The glut

... of Runner Beans is no more!

[finished version on my [url=http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1381635]Kinda Horrigans[/url] journal]

Someone was asking me to describe what I did pre-shutter... so... this image was taken with my 85mm prime lens. I used a wide aperture of f/2.5 because I wanted a narrow depth of field and the spices to be in focus but the other elements slightly softer, plus the light wasn't great so a wider aperture = more light being let in. This allowed me to keep the shutter speed fast enough that I could take the shot hand-held (am v.lazy and rarely get out my tripod) and meant that I could keep the ISO to 200 which would reduce the noise on the shot. I also often underexpose slightly because I know I can rescue it from the RAW file and it lets me minimise the chance of camera shake by having a slightly quicker shutter speed plus I don't blow the highlights - and this is the case with this shot too.

Pretty sure this doesn't look like I've done much with it. But it did get tweaked.

First - the RAW file. I upped the exposure by +1.10 and lowered the brightness ever so slightly. I also increased the clarity and vibrance by +8 each and warmed up the white balance a little.

Then, in Photoshop, I straightened it and then duplicated the background layer and used Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and a fairly soft large omni spotlight to highlight the plate. I also cloned a small area of white out towards the bottom of the frame where the light was catching the glass chopping board the plate was stood on and which was distracting. After that, a curves adjustment layer to increase the contrast - using a layer mask to delete the effect of it in some bits because I was after something fairly subtle. To finish it off, I flattened the image - then duplicated the background layer and did Filter > Distort > Lens Correction and applied a vignette - then added a layer mask and used a large black brush on about 80% to paint out the vignette on everything other than the bottom left hand corner. Finally, sharpened and saved.

Tip of the day:
I'm never very good with still life shots - so have a look at these Beautiful Still Life Photos for inspiration. Think I'll have a proper look and see if I can be a bit more creative!