Soooooo it’s been a long, cold, colorless winter and I don’t get the opportunities for creative expression that I desperately need often enough. So today I hit the wall and needed to do some fun food shots. Just for fun, just for me, and just for practice. Photography is not like riding a bike; you do forget, and get rusty. (or at least I do!)
I needed cupcakes. But unfortunately I’m doing Weight Watchers so heading to any given local awesome bakery with quality ingredients and creative flair wasn’t really an option today since (sadly) I wasn’t going to be eating these cupcakes. Oh well. In the name of thriftiness and speed, I opted for the bakery at the Goffstown Hannaford. Their selection today was so dismal, and pretty much as colorless as my view out any of my windows. Oh well. The cupcake design was woefully inadequate and boring. I WISH of course that I had splurged on an awesome anti-corporate bakery who takes pride in their confections, but like I said, I wasn’t planning on eating any of these so I couldn’t justify the cost (or an extra errand when I was already going to the grocery store). I’m totally willing to pay for quality ingredients when I intend to savor every bite. In this case, I just needed something that would sit still.
Recently I calibrated my monitor with a professional colorimeter and was shocked and dismayed to discover that my monitor was completely wrong this whole time. So pretty much everything that you, dear reader, have viewed of mine was never as I intended (assuming that your monitor was correct). So I’ve been completely embarrassed for like two weeks now and have been frantically switching out all my photos on my blog and website with corrected versions. It was pretty bad. These photos from today are being edited on a calibrated monitor and SHOULD reflect the colors that I meant for them to look like. I also wanted to take a practice shoot to work on my lighting, and exposure. I’m going to be purchasing a tripod this weekend for the first time–yes! Me! I can’t believe I’m buying a tripod! I hate those things and have never owned or used one. But living in New Hampshire necessitates the use of very low shutter speeds because there is NO LIGHT. So I need a tripod. I can’t afford to keep throwing out dozens of images shot at 1/30 of a second because they’re not entirely in focus. I need to do what I do, and do it quickly. I definitely do not have all the time in the world.
St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes…… if you can call them that. White icing with green sprinkles? I GUESS…… Oh Hannaford, you bore me to tears. But I’m pretty happy with the photos. I paid careful attention to my lighting, exposure, and white balance. Calibration is everything (learn from my mistakes! I have plenty to go around, apparently…..)
Cappuccino cupcakes….. pre-packaged and kind of smashed on top. I wished I’d had some coffee beans to use as a garnish, but I didn’t. Not entirely exciting. I actually tried-naively– to set these into a cute cupcake paper but it didn’t fit. I guess they don’t fit unless they’re actually baked into it. 🙂 But it would have been TOTALLY cute.
I think after this small experiment that there are a few truths to be learned: First, it’s important to be inspired. Going into this, I wasn’t entirely excited about what I was shooting, and it reflects a lack of passion in the photography. Secondly, I need some new props and set styling. Sometimes I feel limited by the types of props that I have to work with. It is shocking the amount of stuff it takes to look effortless and minimalistic. 😉 You’d be surprised.
