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Food for the gods

Don Ellis

Member
Yesterday, Leela and I went to the wet market — a traditional Chinese market selling everything you can imagine, from dried goods to meat to fish to vegetables and fruits. Cherries, lychees, rambutans, mangosteens and mangoes are all in season, so we bought enough to get our trial membership cards as Fruitarians. It’s impossible not to be seduced into buying all these lovely fruits — now we just have to eat them.

But before we do, I had to take a photo of the largest, best-looking mango I’ve ever seen. I know the big ones aren’t necessarily the tastiest ones, but I had to have this one just because it existed. I looked around the house for a good place to shoot it and finally decided that Buddha should hold it for me. He’s in our bedroom facing the window and keeps an eye on us while we sleep.

I'm afraid it was food for the gods only for as long as it took to take this photo. Then I plucked it back and made off to the kitchen with it. It was better than I expected and half of it fed both of us, so there’s more in the fridge. Just before the carving I measured it at 9.5 x 4.25 x 4 inches (24 x 11 x 10cm)… all for about US$3.

Sigma DP2, ISO200, 1/30s, f/2.8. Click for larger image...

 
R

Richard Franiec

Guest
Don,

Colors (of the subject and background) are unusually contrasting which gives Buddha very nice exposure. Size of the fruit is striking as well, I have never seen mango fruit even close to this size.

I like how DP2 renders the background with very pleasing blurr.
Great job avoiding blowing the highlights, how did you meter the scene?
Wonder, how B&W conversion of the same picture would look, but maybe this is asking for too much LOL.

Best

Richard
 

Don Ellis

Member
Hi Richard,

I initially named this photo "Slightly Surreal"... because that's what it is. I metered off the middle of his chest because that was brightest and most reflective. The shot looked quite underexposed in SPP... I did no added saturation, but a little sharpening and a couple of touches of Fill Light to brighten him up a bit.

Then into Photoshop where I Auto-Contrasted, as usual. Tried Auto-Tone and Auto-Color and didn't like either. Slight curves and that was it, except for a little additional sharpening on the smaller image above.

But just as you can add saturation, you can subtract it, and if I were to faithfully record the scene, I would have desaturated a little. In the end, I decided I liked the "glowing ember in the golden lap" look.

I'm the last person to faithfully color-render a scene. LOL Whatever catches my eye, is my motto.

I also liked the light "halo" in the background around his head. The darker area on the left, near the photo, is because the light is blocked by a ceiling-tall wardrobe. Just serendipity. If I were really doing the shot properly, I would have moved Buddha somewhere else and taken my time... but he is very heavy for his size and I was hungry. It was shoot and run... to the kitchen.

Don
 
R

Richard Franiec

Guest
Don,

Thanks for sharing the workflow.
There is so much more in the final product than just compose and shot.
Thank Buddha for digital.

Cheers

Richard
 
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