It's Teatime - for Click & Still Life With
This month both Click and Still Life With... challenged us with a rather difficult theme.
Jai and Bee were looking for Liquid Comfort while Lara shouted out "Cheers!"Personally, I have always found taking pictures of drinks rather difficult and very challenging. My collection of Drinks & Cocktails are nice but uneventful.
What I mean by that is that they are nice enough pictures but I personally find the WOW! factor missing in some of them. Yes, I am very ambitious and aim to improve myself with every effort I make. So, although I cursed under my breath when I read the themes for both my favorite photography workshops, I was nonetheless driven by my aspiration to do something a bit bolder and shoot motives I have not quite tried yet.
I have always found pictures of moving liquid very fascinating. My previous attempts were rather poor and I was not happy with them. This time I was determined to take more time, put more thought and effort into these shots.
It's Teatime above, was very challenging and if any of you saw me taking this shot they would have been down on the floor cracking up at the site of me. As I always shoot in natural light next to a large window where the light comes in from the right, I use a bounce to light up the left side. My bounce is a simple piece of white styropor which I hold in my left hand. My right hand is for clicking. For this shot I needed another hand to do the pouring!After thinking about it for a while, I moved up a chair next to the table where my motive was positioned. I then taped my bounce to the back of the chair and positioned it in such a way that the light reflected directly onto my motive without me having to hold it, leaving my left hand to do the pouring. Phew!
After focusing and a test set of shots where I got used to pouring with my left hand and actually managing to get the tea in the cup, I was ready. The result was really fantastic. At least, I was happy with it.
Even though I am judging this round of Click, the challenging theme was something I needed to conquer.
Details
- Camera: Nikon D70s
- Lens: Nikkor 18-70mm
- Tripod: Bilora 1211
- Focal Length: 60.0mm
- Exposure Time: 1/80s
- Aperture: f/4.5
Liquid Red for Still Life With
Liquid Red is my second shot for Still Life With - Cheers. This was a fun shot as I got to play around a bit. As I did not have an open bottle of wine and was in no mood to open one at 10:00 AM in the morning, I simply used cranberry juice. I used a big wine glass, tilting it against a white colored egg cup. Can you see it in the picture?
In Photoshop I played around with it a bit, by rotating it in different angles. This shot I liked the best because it gives the impression that one is looking into the glass and the liquid is splashing onto one side.
What do you think?
Technorati Tags: liquid, tea, wine, drink, cheers, photography, Click, SLW, Nikon D70s
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19 comments:
That cup of tea is looking really inviting, because of this frigid weather - I will have to get up and make me some right now. Using both hands at the same time to do different jobs is really tricky, I know. But you obviously have a very steady hand (supported on some books I hope...?).
i love the tea shot :)
Beautiful shot of Tea! I am not very good at photography, so I send whatever!!;D
Have a great weekend Meeta, be warm!:)
Oh I am so glad that you are one of the judges :-) otherwise youwould again run away with the prize ;-)
I loves the the table cloth and the tea cup is having almost the same design.
Mostly it is so difficul to get them in match.
Wow Meeta! I think both pictures transmit lots of things.
First one is so elegant, the cup, the jar, the table set and then so simetric. Also, the colours are peaceful and seem to give you serenity... What could I say? I love it! And the glass with the red liquid is fun! Great one too!!!
Meeta, I tried taking a 'Wine Splashing' shot too. Other than making a big mess, nothing was captured in the camera worth posting. I need to get extra lighting. What kind of lighting you use?
lovely!!! i want that cup of tea.
thanks for explaining the process, because I was thinking surely you must have employed a steady-handed child/husband to do the pouring/clicking. Lovely result. :)
Hi Meeta ... you are such a fantastic photographer!! I particularly liked the "wine" shot!! You are an inspiration!
Love the photo. I'd like a cup right now.
Paz
I'm laughing -- because I often feel like I need three hands, too -- and even with three hands my photos wouldn't come out as beautiful as yours.
Thats so beautiful Meeta...
My mom is quite keen on having a cup of tea each day - I showed her this photograph, and she agrees with me that it is positively STUNNING (as are ALL of your photographs)!!
Oh I had to chuckle at your adventures in taking the tea photo!
They turned out wonderful!
Saw this pic on your zazzle site earlier babe...trust u to go ahead and match the designs on the cup/saucer and the table fabric...Hats off to your creative eye...and all in just shades of white and brown....one of my favourite pics so far (the pouring tea) - initially i thought you must have roped in Soeri to pour the tea out :)
Nandita
can't decide... while the tea picture is very inviting... the wine glass pic is almost "super" natural :-)
Ah, that first picture is gorgeous! Although I need some sugar and milk in that chai :D
wow Meeta, while the first pic is very inviting for it's colors and simple elegance, the second is simply brilliant for the way you've brought out the contrast in colors!! nice girl:)
Thank you, thank you! Glad you liked these pics - I know many of you thought Soeren might have been the one holding the teapot but it was me. Next time I should grow a fourth arm and take a picture of me taking a picture for these challenges! LOL!
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