SLW photo remake # 2

Simone (junglefrog) — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:48:19 +0000

Remake from Gourmet traveller

Today I decided it was finally time to do the second remake of the SLW: photo remakes Flickr group. The first one was a remake of Lara’s own photos and was not so complicated as this particular one.

I love doing these things as it gives me the chance to really think about how a scene was lighted and how I can recreate that same feeling. I am looking forward to doing many more!

For this particular shot I had to first analyze where the light originally was coming from and how they placed all the various elements in the photo as styling is crucial here. Ofcourse I didn’t have the same items, but I chose the ones closest to the original. In the Flickr group it is allowed to make changes to the original version, but I always find it a bigger challenge to try and make it look exactly the same. That is the only way that I feel I’ve given myself the greatest challenge for this particular photo.

Original vs the remake

Above you can see the original next to my version… The shadows on the original are a little more pronounced and the pasta looks more appetizing but overall I am quite pleased with the final result. I didn’t make actual pasta (that is why it looks so bland) as I wanted to really only focus on the photography and not on making the dish. I wanted to use tomato sauce or ketchup or something similar to get the pasta to look a bit reddish but I took the shots in the studio, so I forgot to bring the tomato stuff… Instead I colored it slightly with balsamic and chili sauce… Good thing I didn’t have to eat it!!

I lit the scene with one Bowens Gemini 500 with softbox from behind the subject and above. I initially used a second light from the left but I didn’t like the brighly lit scene I got from that. It wasn’t a huge difference but

With additional light

I thought the heavier shadows made the shot look more rustic.

I am not even sure you can really see the difference in the small photo on the left, but it is most obvious on the left plate. Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing around with the lighting and the composition. Having different sized items can make it a bit harder to achieve the same result, but I think the plates where close enough. The only oval plate I have is tiny and that wouldn’t have worked here.

Can’t wait to see what will be next!

SLW: Photo remakes challenge 1

Simone (junglefrog) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:09:55 +0000

Photo remake nutella challenge 1

I discovered Lara’s blog about the same time I discovered Flickr as a great way to make friends and learn a lot in the process as well. Lara’s blog is incredibly informative and I’ve been reading it ever since. It has great tips on lighting, techniques etc.

Lara had been hosting a group on Flickr for quite a while which featured a different theme each month, but recently she has changed it into a new challenge called “Photo remakes”. The purpose is to remake a photo that Lara has done, either by trying to exactly replicate the original or making your own version of it. For this challenge I decided to try and replicate it as close to the original as I could. With the notable exception of not creating my own nutella as Lara has done. For the recipe have a look here.

For this first challenge the photo was thankfully not too complicated, but still you have to think about how the original was made and then reposition all the ingredients of the photo in the right order to make it look as similar as possible. As you can see above I used different bread and storebought Nutella as well.

Nutella

I just love this challenge as it is a great way to learn and forces me to think outside of my own comfort zone. First you need to try and identify how the lighting was done in the original, how where the highlights positioned and where did they come from?

That is also the reason why I chose the replicate the original as it would have been easier to make a different version. I am quite curious to see what everyone else comes up with and to find out how they thought about the process.

In case you are interested in participating in the challenge; have a look at the Flickr group on the subject and sign up! It’s great fun!

Junglefrog Cooking » slw

SLW photo remake # 2

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SLW: Photo remakes challenge 1

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