I'll admit, I saw a similar shot on another photography site a while back and really wanted to try it. Well, here was my opportunity.
I went to the Safeway and bought some kiwi and seltzer water. We already had strawberries in the fridge. I crushed some ice and put it in the glass behind the fruit to hold them up. Since the seltzer was warm, I had to work fast, because it was melting the ice (that was after the bottlefizzed up and spilled all over my basement floor when I opened it). The kiwi started to slide down and when I tried to pull it back up with a knife, everything shifted, and the whole scene was lost. If I weren't so lazy, I would have set it back up with the fruit more centered. I don't like how they are off to one side. And a faster shutter would have been nice. You can see carbonation trails on the strawberry.
I bracketed from normal exposure to +/- 1/3, 2/3 & 1 stop. This was -2/3. I used a small still life box I made from white core board, and used my wife's desk lamp from above & behind for lighting. I used a custom white balance and got an exposure using a grey card.
In Photoshop CS2: rotate (just a smidge), crop, resize, levels, shadow/highight, hue/saturation (green & red +10), photo filter (Cooling 80 - 6%), USM (85, 1, 4)
I wish it were advanced editing. There are some spots I would love to remove.
How will the voters like it? I don't know. I never can tell anymore.
This is my entry in the "Other" category for the 2006 county & state fairs. It finished 4th in the category at the county fair.
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Place: 38 out of 287 Avg (all users): 6.0687 Avg (commenters): 5.7917 Avg (participants): 5.8434 Avg (non-participants): 6.1732 Views since voting: 1688 Views during voting: 354 Votes: 262 Comments: 26 Favorites: 1 (view)
Fantastic image, it fits the challenge perfectly. The first thing that I see when I look at this is the beautiful soft colors against the white background. Nice subtle curves created by the fruit, glass and accented by the bubbles. Lovely how the shape/pattern theme is played out. Great job with the background, its not distracting and the glass blends into it well. Unique ideas leading to a nice composition. I like how the kiwi seeds almost stand out and and really define the fruit similar to the bubbles on the strawberry. There might be a touch too many bubbles(if thats possible) on the strawberry but I think it works well, it is almost as if it is transitioning on the right side of the frame giving it an interesting texture. Overall I think this is a very strong picture. If it was more centered, I believe it would have lost its natural appeal. Well done!
I really like the idea of this shot. It's sharp and unique. I think, however, I might prefer it without the bubbles as they are somewhat distracting, IMHO. Good luck in the voting!
Somehow I wish that the background isn't white or off white. It would have been great seeing the BG as something else. Still makes a nice image though. 7
5 - Nice, but a little less bubbles to allow the colors through more, make this better in my opinion. A different colored background also may have helped lift the subjects and their colors.
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