It is this time of the year. You go to farmers market other grocery store, and bring back some cucumbers. But those small, traditional ones. You put them in a jar, pour some boiled water, add spices- like dill and salt, and wait three days. Well, if you are patient. It might happen, like in my parents house, that there is hardly anything left after two days .

In US, croissants are a very popular breakfast item. In Poland, they are made quite often from a different type of dough, and usually filled with something. Those were filled with a fruit jam, so I figured pairing it with a fresh fruit, which my father in law brought along from the grocery shopping, will create a more interesting image. It was a fun shooting session and very tasty snack afterwards .

Another shot from the garden series. I started from taking several shots of gooseberries on the bush. But I wanted something more “creative”, and more like food then nature shot. The gooseberries were still too hard to eat, as they are still ripening in the June sun, but I got permission to pick some fruit for my photo project. I found this small bowl with green flower pattern on it in the cupboard. At first, I thought it might be too decorative, but then I figured it will match gooseberries green color, and it may actually work. Especially that I chose to use the garden wooden table as a simple backdrop. The biggest problem for me was to make the single berries outside the bowl to look naturally dropped, I completely don’t have the eye for that… But here is the resulting image, with just a bit of my typical post-processing- Clarity, Vibrance and Vignette.

The fruit trees and bushes in my father-in-low garden are ripening already. Quickly, for me, but the truth is it is about time. The summer is here, we had summer solstice last week, and the vacation time in Poland started. I remember picking currants in my grandma’s orchard when we were coming there for summer vacation, and eating fruit straight from the bush. In fact, it was the only way I would eat them- somehow in a bowl you can feel better how sour they are!

My image of strawberries on colander seems to be doing quite well on few of stock agencies I submit images to, so I decided to go with the blow. In Poland, quite different then in US, the fruit are far more seasonal. When a fruit is in season, there are people selling it outside stores, freshly picked from their gardens. Or so I want to think . In any case, right now seems the strawberry season is winding down (and so the prices), but the cherries just showed up. I made similar set and shoot some images.

I am still trying to sift through all the studio and outdoors images I took last week at my parents place. Quite a collection.
The image I chose for today’s post is a composition I build around a nut cracker I found in the kitchen. It was shoot in a simple studio I set up on a glass porch. I had one window covered with a large, white sheet of paper – here I was placing my subjects. Another window, on the left of the set-up, was my main light source, through diffuser. With a silver reflector from the front, for which I was adjusting the position for each composition, I was able to fill in missing light for most of the day, making for an easy shooting on the tripod.
The jury is still out on which I prefer- strobe or natural light for my studio food shots. So far, I vary it depending on location I shoot and time of the day. And I think I am pretty much on the same level of acquaintance with both.

There was this basket sitting under the table in my mom’s kitchen, which gave me the idea for this scene. We went out and bought a big bag of veggies, and actually tried more then one combination. But for this one, I had more props in mind. I found a bottle of olive oil and red vinegar in the pantry, and positioned them so the labels cannot be seen (with stock in mind, and to save on cloning). So, with all ingredients in one place, time to make a salad!

My father-in-low brought home yesterday a large package of fresh strawberries. Hmmm, what a smell. He washed them on the colander and left to drain. It just looked ready for photographing. I have a small studio set-up – a piece of white paper on the cabinet next to the window- ready for just such occasion. When I was done with standard, sharp all-in-focus shot, I took some with my Lensbaby for fun and for blog.

The dinner planning yesterday started with buying of a grilling pan. And decision, that fish would be a good choice to try the pan out. I went with my father-in-law to the market to pick up some fresh fish. Looking back, what we bought was far from optimal. The four crucians maybe looked well on a plate, seasoned and waiting to be frayed, but the final meal was full of bones and well, unsatisfactory small. I am voting for trout next time.

I was doing some shooting for stock submissions today. It has been working for me quite well recently. I sold already 10 images through Shutterstock (man, I love their subscription program) and already one image through Fotolia, where I signed up just recently. So, well motivated, I keep on coming up with ideas and keep on shooting and submitting.
Back to today’s shoot, I had this bag of colorful pepper laying on my desk for several days. I wanted to photograph the pile of these spices. Just for fun, I took out my Lensbaby and decided to use it as well. This lens helped to really separate the front grains from the rest of the pile, which provides the colorful backdrop.