David Terao
February 2021 - Radish in Cup
Original
About the Image(s)
This month, I'm continuing my still life theme and practice with focus bracketing. I shot this radish in a crystal cup using a slide rail on a tripod. I used Helicon Focus to stack the 22 images. The image was then tuned in Lightroom and transferred to Photoshop where I used the Nik filter (Vivesa) to adjust the colors/brightness in the background and radish. I also added a little more space on the right using Photoshop's content aware fill.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
14 comments posted
Very creative, graceful, good color! After looking at this for awhile, I don't feel any different, I am not moved. For me it remains a radish and cup. The cup is very modern and, for me, doesn't go with a radish plant. Maybe I am too old to fully appreciate it! Posted: 02/02/2021 09:40:54
I love this! The crispness, focus and clarity are awesome, as are the colors. I think this is a very artistic presentation of your subject and the background and reflection couldn't be better. I love still life photography and this is notch above most. What did you use as your base to make such a lovely reflection? Did I mention that I love this??? Posted: 02/02/2021 10:38:11
Thank you, Cindy. The base is a 2x2 ft black acrylic plastic sheet that I bought at a plastics store. I usually don't like the reflectivity of the plastic, but, in this case, it seems to work. For the backdrop, I used a Lastolite vintage backdrop with a spot light on it that was also subtly reflected on the black plastic sheet. Posted: 02/02/2021 12:09:06
I'm not very familiar with still life photos (including set-ups, background, reflective surfaces). I am familiar with focus stacking and I am impressed with what you have created, especially the overall focus, the beautiful reflection of the green leaves and the cute icue in the radish tail. Colors are terrific. It would be good to put a little more light on the leaves on the right hand side. Posted: 02/03/2021 14:20:49
Thank you for your suggestion, Phyllis. I deliberately kept the right side of the leaf in shadow in order to not make the green leaf so dominant. To me, the stem tip on the left was the point of interest of the radish. I'll try highlighting the lighter lines of the leaf in the shadow as it might add some texture to that dark area. Here's my revised image. Posted: 02/03/2021 15:55:00
David, my feeling is that the leaf behind is not adding to your photo. The clean lines of one leaf in the reflection is good. But I would experiment with trimming the back leaf or leaves. I would be interested to know how you arranged lighting. (Is it natural, flash or both). Thanks. Posted: 02/04/2021 11:26:17
Thank you for your comments, Phyllis. I still prefer to keep all the leaves as is. That's the way it grows.
As far as lighting goes, I used a Photoflex Starlite 500w tungsten lamp in a softbox to the left and a large reflector on the right. I also aimed a small snooted 75w tungsten light on the background to give a spotlight effect behind the radish. Posted: 02/04/2021 13:00:01
As far as lighting goes, I used a Photoflex Starlite 500w tungsten lamp in a softbox to the left and a large reflector on the right. I also aimed a small snooted 75w tungsten light on the background to give a spotlight effect behind the radish. Posted: 02/04/2021 13:00:01
Like it, a very clean, crisp unique image. The color compliment, natural shadow graduation on the leave(s), and obvious main focus, all works for you.
The reflection is just right, it's not too powerful to draw attention away from the main. The glassware, kind of, well not sure its construct or the light or what.
Posted: 02/04/2021 15:20:10
The reflection is just right, it's not too powerful to draw attention away from the main. The glassware, kind of, well not sure its construct or the light or what.
Posted: 02/04/2021 15:20:10
(Group 33)
I love this image. Red and green color was good. I just imagining what if the background was white. Will it make the radish more stunning ? Posted: 02/05/2021 23:29:36
Thank you, Arief, for visiting our Group and taking the time for your constructive comments. I first considered a black background, but thought the image would lose a sense of dimension. A white background? Hmmm...I'm not sure it would make the radish pop more. In fact, it might cause the whitish root to be lost against the white background. Also, the black plastic base I used might create a stark line against a white background. I prefer a smoother, more graduated flow in the background. Thank you again for looking at my image and commenting. All constructive comments are welcome! Posted: 02/06/2021 07:06:16
(Groups 66 & 86)
I think it's exquisite, David! In addition to succeeding with the focus stack technique, I like both the colors and the composition; I think it's the reflection that makes this speciail. Posted: 02/07/2021 17:24:50
Thank you for stopping by, Jack, and I appreciate your feedback. Posted: 02/07/2021 18:58:19
Interesting and exquisite. That could be a squashed bug between the radish and the glass cup. Posted: 02/22/2021 18:51:49
It is amazing that this very crystal clear and focused image used 22 stacked images. I like the color, the reflection and the composition of the still life theme. The focus bracketing is a technique which I would learned to use. Posted: 02/28/2021 06:02:34