Task 2 - Oh Crumbs

In this task, I produced still life colour images of biscuits using digital photography. I've also used some props to style my images. Using my primary and secondary research, I will also be considering the types of lighting and other techniques I've touched upon and demonstrate here in my images.

Here are my contact prints:

For the shoot, I've decided to choose cookies as my biscuit. I think the reason behind it was I like the chocolate chips in it and the crumbs are very delicate. The colour of cookies is also very golden compared to certain biscuits. It looks quite appetising in my opinion, so I thought I'll choose to photoshoot on it. Here are some of my best images:

Cookie Crumble

This is my favourite image from the shoot. I've selected this huge white plate as my main prop. I selected this huge plate because the cookies sitting nicely in the middle gives me a chance to get some nice elegant shots. I just love how I've organised the cookies in the centre of the plate with the crumbs around it. Also by having a smaller side plate with cookies in the background. it's like an additional prop of more cookies! I like the focus on the cookies because the details are really sharp and the golden, baked colour stands out. The lighting in this image is great, It's been taken near a window and you can see some light shadows formed on the plate. I like how exposed the plate looks on the bottom right edge, it just leads our eyes on to the cookies.

Close up

In this image, I got a closer shot on the cookies. I've placed the cookies and the crumbs on some napkin as my prop, so you can see some of the dotted texture. This was taken at a high angle so I catch the top bits of the cookie. In that way, you can see the texture of the cookie. What I like is the chocolate chip in the front that is sharp in focus. I think this is a nice touch that I intentionally did. This was why the chocolate chip is slightly more to the middle and the cookies are just above. Also tried getting the crumbs out of focus unlike the previous image which was revolving on getting the crumbs in focus. The lighting in this image is natural from the window, and I think it works nicely because it's nice and bright and there's also some shadows presence giving the cookies some depth.

Flat Lay

This technique is from my research. I thought about what techniques I could do that really puts my research into practice so I've gone for this flat lay which I find very amusing. In this image, the lighting is from the window like the other images however, this time there is a lot more shadows in between the cookies. This is because I had to lean over to get the right angle and perhaps I was blocking some of the light. I think the shadows give the cookies some more depth as it emphasises on how they are sitting on top of each other. Both the cookies and the crumbs are sharply in focus. Also on the top, you can see more of the plate because of the shadow. I think the curve form makes you focus on the cookies because it centres you to look inside.

Close up 2

Here is my second close up image. In this round, I captured this at a more neutral angle and blended the chocolate chip at the front with the crumbs. I like the way the cookies are aligned and there is that slight gap in between the two at the back. I think this makes gives each cookie some individuality. The focus is strong on the foreground cookie and then blurs out in the back. The lighting in this image is coming through very nice. You can see this glimpse of light hitting the foreground cookie and then some shadows on the back as one is leaning over it.

Overall, this shoot was good because I've used some techniques and lighting in detail. I think it was fun playing with the focus to get different outcomes. In this shoot, I didn't get to use the studio so I improvised with the closer shots to make it look as if it was studio quality. I also didn't use a light metre so all the exposures were manually controlled with the natural lighting. In my contact prints, I've shown various and multiple range of different shots. I've included the packaging in some images, used complete cookies in some then broke some cookies for some crumbles. All in all, I did enjoy doing this still life task and I think it's something I'm quite fond of.

I've decided to do some additional images and re-shoot using a light metre. I've never used a light metre before so I was intrigued to learn more about it. So once I brought some more biscuits which in this case is Oreo, I went and set up my workspace near the window. As I was shooting with natural window light, I had to work out which exposure time I would be working with. So I guessed around 1/1200 because there was enough lighting to capture a quick shot. So then I set my light metre up and then it told me which F stop I should be on, around f/5.8 because it lets lots of light in. And majority of the time it was right, or just about slightly there. I also had to set my white balance manually because the images were coming out very blue toned. So I also was in control of the white balance to get it to look as natural as I could. Here are my contact prints:

I was very impressed with this shoot. I really liked the colour tone because it looks very natural. I found the light metre very easy to use. Even though I understand the connection between the shutter speed and the aperture in terms of how to get an exposed image. I think it just helped me in the sense of understanding the balance more between the aperture and shutter speed in a practical way. Here are my best images from the shoot:

Close up

This image was taken on a wooden chopping board as my prop under natural lighting. I stacked some oreos together in the back and used one as my main in the foreground. I like how the focus is sharp on the front oreo and blurs out. I've captured this shot in this angle because I was trying to get the cream in it too. I also chose this high angle because it miniatures the biscuit like how it would look in real life. I like how the prop gives it this nice wooden texture as the base. You can see the lighting being hit on top of the oreo here, which makes the biscuit design details stand out.

Flat Lay

This is another flat lay image that I've used again to demonstrate more examples. I like how the oreos are organised in this image. I've used this chopping board and this white rectangular plate as my props and I like how they contrast with the oreo because it's light colours. The focus is sharp and the little details really stand out on the biscuits. I've stacked some oreo on the left and kept some single to show a range of depth, where it looks almost 3D.

Stacked up

In this image, I thought of stacking up some oreos and then capturing an image of a oreo tower. I specifically chose this landscape format for this image because I wanted to include the background. You can see much more of where I was working compared to the other images. I also taken some portrait shots which would preferably be better for this kind of image but I liked this more. The oreo were also intentionally not stacked up straight, instead I went for this jenga type. In terms of the angle, I've taken it at a neutral level to include the vanilla cream. If I went any higher, you can only see the biscuit. The focus is very sharp on the biscuit and the background is nicely blurred as like my other images.