Christmas… Arizona style

     Naturally as I was in Phoenix visiting family, I had to take a bunch of photos of my niece. And of course she resisted this. So I bribed her… of course.

 

Coffee, Cafe, Kofe, Koffie, Kaffe, Kape, Kaffee, etc

     My best bud Skunkie did me a huge favor and home roasted some coffee for me. This was all the more a display of her awesomeness since I have been invariably deprived of coffee in these last few months , because of monetary issues. Mmmmm coffee. I love coffee, though I am by no means the blooming aficionado that Skunkie is quickly becoming. I remember not too many years ago I absolutely hated coffee and could only drink it if it was drowning in flavored syrups/creamers. But not anymore. Now I’m slowly working my way toward enjoying coffee with out all the bells and whistles, besides the ones it naturally comes with anyway. In honor of Skunkie’s mad roasting skills, I decided that I would do a coffee photo shoot. I have a couple of reasons for this: one, I told Skunkie I would do a review of the coffee she gave me for Atomac.net, which must have a picture to go with it, and secondly, because I know Skunkie has been on the search for decent coffee wallpapers for her iMac. Now, I don’t know whether any of the ones I took are gonna suit her needs for a wallpaper, but no matter, ’cause I had fun doing it. 🙂

     I was working on the high bar lining our kitchen island, which had a small square of good light shining in. I found from earlier tests that I quite liked the color of the countertop as the surface for the coffee beans, and decided to stick with that in today’s shoot. I set up my tripod, knowing that I might need some slower shutter speeds, despite working in that bright patch of light. I initially started with my 18-55mm lens and on one side of the counter, but I later switched to my dad’s Sigma 55-200mm lens and the other side of the counter. I switched positions, because the way the light fell on the beans initially created too stark of a contrast between the bean and the countertops. The lighting created too many highlights and shadows, losing the natural warmth of the color in the beans, which I also think tends to reflect the warm, buttery smell of these freshly roasted beans. And I definitely wanted that warmth.

     I worked with various cups as props as well. I started off with a cup from a set I have. I think the warm tones of the paint on the outside of the cup help to bring out the warmth of the brown beans, but the dark inside of the cup tended to dull the definition between the beans. But again, the darkness of the inside of the cup brought out the colors of the beans more. I then switched to the clear glass cup pictured earlier. I quickly switched out of that one. While I liked the idea of being able to see through the cup, and having the cup design that mimicked a French Press, I wasn’t happy with the overall results. There were just too many reflective points between the glass and the rims. I then switched to a white cup of my mom’s. I stuck to shooting the inside only of this cup, because it had some blue designs on the outside that I didn’t particularly care for. I think the white cup definitely lent toward good definition the individual beans, but toned down the warmth of the coloring. The white of the cup also tended to get a bit blown out, losing a bit of definition and dimension in the cup itself. I would totally like to do some more shots of the coffee beans, but I would want to find some other props to use with them. Will have to think something up and then do it. Though next on my shoot list should be the strange looking coffee-tea Skunkie also sent me in the coffee-care-package.