I started off with a grape on the fork - no good. Then a very thin slice of grape "draped" over the fork, also no good. I then bought some tomatoes and warned my hurband not to touch them till I was finished photographing them ;-) Did a load of shots and decided on this one because of the colour combination and the line of the fork.
Post challenge:
These have been THE most unbelievable couple of weeks for me! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I’m in seventh heaven!
On the technical side, this was a very difficult lighting job (blown highlights all over the place because the tomato was so smooth and waxy looking). I ended up having to build a makeshift light tent (which was good practice for the future, I suppose).
For those who thought this was a red balloon(?) or a plastic ball, I promise you, it’s an ordinary tomato. When I bought them, I assumed they were cherry tomatoes. After reading that some were doubting the authenticity of the tomato (can’t believe I just wrote that ;-), I went back to the shop to confirm that they were indeed cherry tomatoes. However, apparantly they are “Pflaumenstrauchtomaten”. I translate this as being plum bush tomatoes which, according to Wikipedia, are slightly larger than cherry tomatoes and slightly smaller than normal tomatoes.
Sorry about the shabby fork, it was the best one I could find. Can’t understand why it’s so scratched, it’s only 25 years old ;-D
Some mentioned the missing half of the border. I don’t know how this happened, I can see the border no problem on my file at home but after uploading to dpc part of it seems to be missing or very faded. Strange. Oliver mentioned it first and I hadn’t even noticed. Arrggghh….
Anyway, here are two outtakes. One from the first evenings shooting and a cleaned up fork version for Abstract.
Btw, thanks also for the great score, you guys.
Violinist123 asked how I lit the scene. My makeshift light tent was 4 high tumblers with a sheet of glass propped on them. I covered the lot with a white sheet. The fork was taped to a mustard glass so I could flash from outside the sheet but under the tomato. The other flash was pointing in the same direction as the first but was waaay over to the right to avoid the blown highlights as much as possible.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 109 Avg (all users): 7.5338 Avg (commenters): 7.8125 Avg (participants): 7.3478 Avg (non-participants): 7.5702 Views since voting: 14741 Views during voting: 513 Votes: 281 Comments: 72 Favorites: 23 (view)
Irene, to me you have really developed your unique style in the last few months. I'm not suprised when I see your images in the top 10 or as ribbons. Good work!
You have been on such a roll that they need to call this site IreneMChallenge! You of course amaze me every time Irene and once again you have delivered...Enzo
Congratulations. It makes a great stock pix, but it's a bit too sterile for my liking - the lighting on the tomato is way too flat, making it look a bit plastic. But given the job I'd probably won't make it half as good, so - good job, again.
simple and elegant. i like the lighting, especially the one from below, a lot. wish you had used a new "shiny" fork though.
i dont take off, or give more, points because of frames, but i did not like the non-uniform frame.
clean and simple, excellent focus, well composed, good lighting. the missing red border at left and top will cost you some points. nevertheless, one of my ribbon picks.
Tomatoes are good for you
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