Photo 360
Day 1: Nikon D70. Shutter Speed 1/30, Aperture 2.8, Lens 50 mm 1.8.
When it comes to photography, I am a bit of a hack. When I started this raw food blog, I knew that I needed to take pictures of the food. I had a little background in photography. I took a class in high school, and one in college. I have always been captivated by the medium but never really dug in and learned. I didn’t even know what white balance was (I will explain later…). But I am an artist. I look at everything with an artist’s eye. So, when the raw food recipes started coming, I started shooting. Darn if I didn’t get some decent pictures!
If you are like me, when you have a little success, it fuels the fire to become better. I started looking at food photography on the web and learning everything I could. One of my favorite sites, that truly inspired my food photography was Vegan Yum Yum. Her photography is mouthwatering but most important, she actually shared some of her techniques in a very understandable way. When people start talking technical, my eyes glaze over. But with Vegan Yum Yum, I learned about natural lighting and the famous 50 ml lens (More about that later, too) without needing a straight jacket.
I recently read about doing a 360 challenge. You challenge yourself to take a picture a day. It is a way to grow and stretch. What better place to do that than here, with you. I will be posting the photos daily and also talking about technique and development. I invite you to learn along with me. And if you are up for it, start your own Photo 360 challenge. When I get this up and rolling, I would love to see some of your pictures, too! Tomorrow you will find this thread at the top of the blog on a tab called Photo 360.
That said, this is day 1. I took this shot right outside of my back door. It was quite dark out and a light mist was falling. I needed the tripod because of the lack of light. Wanting to highlight the darker leaves and create almost a water color like feel, I knew that I would have to shoot with a shallow depth of field (the 2.8 number). I used my famous 50 mm lens. I use it almost exclusively when shooting the food shots. It isn’t an expensive or glamorous lens but boy does it do a nice job.
Goody wrote on November 17, 2009
that is gorgeous.
i love taking pictures..i have a picture blog and i am slowly posting some of the hundreds that i have taken.
i once set a goal of taking a picture a day and posting it and whereas i generally take more than one picture with one of my electronic attachments i dont post them nearly as much..
i am hoping that my honey surprises me with my dream camera for xmas and then i will really go crazy
i cant wait to see your posts..
ashley wrote on November 16, 2009
What a beautiful photo! Photo 360 sounds right up my alley, especially since I’ve always loved photography, but have started paying even more attention to it since I started my blog. Isn’t it thrilling and satisfying to capture something just the way you wanted it, or even better than you’d hoped? Or to get an amazing photo that you weren’t even necessarily trying for? It’s hard to explain, but I feel that photography enhances the way I see the world…often the already beautiful becomes even more beautiful, and things that you may not give a second glance take on a beauty of their own. Have you ever tried an 85mm, f1.8 lens? That’s the one I’m hoping to get someday. Okay, so much for “comment”, this was more of a diary entry : ) Thanks for the information! And love your site, by the way!
Fiona wrote on November 14, 2009
The Yum Yum photography post was quite something. Thanks for the link. I learned a lot, all in a few minutes!
Pam wrote on November 14, 2009
Beautiful!