I'm glad you had a good visit. I enjoyed the photos and videos.It was a good visit and thank you so much for everything, my dear friend. We made a crocheted bag which we will stuff with goodies for a charity event we are contributing to, played with chickens all weekend and ate great food made by my sweet hubby, who is an excellent cook. And you really got the full Deacon experience, didn't you?
ETA: I will have a hitch in my stomach when Scout leaves. I adore him. He makes his way down the roost every evening if I go in after they've settled so I can pet him and rub his face and beard, risking the wrath of Rex, who hates his guts. He's just a love, that boy, but he has no real life with Rex being as relentless as he is.
That's nice, I wonder if it will keep hawks away.My husband came home with this a couple of weeks ago.He told me they had one that was 6 feet tall that he wanted to buy me.
Nice.I submitted my photos for the first week's assignment today. We had to take one scene, shot three times using only natural light and a reflector. We had to pick the one we liked best and the one we liked least and say why.
I liked this one best.
Here were my comments.
I chose to shoot an artichoke with a Brie cheese sauce in the center. The only place with decent light was in my dining room. In this first shot there was a hard light coming from the side at 9:00. It is too harsh for me and gives a pink cast to the grey napkin.
I have been trying to change my style to a more rustic approach since I am a farm blogger. I like the wrinkled napkin and the way the rust and the checking show on the bowl. I am obsessed with the pewter plate and its patina and I use it too much in my photos. I need to have my husband hide it for while.
I usually pick up every little crumb with tweezers but this time I let myself go and left the bits of broiled cheese on the plate. I kept my f-stop at 2.8 because I liked the way the herbs to the left of the plate looked.
I wanted to focus better on the cheese in the center, but by the time I got my shot set up, it had sunken in a bit. To get it in good focus at 2.8 I had to sacrifice the focus on the artichoke itself. I decided having the herb garnish on top in focus was fine.
For the next two shots I closed the sheer white curtains to diffuse the hard light. I also realized I had some light coming in from the next room at 1:00 so I put a black foam core board up to block that. I actually liked the light much better that way. Today was cloudy and overcast with occasional sunshine so it was a bit challenging to keep the key light the same in the last two shots. I used a silver reflector and moved it around for the last two shots.
And here is the critique from the instructor:
Great job Mary!
I really liked your explanation and the excellent analysis of your lighting.
Very nice job with your styling, lighting and composition. The old plates, napkins and burlap really give that rustic feel.
I do see a red cast on the napkin and the tip of the lemon. Sometimes the clothing we wear can reflect back onto the subject. Were you wearing red that day or was it something else in the room. I always make sure I'm wearing neutral colored clothing when shooting; which I address in my week 3 video. Excellent work!
George
BTW, I was wearing a red shirt when I took the photos this morning!
Lovely flowers speckledhen!
