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Freshly Squeezed
Freshly Squeezed
giantmike


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Black and White Still Life (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-50D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Location: Madison, WI
Date: Aug 10, 2010
Aperture: 5
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/60
Galleries: Still Life, Food and Drink
Date Uploaded: Aug 10, 2010

 When thinking of ideas for this challenge, I didn't really want to do fruit as I assume it will be done by a lot of entries. I did a few shots with different objects, but never really liked them, until I did this orange juice shot. In my mind, the key to good black and white images is good texture, and this photo has plenty of that.

Setup for this shot included a large cutting board with all of the main props. I had cut one of the oranges wrong, so I had to put it back together with toothpicks and cut a different orange (oops!). The background is actually a couple kitchen towels draped over a piece of cardboard. Camera was setup on a tripod with wireless flash trigger connected. Flash was held in my hand, with a homemade snoot attached and a piece of white cloth diffusing the light.

Post processing (Aperture):
* Straighten and crop
* Increase exposure, recovery, black point, and brightness
* Increase contrast and definition
* Increase highlights with large high tonal width
* Increase shadows with small low tonal width
* Increase mid contrast
* Adjust levels
* Sharpen
* Black and White (R: 70%, G: 47%, B: -12%)
* Retouch/clone various reflections in the glass, sliced orange, and knife
* Polarize (multiply) the two orange on the right
* Export
* Unsharp mask and export for web (Pixelmator)

I really like the way this photo looked in color better than the B&W version:

Statistics
Place: 119 out of 151
Avg (all users): 5.0508
Avg (commenters): 5.2000
Avg (participants): 4.8594
Avg (non-participants): 5.2778
Views since voting: 909
Views during voting: 237
Votes: 118
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon Z7II
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 08/22/2010 09:43:31 PM
Including a squeezed orange would have been nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-60D
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
 08/20/2010 07:28:46 PM
I like that you filled the camera frame with the subjects, not sure if B&W really works for this image. Also would have liked softer lighting for the oranges to bring out more texture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony Alpha a7R III
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
 08/18/2010 01:08:51 PM
That knife is rather menacing! A good range of tones from black through to white, although I can't decide if the channel mix you have chosen altogether suits the oranges.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-60D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 08/17/2010 08:14:01 PM
nice composition and processing, the background kind of throws this one off for me a bit. the shadow of the center orange looks odd in the back. 6
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 08/16/2010 03:02:26 PM
but where is your juicer/reamer? or squeezed oranges? this just feels very tight...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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