Strad wrote:
Wonderful shot, Steve, my friend! It obviously took a lot of setup. Did you do that youself? I love the way the shile of the plate glows from beneath. Well done all around!
All best wishes,
Endre[/quote
Endre, its great to hear such positive feedback from you. I know I did something right this time because of such strong comments from the "big boys" The setup actually didn't take that long. After I ate dinner and was amazed at how cheap the cake was but how great it was, that instantly gave me the idea. My girlfriend wanted to get involved so I had her draw the design on the plate with Hershey's syrup but other than that, I did the rest. The setup took only 5 minutes, but getting the shot I wanted took about 40 shots to do. I used my wireless flash and placed it behind the plate and towards the middle to get this effect I was looking for. Glad it came close, from there I just adjusted the contrast, dodged some of the shadows, cleaned it up a bit and sharpened. Most was done on the initial take so it was easier to enhance. I am getting better at my new CS3 photoshop and that may be helping some also. I am just trying to get better and hopefully appear into the finals sometime this year!! Its been since I won.......confusing because I new for sure at least one of those many shots had a chance. Either way, I will keep on. As always, thanks for the comments.
nlamendo wrote:
Great shot Steve,
It reminds me of modern art, what a unique and clever take on the WA. The lighting is top notch, well done!
-Nick
Nick, it does look artsy in my opinion as well. a bit different on something that is usually so bright and compelling with sweet objects. Thanks for your comments
Wow a food stylist and a food photographer all in one! You did an excellent job creating the design on the cake. Looks like a professional cake decorator did it. I did a bit of reading about food photography for this weeks WA. Many suggestions are to backlight (to create texture shadows) with some detail lighting in the front. Looks like you did this well. On my monitor, the lighting on the top of the cakes looks a bit glaring. Ordinarily I think that might not work, but in this particular image I think it adds to the shot! Great perspective! Excellent entry!
contre-jour wrote:
Wow a food stylist and a food photographer all in one! You did an excellent job creating the design on the cake. Looks like a professional cake decorator did it. I did a bit of reading about food photography for this weeks WA. Many suggestions are to backlight (to create texture shadows) with some detail lighting in the front. Looks like you did this well. On my monitor, the lighting on the top of the cakes looks a bit glaring. Ordinarily I think that might not work, but in this particular image I think it adds to the shot! Great perspective! Excellent entry!
Jamie, thanks so much for the positive comments. As I do dabble around with the love of food, I really didn't plan on having this come to mind. It was by the spur of the moment. I did want a different lighting on it and once it came out, I to wasn't sure if the overexposure would distract, but I felt it did work and wanted to stick with it. Its been a long time since I had such strong compliments on my work. I have been up here for over a year and it feels good to finally get one right for the most part. Thanks so much.
Nope Endre, that was another shot along with the Chess board shot, the flaming hand for "candles" shot and a several others that we all new for sure would make it but didn't. I am not complaining as to not being appreciative nor do I want any sympathy from anyone either. I am the first to admit that most of my stuff has been a learning process and not deserving of anything. After competing for over a year (since old Technology) and about 85% of the assignments, It has been hard to understand what direction to go when even some of the ones that make it in pretty consistently thought I could have been included into the mix. Maybe I shouldn't even be saying this as it can appear selfish. All in all, I love the people, I love what opportunity Fred is giving us and that is the main reason why I still make an effort to show my growing work.
Oh! I am only now realising the syrup rings are on a plate. I had thought that was the top of a nice nice nice biiiig cake indeed, made of some sugary butter creamy kind of stuff. Uuuuhhh...
Would you mind sharing focal length, exposure and subject distance? When I looked at it first, my impression was that everything was in focus. Nicely chosen focus point. Works very well with the patterns on the cake-DEL-DEL-DEL-DEL-ahem plate.
HerrB wrote:
Oh! I am only now realising the syrup rings are on a plate. I had thought that was the top of a nice nice nice biiiig cake indeed, made of some sugary butter creamy kind of stuff. Uuuuhhh...
Would you mind sharing focal length, exposure and subject distance? When I looked at it first, my impression was that everything was in focus. Nicely chosen focus point. Works very well with the patterns on the cake-DEL-DEL-DEL-DEL-ahem plate.
Cheers,
Joerg
Joerg, funny description of what you thought this was Off the top of my head, what I decided to focus on was the corner of the cake and the circle. That gave me the DOF I wanted. It was at 18mm with ISO 200 on Manual focus with the aperture at about 4.0? I will have to double check that for you. I also took my flash and put it on Wireless then placed it directly behind but at the focal point. I messed around with the aperture setting to decrease the amount of light that came in. Once I was happy with the shadow, I then put it into photoshop, adjusted the contrast, manually sharpened, some histogram adjustments and a little bit of messing around that I wasn't sure of what I was doing ...... Most was done with the initial setup. I can double check all of this for you.
tifster wrote:
So much work with the tooth pick.... I wouldn't have thought of that. Looks great.
--Paul
Thanks Paul. That credit goes to my girlfriend for running the streaks through it. Glad she could help. It didn't take as long as it looks like it did. Maybe 5 minutes..
leftbob wrote:
nice image... my only complaint is that the center swirl seems to be "blown out"...almost makes squint...
Bob, I agree that it is a bit blown out but that was the intent of the shot. Usually overexposed or blown out really distracts but in this case, I feel it actually helps the shot and creates its unique perspective on it. A risk taken for this one. Thanks so much
It obviously took a lot of setup. Did you do that youself? I love the way the shile of the plate glows from beneath. Well done all around!
Didn't that cool shot of yours of the black watch make it into the "Black On Black" WA Finals? I'm sure I saw it there. 
Off the top of my head, what I decided to focus on was the corner of the cake and the circle. That gave me the DOF I wanted. It was at 18mm with ISO 200 on Manual focus with the aperture at about 4.0? I will have to double check that for you. I also took my flash and put it on Wireless then placed it directly behind but at the focal point. I messed around with the aperture setting to decrease the amount of light that came in. Once I was happy with the shadow, I then put it into photoshop, adjusted the contrast, manually sharpened, some histogram adjustments and a little bit of messing around that I wasn't sure of what I was doing ...... Most was done with the initial setup. I can double check all of this for you. 