Task 2 - Oh Crumbs

For this task I was asked to bring in biscuits to photograph in a still life manor. This shoot was made up of two halves, with the first half of the shoot taking place in the kitchen studio relying mainly on natural lighting let in through the windows and the second half of the shoot taking part in the photography studio under studio lighting. For this shoot I brought in some props in order to style my images to make it look as though the biscuits which I was photographing fit in to the surrounding that they were in. Props are an important part of photography as they can compliment the item which you are photographing however they do need to be carefully selected or they can draw attention away from the subject of your photograph or they may not be relevant to the photograph. Here are the photographs which I took during this shoot. 

Here is a closer look at some of my favourite photographs from this shoot:

This is one of the first photographs during my biscuit photoshoot and this photograph shows a selection of biscuits placed on a baking tray. When taking this photograph the inspiration was freshly baked cookies so in order to make the illusion of freshly baked cookies, I placed several ginger nut biscuits onto a baking tray to look as though they had just been pulled out of the oven. This photograph was taken within the kitchen studio which I feel was a fitting location for a photograph such as this one as biscuits which had actually just been baked would be found within a kitchen. The location is not visible within this photograph however, as I was within the kitchen studio, this means that the lighting provided for this shot was coming from natural lighting being let in by the nearby window. This lighting works well for this shot as it gives the photograph a nice natural and balance appearance. When taking this photograph I chose to use a shallow depth of field and focus on the biscuits towards the front of the baking tray therefore meaning that the remaining biscuits on the tray dropped out of focus. I like the effect that this has as it means that as a viewer, your attention is first drawn to the biscuit in the foreground of the photograph rather than being distracted by other aspects of the photograph. Using a shallow depth of field also means that one specific focus point of the image has been made apparent. Once I had taken this photograph I put the image into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to give the photograph a warmer appearance to give the illusion of biscuits which have come straight from the oven other than this I did not alter the image. I am happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of the same ginger nut biscuits as seen before, however this time I grouped some of the biscuits together and took a close up shot. I decided to take a close up shot of these biscuits as I thought it would be interesting to capture the cracks within the biscuits themselves as I felt that this was an interesting and unique quality that each of the biscuits had. When taking this photograph, I again used a shallow depth of field, this time I used it to emphasise the cracks within the biscuits. By using a shallow depth of field and having only the front biscuits in focus, this meant that the cracks within the front biscuits are emphasised more as you cannot see those which are present within the other biscuits as clearly. This means that the photograph is to the point however it is not overwhelming and too in your face which I think adds a nice touch to the image. Again this photograph was taken within the kitchen studio meaning that the lighting provided was natural lighting provided by the nearby window. When editing this photograph, I again only changed the levels on order to enhance the warm tones within the image as I did not feel that this image needed any further editing. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is another photograph of a ginger nut biscuit. This time before photographing it, I decided to break the biscuit in half and slightly overlap one half with the other. With this photograph I intended to capture the texture of the inside of the biscuit after it had been broken as I wanted to show a less perfect view of the same biscuits which I had previously been photographing. When taking this photograph I used a macro lens in order to try to capture the detail of the uneven middle part of this biscuit. I used a macro lens for this as my standard lens was not focusing on the small details of the jagged edge where the biscuit had been broken where as a macro lens proved to work a lot better for this close up detail shot. The location for this photograph is also the studio kitchen meaning that once again it was natural lighting let in from the near by window which provided the lighting for this shot. As with the other images shown here, the only way in which I edited this photograph was to alter the levels slightly within Photoshop in order to give the biscuit a warm, more golden glow. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a collection of party ring biscuits placed on a golden coloured piece of fabric which I used in order to style this photograph. I wanted it to look as though the party rings were surrounded by the fabric so in order to do this, I laid the fabric flat, placed the party tings on top of it then pinched and scrunched the fabric around the biscuits in order to create the rippled effect of the fabric which you can see here. When taking this image, although I had created a mound in the fabric in the foreground of this photograph, I did not want this to be a distraction to the final image so using a shallow depth of field, I focused only on the biscuits meaning that the fabric in the foreground and background of the image drop out of focus making the biscuits within the mid-section of the photograph stand put and catch the eye the most.  This photograph was also taken within the kitchen studio meaning that again this the lighting for this photograph was provided by natural lighting. After taking this photograph I altered the levels quite dramatically within Photoshop in order to make the coloured icing on top of the biscuits be more vibrant and stand out more. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of tin full to the brim and beyond with an assortment of different biscuits. I like the way the biscuits in this photograph do not sit together perfectly and they are all kind of piled on top of each other in a disorderly fashion, I feel that this, along with the biscuit tin, gives this photograph a homely feel to it. When taking this photograph, I only wanted the tin of biscuits to be in focus so using a shallow depth of field I focused on the biscuits, blurring out the background. This photograph was again taken within the kitchen studio and the lighting was provided by natural lighting. This time however the lighting for this photograph was provided by the window which was located directly behind the subject of the image rather than a little way away. This means that the lighting in this photograph is a lot harsher than in some of the other photographs which I took within the same location. When editing this photograph I altered the levels in order to bring the brightness of the image down a little as the lighting on the day was very harsh.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of broken and crumbled biscuits all mixed together. I like this photograph as it displays a lot of texture from the broken pieces of biscuit as there are a lot of rough edged on display within this image. In addition to this, I also like the contrast between the light and dark biscuit pieces as this adds a lot more interest and depth to the photograph. This photograph was again taken within the kitchen studio but this time not in the direct light meaning that the lighting was softened as it was reflected off the walls and other surrounding object within the room I was in. the lighting for this photograph is even meaning it is appealing to look at without any overly bright or dark areas. Again, with this image, I put it into photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to make it look a little bit more appealing and to make the contrast of the light and dark colours more prominent. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of biscuits placed in a square biscuit tin. I feel that this photograph is simple yet effective as there is only one thing in the shot and that is what I intended the focus to be on which is the tin and its contents. This photograph was taken within the studio using studio lighting which is why the colours within this photograph are so crisp, clear and vibrant. I love how simple yet effective this photograph is and how the vibrant purple of the tin stands out so well from the plain white backdrop. In addition to this, I decided to take the photograph from the corner of the tin as I felt that the illusion of a diamond shaped tin would look a lot more attractive than a square tin which has a harsh straight line running across the front of the photograph. As with all of the previous images, I put this photograph into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly in order to make it stand out and catch the eye a little more. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a selection of biscuits broken into pieces with crumbs surrounding them. This photograph was taken with the same intentions as a pervious image shown in that I wanted to capture the texture of the uneven surface of the broken biscuits. The difference with this image and the other similar one is that this photograph was taken in the studio under artificial studio lighting. The artificial studio lighting gave me more light and made it so I was able to see more of the texture within the cracks of the biscuits. In order to properly capture this texture, I took a close up shot using a macro lens and this allowed the camera to pick up the tiny details of the crumbs which would otherwise be out of focus. The brighter artificial lighting also made it easier to capture this texture as it illuminated the grooves in the cracks giving more depth to the texture. Just like with the other images, I put this photograph into Photoshop in order to alter the levels a little bit.

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of a jar filled with chocolate topped biscuits on a plain white backdrop. I like the simplicity of this photograph as I feel that it is very self explanatory and speaks for itself in that what you see is what you get. There are no distractions from the subject within this photograph which I think makes for a nice image as you know what it is that you are supposed to be looking at and your eyes are not diverted to elsewhere within the image. This photograph was taken within the studio using a plain white backdrop and artificial studio lighting which combined make for a very clear and precise image. As the jar of biscuits is located right in the centre of the frame, this also draws you to look at the image. As with the other photographs, I put it into Photoshop in order to edit the levels and make it stand out more and make it more eye catching. 

This is another photograph which I took as part of my biscuit photoshoot. This is a photograph of the same jar which can be seen previously however this is just a close up shot of the top of the jar and is not strictly a photograph of biscuits however the biscuits can still be seen within the jar. This photograph, like the previous few, was taken within the studio under artificial studio lighting against a plain white background. The artificial studio lights and the plain white background make for a very crisp and clear photograph. I chose to take this close up photograph of the top of the jar as I found the purple line around the top of the jar very pretty and I thought it would be nice to focus on something which has a nice colour to it. In addition to this, the lines of the metal jar fastening lead the eye up and into the jar enforcing the fact that this is the main focal point of this photograph. Once again, like with all of the other photographs from this shoot, I put this photograph into Photoshop in order to alter the levels slightly to make the image stand out more and be more eye catching. I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out and like with the previous one, I love the simplicity of this photograph.