"Lucky Peach" and "Lunch!"

Canon EOS-1Ds 1/320 sec at f/8, 40mm, ISO 125

Trying to find subjects for this photo-a-day project can sometimes be very challenging. Some days I just happen on something, while other days I have to consider many things before I can find something I would like to include in this series.

I was getting kind of hungry and I needed to eat some lunch. No need in passing out in the middle of the day. I should wait for the evening to come before I do that! So I began searching for something to eat rather than something to photograph. Well it so happened that on this particular occasion, these two things became one-in-the-same! The problem became, Should I eat then shoot? Um, if I do, what will I shoot? Darn! Gotta' wait to eat until I finish the project – at least the shooting part.


So I took the peach I was soooo ready to devour and we headed outside. I didn't want to spend time setting up the studio, the sun was out, and I wanted...FOOD! Then I had to figure out what I wanted to show the peach around. The mushroom from before, No. The dead mole, Ew! Come on, i'm hungry! Oh, alright! Just in the grass. YES! The grass would provide nice color contrast. It was close! And there is clover!

I put the peach down and "styled" the grass and clover as much as I could. And once again, through the lens that peach looked wonderful, and not just because of my appetite. The shaded sunlight coming from the left was just enough to wrap around that little fruit providing it the shape that is so, well, peachy! The even-smaller fuzz that peaches are well known for became visible at the point-of-focus in the center of where the stem had been. One nice surprise for me was how the clover's shadow fell so elegantly on the side of our subject. This seemed like a "Lucky Peach" to me! It really came out well and helped me to reconsider outdoor lighting and how I can use and emulate it when necessary in the studio. Darn right I learned something. But then I was hungry and the peach was NOT so lucky!

Canon EOS-1Ds 1/2 sec at f/6.3 and F/11, 38mm ISO 160

I went inside and finished off my appetizer and started in on fixing lunch. I grabbed my hero, the tomato, and proceeded to gather the other items I desired for my mid-day meal. I retrieved a knife and cutting board and fashioned it all together on the table to enjoy my well-earned feast. And it then occurred to me, I could take a quick shot of this, too. And my brain said "Sure" while my stomach said"Damn You!"

I arranged it all and decided hand holding this would prove to be just too much. I grabbed my tripod and finalized the composition and camera settings. Giving myself enough time I probably would have used an even greater depth-of-field for this shot as the tomato, the hero I mentioned before, was not a sharp as I would have liked. Altough he would soon get the point! (Ha Ha Ha! Get it! with the knife!)
I did shoot one at f/11 for this purpose and blended it in layers, but, alas, it would not be enough!


I finally did eat my lunch. And I believe my stomach has forgiven me for the delay. But whenever I grab my camera when he is hungry it just eats him up! (Ha Ha Ha.) Yeah, get over it, already!