Behind the Lens – Shades Of Grey

Even a photographer’s test shots can inspire further exploration…

Sometimes when I’m testing a concept or idea, whether its achieving a certain look with lighting, testing the look of props, placement of white or black boards, etc. – I need a quickie test subject. Although it does not mimic food or some beautiful fruit or vegetable, one of my favorite sit-ins are rustic looking items with interesting textures.

After shooting in RAW, adding to Lightroom for cataloging, keywording, and postprocessing I like to crank up the dials when using pewter looking dishes like this. These types of dishes look gorgeous focusing in on the details of their beautiful craftsmanship, small nuances and imperfections, and worn-in look. However, most often I’m not able to get real grungy with details if its a food shot unless that’s the effect I was originally going for.

Like the Autumn Gourds test photo shoot post, these images weren’t really meant for posting or seeing the light of day beyond my own critique and analysis, but it brought out one of my other loves besides photography, Lightroom/Photoshop, and design…my love for using fonts.

I was going to use a scripty, scrolly style, but then opted for a more masculine, hard-edged but still elegant look. Font aficionados are sure to recognize the one I’m using…I never get tired of it and its never let me down when I used to design logos and graphics for projects when I was a Web applications developer/designer.

So after playing around with different looks and several test shots, I realized I was unknowingly gravitating towards grey tones. Hence a timely name for these practice test shots, wouldn’t you think? (Note: I haven’t read the books or seen the movie…)

Ok – enough testing. Time to get ready for the next shoot! 🙂