My photography club's assignment for September was Food. For quite a while I could not get inspired or come up with something I thought was interesting enough until one day I saw these delicious looking cupcakes at Cinnabon. I thought it would be really cute to try to incorporate our white Samoyed (or whatever she is) Pearl against an aqua background I have and let her lick the cupcake. Well, whatever you have in mind for Pearl she immediately decides she won't do. So, I got one or two shots off and she ran off and would not come back and pose for me anymore. The shot below was OK, but I thought I could do better:
Nikon D700, 60mm lens, flash in bounce umbrella on camera right
Our Labrador Retriever Maggie May is wonderful at cooperating so she willingly stepped up to the plate, in more than one way. I got several shots that I liked so much I had trouble choosing which one I wanted to enter for the assignment.
This one was a close contender, I know exactly how she feels.
This shot may tell the story I wanted to tell just a little bit better.
But this one makes me smile every time I look at it. I have no idea why her cheek is puffed out like that, but I like it! Her eyes and the tip of her tongue bring this image the feeling that I was after. Thank you, Mags, you came through once again.
BTW, I do realize that the second image has a strange reddish green color cast. I cannot figure out why and I have not been successful in using a Hue/Sat layer or a Colorbalance layer to remove it to my liking. It was a little more underexposed than the others and seems to be beyond my knowledge of Photoshop techniques, another reason I did not choose that one.
Oh my god, sis!!! I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE the second one! The color cast or whatever you're talking about doesn't bother me AT ALL, I love how the cherry on top of the cupcake looks like it's almost on her nose, and the expression on her face is PERFECT!! That's exactly what I was missing in the others. I LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteI still like the first one, too, mostly because of the artistry of it. It looks like a gorgeous photo for a pastry shop ad or something, then there's this huge DOG tongue licking the delectable goodness that makes my mouth water just looking at it. LOL!! Great job, sis.
Hi Cindi! It was good meeting you last night and love all the other photos, any one of them would have been a great choice. The email address you gave me was returned - mine is ska2tra@aol.com. Thanks for all the info you gave me and I look forward to the next meeting.
ReplyDeleteI think they're all winners. I really like number two because her eyes are fixed on the subject. All very well done...I hope you pay your models well!
ReplyDeleteHi Cindi,
ReplyDeleteI've only just found your blog, sorry for being so slow!
I wonder if the green cast is a reflection from the shiny green plate?
I just love the first close up of the cake and tongue, a very saleable image!
Louise
Hi Louise! I wondered too if the green could be from the plate but it is not in all of the images and the green plate is not showing as much as the cream one on top...I keep forgetting to order it but I want to try that Passport Color Checker for color accuracy and hopefully won't have that color cast issue in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe first shot is the nose of our Husky or Samoyed rescue and she is the dog I had in mind when I thought of the shot but she is so stubborn and wouldn't cooperate. I only got one or two shots of her before she ran off and wouldn't come back. Now our Lab on the other hand, would never run away from food! But I found out later that the cupcakes were completely dried out --- I had bought them and then didn't have time to get to the shoot so froze them for a couple of weeks and even though they were thawed out, they were pretty much inedible. Good thing too, because since they were chocolate they could have made the dogs really sick.