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Cured Olives/Keep Shooting After the Obvious

Published: Oct 20, 2009 · Modified: Oct 20, 2009 by Michael Ruhlman · 11 Comments

photo post by Donna

Olives w: Orange Zest
 
I had fun shooting these olives—maybe because I love to eat them. They are my second favorite food after mushrooms. I got this photo first and liked it but also wanted to try and capture the feeling of eating one. A fork—of course! A toothpick would have worked—but it's not as pretty. I like how the the straight lines intersect with the circle. The orange zest was for color, but also glowed when back lit. It's good to have something transparent in a photo that has a dense subject matter for balance. Shot with 3 strobes—1 soft box in front on left, one spot in back for orange zest and one fill light on right side. Same lighting for the fork shot, but I used a much shorter depth of field so that the eye goes straight to the olive, not the fork—and the background goes completely out of focus.

Olive w: Orange Zest

Previous Post: « How To Cure Olives
Next Post: How To Cook Mushrooms »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Amanda

    October 20, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    wow...

    such a simple photo, but SO beautiful. I can't get over how shiny and delicious the olives look!

    Reply
  2. Becky

    October 20, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    That is such a beautiful picture of the olive on the fork. I love how shiny and oily and delicious it looks! It makes me want to eat some olives.

    Reply
  3. Amy (Minimally Invasive)

    October 20, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Love both shots, but especially the second; the tines of the fork really make the olive look like it's jumping off the screen.

    Reply
  4. Rose

    October 20, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    BEAUTIFUL Donna! I love the focus. That last shot is incredible. I want to go home and try!

    Reply
  5. Natalie Sztern

    October 20, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    how do u get the olive to shine?

    Reply
  6. Donna

    October 20, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    I had the brine in a bowl next to where I was working to keep things hydrated. I dipped the olive on the folk and held it in front of the camera, on a tripod, and placed the orange zest (by myself) right before I shot.

    On Oct 20, 2009, at 5:50 PM, typepad@sixapart.com wrote:

    Reply
  7. minnie

    October 20, 2009 at 11:33 pm

    great. now i'm craving olives, and the only good ones are 1) more than 5 miles away across t he city, and 2) in a store that's not open. i'll just have to assuage my hunger tomorrow when i go for my knit night (we meet at whole foods,lol)

    Reply
  8. Dean

    October 21, 2009 at 9:26 am

    Ok, it's 9:00 am and these pictures make me want to sit down with a good baguette, a bowl of olives, and a glass of red wine.

    Wonderful pictures!

    Reply
  9. Mark MacLeod

    October 21, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    Dang it, you're going to make me go out and buy some strobes to use with my DSLR.

    Reply
  10. Michael Franco

    October 22, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    These big green babies are beautiful. Great shot!

    Reply
  11. Garbanzo

    October 27, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    For these photo posts, could you mention someo of the technical details of the shot (type of equipment, lens settings, etc.)?

    Reply

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