Cherries - A second take

Cherries!

We picked up some fresh Cherries during the weekly grocery run and I decided to get a few images of them before they disappeared. I've been playing around with off camera flash for sometime and took the opportunity to experiment a bit more. I photographed some cherries a while ago and really liked the rich   shades of red on the fruit. I was hoping to light them in a way which accentuates the colour and texture of the cherries and I'm pretty happy with the results. Read on for more info and the setup shot.

The lighting setup for the image above

I used a Canon 430EXII as the main light source for this shot and fired it into a reflective umbrella at 1/32. I used a reflective umbrella as I wanted to light a section of the image evenly and didn't want too much light to spill onto the glass. The umbrella was half closed to control the spill. If I fired the strobe directly onto the Cherries, the light would have been too harsh. In order to get warm light I used a Full CTO gel on the flash. In hindsight (which is always a bit of a bitch...) I should have used a 1/2 CTO gel instead.

A sheet of glass was placed under the Cherries to create a reflection. 

The pile of Cherries to the left were about 4 - 6 inches behind the main subject so that they would be out of focus but add a layer of interest to the image and give it some context. I used a few tea light holders (which were around a foot behind the subject) to create some "home made bokeh" and balance out the composition.

The shot was captured at a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second and an aperture of f/2.5. I used a slow shutter speed to allow the ambient to burn in a little and light the image a bit more evenly. If I wanted to use a faster shutter speed, I could have used a reflector on the right of the subject to achieve the same result.

This shot was captured with a Canon 7D and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.