Wheatgrass with Collagen

Wheatgrass with Collagen

 

I had a busy day doing another product shoot for a friend in Huay Khwang. He had a range of wheatgrass products and drinks to be staged and photographed.

As before I used the Canon EOS-30D outside on a tripod with a single flash to provide some fill light. We used a simple white web board as a backdrop.

I used my Canon EF 50mm F2.5 Compact Macro Lens set to F8. It’s a nice sharp little lens and I was pleased with the results.

Most of the work was in Photoshop where I had to separate the product from the background and put it in a separate layer. That makes it easy for a designer to incorporate it into an advertisement, brochure or a banner.

I wish I was more adept with the Lightroom pen tool so I could make proper paths. But results using selections were fine on simple shapes.

I saved the pictures for delivery as a layered TIF file with a 50% grey background. I saved a Levels Adjustment Layer for the product so a graphics artist or designer can adjust the picture easily. I also delivered JPEG files for use on the web.

The only embarrassment came when I printed the label for the CD. One of the ink cartridges on my Canon MP610 printer silent ran out of ink so the customer’s logo is discoloured. It’s not vital but I prefer everything to be perfect.

Blurring the Background

One of the challenges of using a compact camera with a slow zoom lens is that it’s difficult to blur the background when required. Michael Willems here describes one technique – but it isn’t always possible.

But there’s another technique. You can blur the background in Photoshop. Yes, it is cheating and it is hard to do well so that it looks authentic. But I thought I would try an example.

I took this photo at Bang Sue Subway Station in northern Bangkok.

Bang Sue Junction Map

It was shot using the lens’s maximum aperture: F2.9, wide open.

It’s nice and sharp and I like the reflection of the student in the stainless steel guard rail. But the red taxi and tree in the background are a bit distracting.

In this case it is very easy to mask out the background. If part of the subject, especially hair, is commingled with the background it gets very time-consuming.

So I made a mask of the background in Photoshop and blurred it using the Photoshop “Lens Blur” filter. I could have used “Gaussian Blur” but I wanted to experiment. Lens Blur gives you lots of flexibility.

I also desaturated the background a little bit to give it more of an autumn tone. Not that we have autumn in Bangkok, but I am from a temperate country.

Here’s the result:

I think it is better as it reduces the distraction of the bright red taxi and focuses more on the anxious university student.

What do you think of the effect? Is the photo obviously Photoshopped or could I convince you that I used a F1.4 lens?