Pass the Pasta ( 2 of 4 )

 

Pasta- some with garlic bread

When pasta is mentioned I can’t help but get images of Italy. Warm sun light and colours of red and yellow mixed in with a little romance. I wanted to try and capture a scene with a mixture of the above.

I firstly experimented with just focusing on the pasta and the colours in low light to create the mood. I initially liked these but felt it lacked something else visually to enhance it. This was when I toyed with the idea of using garlic bread! Some ideas I find I can see better as ideas in my head rather than on paper.

I tried to photograph this in many ways but found that I couldn’t capture exactly what I wanted. The focus seemed to always be on the garlic bread and this took away the eye from the pasta. For a different approach I then placed the pasta in a bowl, which seemed a little out of the box but still lacked that satisfaction I wanted to feel. I used Photoshop to try to enhance the photo to get that feeling but not 100% effectively to my mind.

Simplicity was my next step so that’s when I came up with the Idea of using the fork with just one piece of pasta on it. I again enlisted the help of Photoshop to straighten the fork and whiten the background more. I did get the hint of more satisfaction then, but not completely so I went on to try something completely different. The images are placed in a collage to show the different techniques I used and also it is easier to compare the images in this form and analyse what works and what doesn’t.

 

1st photo shoot

Pasta salad

Still using the thought process which I applied to the previous, I turned my attention to salad. I cut the cherry tomatoes into crowns to enhance the visual look of the photo. If they were cut in a traditional way then I felt that I would be back in the bland area again. Non-traditional lettuce was also used to ad that Italian feel to the image. I felt the colours worked well together. A yellow pepper was subtly introduced to the garnish; again I tried placing it in different positions on the lettuce. I also purposely bought a black plate for enhancement as I felt that if it was on a white plate it wouldn’t give the same feel.

I played with light and angles, taking with me what I had learnt from the previous shoot. Although the garnish does play a better part I didn’t want the whole focus to be taken away from the pasta. Through trial and error I came up with many images that this time around I felt satisfied with. The collage is laid out some with white borders and some without to enhance a satisfactory visual of my work. I felt that if they all had or hadn’t had a border then they would just become one large jumble and quickly looked over. Whereas presented like they are then they have a certain balance to the structure and become much easier on the eye.

 

2nd photo shoot

 

I looked through the vast amount of images that I had produced and finally managed to narrow them down to 5 photos. During the process of eliminating images I find that I have to scrutinize every aspect, such as light, focus and composition.

When I get down to very few photos, the process of evaluation I find even harder! I then try to incorporate the feeling of which image feels right to me and which is communicating to others exactly what I want.  By looking at the final 5 it became apparent that there was only one image that I had liked from the 1^st photo shoot.

 

I chose this photo because I liked the lighting, and the focus on this image I feel is the best. Everything seemed more in proportion for me, nothing seemed to be distracting. Although in the beginning I wasn’t completely taken with the yellow pepper in the bottom left corner. The more I analysed the photo the more I could see that it adds an extra layer that seems to compensate for the opposite bottom corner on the right being black and a little empty. The Italian theme I think shows through and the colours work well together in the light, hence the romantic mood setting.   

 

The chosen one