images, placing the flash at various locations
around, above and at varying distances from the subject. I was seeking
just the right balance of daylight and flash to keep hot spots to a
minimum and create some shadow for visual depth. At the same time, I
was looking for good detail in the main subject (the orange peel and
spring) while using depth of field to blur the immediate foreground and
the background. This kept the peel and the spring as the prime focus of
the image. The final choice had the window light on the right and the
flash held to the left and slightly above and behind the peel and
spring.
I usually photograph in the RAW mode so I can have as much control over
the image as possible. The final processing of the image was done with
Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. While still in the RAW (Canon CRW) format,
it was sharpened using a factor of 80, then converted to a JPG file.
I applied a small amount of brightness (+15) and contrast (+5) to give
the image more spark. I also had to burn a couple of hot spots in the
white parts of the peel, just enough to bring out a bit of detail.
The image was resized to a width of 375 pixels and a height of 372 with a resolution of 120 pixels/inch.
Selected metadata information:
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
F-Stop: f/5.0
ISO Speed Ratings: 100
Focal Length: 31.0 mm
It’s now time to eat that last orange!
Let us know if you found this article useful, and tell us what kinds of articles you'd like to see in upcoming issues. Send your comments and ideas to the editor.
© Copyright 2010 by PHOTOWORKSHOP.COM
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Last Updated: Jul 29th, 2010 - 13:28:46
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