Our next assignment for our lighting class is to shoot a photo that could be submitted to Edible Reno-Tahoe magazine. The magazine “celebrates the local food culture, season by season.” Published quarterly, the magazine focuses on local restaurants, organic farms, bakeries, etc. I have a friend who is an amazing cook and is going into business with a friend of hers to produce savory preserves and confits under the label, Edible R&D. She has agreed to let me photograph her and her product for this project, so today I practiced one of my photo ideas so that I wouldn’t be fumbling around tomorrow. I grabbed a jar of apple butter from the fridge and got to work.
All photos were shot in our living room using diffused daylight from the large windows directly behind the camera. The idea with these shots was to focus on the product, yet have someone in the shot “pitching” the product so to speak, but not be the focus of the shot. Therefore, the person (in this case, me) is deliberately behind the focal plane of the product. I’ve included several photos to show where I went wrong as well as where I think I went right.
First I set up the product and made sure my camera was exposed properly:
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/50s © Carissa Snedeker
I then added myself to the picture, but you don’t get to see the early shots. Why? (A) no make-up, and (B) rumpled shirt. However, the shots sans make-up gave me important information, so I ran and changed my shirt and threw on some make-up and got down to it.
Posted in order taken. I like this one, even though the product isn’t straight, but I’m not too happy with how crunched my shoulder looks.
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/60s © Carissa Snedeker
This one…same shoulder crunch and my blouse is distorted on the right (showing the outline of my pacemaker).
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/60s © Carissa Snedeker
I really like this shot, and think it may be my favorite. For one thing, it obeys the rule of thirds (which one shouldn’t always get locked into, but should always be mindful of). My face is in the upper third of the photo and to the right, the apple butter pretty much in the middle third and by being to the left helps balance my face, with the foreground making up the bottom third of the picture.
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/60x © Carissa Snedeker
This one is okay, but I’m not too crazy on how centered I am.
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/60s © Carissa Snedeker
And finally, beware of the disembodied hand. Because I chose to drop my left arm from the portrait and the way I’m holding the jar with my right hand, it doesn’t look like the hand holding the jar even belongs to me. Huge mistake, but I wanted to post it. I’ve actually seen ads in magazines that have mistakes like this, but it is usually the result of Photoshop manipulation gone awry. This one is just a straight up photo boo-boo.
ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/60s © Carissa Snedeker
Carissa Snedeker Photography 
I like the analysis and comments on the shots. I typically don’t look at ads, and when I do I would probably miss half the stuff you mention.
One question . . .why not enough depth of field to have you in focus as well?
Not criticizing, just wondering. And now, when I look at magazines, I’ll be mindful of the set-up of the ads.
LikeLike
In the magazine I noticed they had several shots like this. This is not to say I won’t do other shots with greater depth of field, but today I wanted to play with this particular set up.
LikeLike
Like I said, I don’t notice ads. I’ll have to be more attentive so I can give better feedback.
LikeLike
Depth of field is a tool, which can very effectively and subtly move the viewers attention or focus. A DOF that is a bit ambiguous, in my opinion, gets the point across without being a thunk between the eyes …. Like a really short DOF ( all background elements really blurred). Combine DOF with some manipulation of the lighting, and a strong, dynamic composition … That equals a strong photograph. I especially like working with diagonal line running through my thirds.
I try to develop a ‘narrative’ with compositional elements … Move the eye …. An entry … A middle … An end. Sometimes it’s a closed circuit. Sometimes not.
LikeLike
Yes, the eye should move around the photo. And as you said, DOF can be used to move the viewer’s attention. I think the third shot does that, or at least, that was the intent. See you later!
LikeLike
Hi Carissa, thanks for sharing your process here… great to see how things develop! I agree with your favorite although the first shot seems pretty good as well, the crunched shoulder doesn’t bother me that much 🙂
Great that you showed the BIG mistake as well…
LikeLike