It all started with some cans of Portuguese canned fish brought back from a recent vacation. The marketing departments of the canning companies did their job and the packaging looked awesome. In fact they all looked so good that I could not take a can opener to them without first preserving them forever in pictures. And of course, I could not just take a straight photo of each can! Instead, it was time for some still life. I always enjoy still life photography but I almost never do it. Hmm, that provides some food for thought.

Sardinhas em TomateStill Life

Sardinhas em Tomate, Still Life, Black Background

Portugal's canning industry was born at the beginning of the 19th century when a method for preserving food in a closed metallic container was invented and patented. Despite its ups and downs it remains a huge tradition in Portugal today.

Sardinhas em Azeite PicanteStill Life

Sardinhas em Azeite Picante, Still Life, Black Background

All of these photographs were captured on a black velvet background with a single continuous light source, a large LED panel. I manually set the LED color temperature to 5,200 Kelvin and set the same value on the camera for an easier color correction later. As you can see by the shadows, the panel was to the right of the camera and a little bit up. Instead of pointing it straight at the set up I feathered the light by turning the light down and left almost towards the camera until the scene was illuminated by the very edge of the light. I like the quality of such light and it also minimizes the amount of background illumination keeping the background nicely dark. My camera was on a tripod and I used a 100mm macro lens to play with shallow depth of field.

Peixe-Espada em Azeite com Nikon FE2Still Life

Peixe-Espada em Azeite com Nikon FE2, Still Life, Black Background

Yes, my love of traditional film photography got the better of me on two fronts. First, I could not resist sneaking the cameras into the set up even though I must admit, I am not sure how to justify the cameras on the table along with sardines, bread, and butter. Oh well, what can you do. But tell me that Kodak Signet 40 does not look great alongside the can of fish!

Peixe-Espada em Azeite com Kodak Signet 40Still Life

Peixe-Espada em Azeite com Kodak Signet 40, Still Life, Black Background

I also used the 35mm Nikon FE2 with the 135mm Nikkor lens loaded with Orwo NC500 Wolfen Color film to capture this still life set up. I have since developed and filed the film in sleeves but it's still awaiting scanning. Then I will share an analog Part 2 to this digital series.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs of abstracts, patterns, and other miscellaneous photos without a dedicated category, like still photography? Please, visit my Abstracts & Patterns Gallery of Photographs and enjoy.

Fall Abstract at Moss LakeAbstract Photography Bug Ranch AbstractAbstract Photography Flying through a Black HoleAbstract Photography