# Still Life: Onions C&C Welcome



## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

View attachment 33949

Cold, snowy, bored. 
Perfect recipe for a raid to the wifes kitchen again to carry on with my single light still lifes.
I took this one one step further. This is SOOC with only cropping to 8x10 and...
this is my first use of my AI lenses. This is from my 55 macro Nikkor 2.8
Your input is more then welcome.
Taken at ASA200,  f8 @ 1/30

Opps...Showing my age...ISO 200. RIP ASA


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jan 26, 2013)

I wept.



Ha!


I think the light is beautiful! I think it's framed a wee bit tight on the left and right. But the image has such a warm, cozy, comfortable feel. Quite nice. I like that you used two different materials for the background too.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> I wept.
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Thanks Bitter!


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## PixelRabbit (Jan 26, 2013)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> I wept.
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lol! What he said ^^ but I wouldn't have thought of the funny  
Nice job!


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## runnah (Jan 26, 2013)

There are many layers to this photo...


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jan 26, 2013)

I have a saying..."when you walk into a house and smell sautéing onions, somebody there loves you."


I think, looking again, that you might want to work on the hot spots on the peel, and the onion on the left. It might be distracting to some people. I didn't notice it right off, but see it now.


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## Mully (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick I would pull a little of the yellow out.... like the comp


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## invisible (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> Opps...Showing my age...ISO 200. RIP ASA


LOL!

Once again, very nice placement of the elements. The WB looks a tad warm to me. And once again your stuff is inspiring me to shoot indoors.

(Do you shoot JPG or RAW?)


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## PixelRabbit (Jan 26, 2013)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> I have a saying..."when you walk into a house and smell sautéing onions, somebody there loves you."



Miss Emily was home the other day, she got here when I was cooking, she walked in and said "Whenever I smell onions cooking I know there is something good coming"


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jan 26, 2013)

See!

Garlic doesn't have the same power. It just reminds me of an old Greek church.


I guess I'd like to see a less warm version for comparison, but I really like it how it is. I think the warmth really ties in with how I feel about onions. :heart:


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

View attachment 33951

Update: Opened up the frame a little for Bitter and attempted to cool it down for Federico and Mully. Unfortunately I can no longer claim SOOC due to the color shift.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

invisible said:


> Rick58 said:
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> 
> > Opps...Showing my age...ISO 200. RIP ASA
> ...



Thanks...I shot it in RAW


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## ceeboy14 (Jan 26, 2013)

Love all but the hotspots on the skin and left side onion...pretty bright. I might have to have a goo at toning that down....hmmmmmmm, scary...:lmao:


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

Hey CB, have a go. Bitter pointed it out. It seems the left highlight is blow out. I'd be curious to see what, if anything could be done. It's beyond my skill at this time.


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

Very nice... I like it! Try a low opacity clone from just outside the blown out area, matching up the "veins".. do just enough to give a slight impression of onion, not blow out....


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

is this better?


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## ceeboy14 (Jan 26, 2013)

Tried that, Charlie...was way too hard but then again it was a 72 dpi file, too..I just gave it some some paint laters trying to match some of the less blown out spot's colors...also added a bit of depth to the background...anytime you dink with someone else's image, it starts getting a little weird...


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks Charlie. I'll give it a go. So much for SOOC...


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> Thanks Charlie. I'll give it a go. So much for SOOC...



Just need to make your light a little softer... no big deal!


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## o hey tyler (Jan 26, 2013)

I like the composition, Rick. But as others have said the hot spots and warm WB lead to somewhat of a posterization around the highlights. 

Sometimes you just can't have a winner SOOC, but it was a great effort.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

View attachment 33982

Good idea!


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> View attachment 33982
> 
> Good idea!


  but now not enough highlight... lol! (left onion). And you have some cloning echoes on the skin...


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## o hey tyler (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> View attachment 33982
> 
> Good idea!



Lookin' better! You're getting there.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jan 26, 2013)

I would hang this in MY kitchen.

What is your light set-up? How big a diffuser, and distance?
I know little about lighting, I'm asking to help my understanding.

Oh, and that little bit of added space on the sides works very well to me. It didn't need a whole bunch, just that little bit. Fun to see subtle changes make bigger visual differences.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> I would hang this in MY kitchen.
> 
> What is your light set-up? How big a diffuser, and distance?
> I know little about lighting, I'm asking to help my understanding.
> ...



Well my lighting setup is actually quite elaborate. It a $10.00 utility reflector with a 70 watt floresent tube and a piece of tracing paper taped over the front as a diffuser.  I had the light about 18" from the closest onion.

But that's exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. I want to see what can be done with as little as possible.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks!

I cheap is fine. 

I'm just trying to work out how to not get the blown highlight, without ruining what you have.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> is this better?
> 
> View attachment 33974



Nice Charlie! You got over ran in the posts and I missed this. I need to play with it some more and try to replicate your version. I have no idea if there's any difference, but I have lightroom ordered and I downloaded the 17 hours of tutorials that were offered free this month. I'm hoping PP will come a little easier. I'm currently using Paintshop Pro 5, but I have nothing to compare it to.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

Bitter Jeweler said:


> Thanks!
> 
> I cheap is fine.
> 
> I'm just trying to work out how to not get the blown highlight, without ruining what you have.


There's a lot of information online regarding building softboxes. That may be an upcoming project.


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## Rick58 (Jan 26, 2013)

ceeboy14 said:


> Tried that, Charlie...was way too hard but then again it was a 72 dpi file, too..I just gave it some some paint laters trying to match some of the less blown out spot's colors...also added a bit of depth to the background...anytime you dink with someone else's image, it starts getting a little weird...
> 
> View attachment 33975



Hey Sorry CB, you got lost in the shuffle. Nice edit. You toned it down just enough to bring back a little texture.
I have lightroom coming this week. I'm hoping editing is a little better then Paintshop 5


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> cgipson1 said:
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> 
> > is this better?
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Photoshop CS5 here....  and I am not really that good at it... lol! I have so much to learn....


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## cgipson1 (Jan 26, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
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> > Thanks!
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Build a 3'x'3' frame of 1x2 or something.. or even a 4'x4' frame. Cover that with the tracing paper..... put that 16" to 24" from the subject. Then move the light to shine on that... to where the beam just covers it to the outside edges. It would be a much larger light source, and therefore softer.... make sense?


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## RobN185 (Jan 27, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> View attachment 33982
> 
> Good idea!



SO beautiful ... makes me want to cry.:lmao:


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## Rick58 (Jan 27, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> Rick58 said:
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I've seen a variation of what you just described made out of PVC pipe and fittings. They built in a pivot point with adjustable legs so the light source can be angled as well as raised and lowered. That sounds like a fun project.
In all the years I've been in photography, indoor photography was reserved for built-in flash at a kids birthday party. I had zero interest in artificial lighting. I would never have thought I'd enjoy playing around with staged still lifes. Maybe as I'm getting older, it's easier then trudging through the snow and cold...


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## Rick58 (Jan 27, 2013)

@ Charlie: "_Photoshop CS5 here....  and I am not really that good at it... lol! I have so much to learn...."
_
I don't know about that Charlie, I've seen some of your stuff


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## sm4him (Jan 27, 2013)

I'm a day late and a dollar short here (so what's new? lol) but I love the original and agree with Bitter, I'd hang this in my own kitchen. I liked the version that had a little bit more on the left side, but neither the hotspot or the WB really bother me. In fact, that warm WB just seems perfect for the overall mood of the photo, to me. 

Now, I need to go pour another cup of coffee...and put onions on my shopping list.


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## Rick58 (Jan 27, 2013)

sm4him said:


> I'm a day late and a dollar short here (so what's new? lol) but I love the original and agree with Bitter, I'd hang this in my own kitchen. I liked the version that had a little bit more on the left side, but neither the hotspot or the WB really bother me. In fact, that warm WB just seems perfect for the overall mood of the photo, to me.
> 
> Now, I need to go pour another cup of coffee...and put onions on my shopping list.



LOL... Thanks Sharon. Rather late then never. Wow, with you and Bitter hanging this on your wall, I better plaster a big 'ol nasty watermark all over the thing. There will be no stealing my art work...


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## amolitor (Jan 27, 2013)

The two onions isn't working for me. Odd numbers work better, for some reason. You almost have a third onion represented in the skin, but not quite enough for me. Shoving them in a row also isn't working for me.

Fantastic, gorgeous, light, and a great location. The board under and whatever the background is literally could not be more perfect.

This is also ripe for bringing in another element, a knife, a bowl, a basket, a copper pot, almost anything.


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## amolitor (Jan 27, 2013)

I've made several softboxes out of cardboard. Cut 4 identical triangles with their tops chopped off, these will form the sides of a pyramid with its top chopped off. Glue aluminum foil down to one side with a glue stick, or whatever you have handy.

Duct-tape the pyramid together.

Use any sort of this paper to cover the bottom of the pyramid -- I happen to have some drafting paper around, you could probably use newspaper in a pinch. Use the comics for an interesting gel effect! Fabric works as well, cut up an old sheet or T-shirt or whatever.

Rig up some kind of contraption to hold it where you want it, and to hold your flash shoved into the top of the pyramid.

The advanced model creates a square tube on top of the pyradmid by leaving a "flap" where you cut the top off your original triangles.

Start small. My current one is like 24x24 (for which you need an enormous cardboard box to provide the materials) but the first one I made was probably 10x10 or less.


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## ceeboy14 (Jan 27, 2013)

You can buy soft boxes, flashes, etc quite inexpensively at this address...They held up under my student's constant useage, so I can attest to their durability and usefulness:

Buy Photography and Camera Supplies from #1 Store in Dallas | Cowboystudio.com


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## Rick58 (Jan 27, 2013)

amolitor said:


> The two onions isn't working for me. Odd numbers work better, for some reason. You almost have a third onion represented in the skin, but not quite enough for me. Shoving them in a row also isn't working for me.
> 
> Fantastic, gorgeous, light, and a great location. The board under and whatever the background is literally could not be more perfect.
> 
> This is also ripe for bringing in another element, a knife, a bowl, a basket, a copper pot, almost anything.



Ok Naysayer, get off my praise thread...:lmao:


  I know nothing about art whatsoeverbut many years ago I was touring a formal garden. I stopped to compliment one of the groundskeepers on how perfect everything looked. During our conversation, he mentioned a trick in landscaping is to never use even numbers. For whatever reason I retained that.
  I'm glad you picked up on the skin because that was actually my intent. The wife only had two onions. Very boring. I was hoping the arched skin would simulate a third object or "onion". It sounds like I didn't quite pull it off for your taste...

Thanks for the tips on the soft boxes. That's pretty much what I found on youtube


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## KenC (Jan 28, 2013)

Away for a couple of days and just catching up to this one ...

I like the warmth of the original, which imo makes the hot spot a non-issue because it has some color gradation to help it.  The only quibble I have is the soft lower left corner is a little distracting, but you could crop the bottom a little - just a thought.


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## sm4him (Jan 28, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> sm4him said:
> 
> 
> > I'm a day late and a dollar short here (so what's new? lol) but I love the original and agree with Bitter, I'd hang this in my own kitchen. I liked the version that had a little bit more on the left side, but neither the hotspot or the WB really bother me. In fact, that warm WB just seems perfect for the overall mood of the photo, to me.
> ...



Hey, before you go adding that watermark, could you post a higher-res image? I took this one to Walmart and got a 16x20 made, but it just didn't turn out that good.


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## Rick58 (Jan 28, 2013)

sm4him said:


> Rick58 said:
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Only a 16x20? I'm crushed


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## sm4him (Jan 28, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> sm4him said:
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Well, I wanted a 30x40 canvas print but you just didn't give me enough to work with here. :lmao:


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## gsgary (Jan 28, 2013)

Placement of black cards would make a big difference


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## Rick58 (Jan 28, 2013)

gsgary said:


> Placement of black cards would make a big difference



? :scratch: Black cards?


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## cgipson1 (Jan 28, 2013)

Rick58 said:


> gsgary said:
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> > Placement of black cards would make a big difference
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Flags... used to stop light , add shadows (the opposite of a reflector)... can also be used to add contrast on reflective surfaces (dark highlights)... 

Free Photography Tutorial - Lighting Reflectors 

Lowel Reflectors, Umbrellas, and Flags


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## Desi (Jan 29, 2013)

Well, I'm late to the party......just wanted to say that I like the shot and the mood it sets.  I do like the warmth of the original.


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## Rick58 (Jan 29, 2013)

cgipson1 said:


> Rick58 said:
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Thanks Charlie. I'm new to any serious indoor photography. My indoor was reserved for kids birthday party's and shoe mounted flash. It's a differnt world inside.


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