©photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman
Someone asked how I go about composing my CSA vegetable photos and instead of thinking about the lighting, I immediately thought about the challenge of photographing a group of many things without its looking chaotic. The direction that each element is pointing can lead the viewer's eye throughout the entire photo or it can run it off the page.
In this Okra photo you have the direction of the wood grain in the bottom directing your eyes to travel up and to the right—then the Okra pieces are varied so that your eye travels around—the uncut Okra sweeps up to the right but the wood grain at top left pulls you back.
If all your elements are going in the same direction the eye does not want to stay on the image.
And—BTW This was done with my Nikon D200 w/50 micro lens f8—lit with 2 Dyna-lite strobe heads. A stronger soft box upper right and weaker fill light lower left.
it is a beautifully composed photograph. I really hated the ones in the latest edition of Food Network Magazine. All that food made to look like landscape. Yuck. Thanks for the fine work.
I knew you were a student of Hokusai when I saw your picture of the mayonnaise.
It would be nice if he was still around to mentor you, but you're doing a fine job with just his example.
Thanks Lisa & Tags—very flattered by both your comments