Tag Archives: Theme Challenge

February Theme Challenge – “Fruit”

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For this month, February 2025, the theme challenge is “Fruit”. February is typically one of our coldest winter months here in Atlantic Canada, so this project allows us to work inside. We’ll learn about back lighting while creating some images to show the texture of fruit. This is not the only way to photograph fruit but this technique gets us started with macro/close up photography.

You’ll place some cut fruit slices on a suspended piece of glass with a white back ground, then introduce the back-light under the piece of glass. Using a camera equipped with a 50-100mm lens on a tripod above your fruit slice subject. Be aware of your minimum focus distance so you can be as close as possible to fill the frame with a sharp image.

Include us in your success, share the image you’ve created this month.

The Setup

There are a number of items required for the setup;
■ (1) Camera + Tripod with extension arm. Note you may not need an extension arm depending on your setup. Make sure your camera is level on both axis ( it helps to use a 2 axis bubble level – Amazon.ca Link ).
■ (2) Lighting; A lamp, LED light or off camera flash to create the back-light, placed under the glass which will bounce the light around the white box described in #7 below.
■ (3) Fruit such as; kiwi, orange, lemon, lime, orange, and pink grapefruit are the ones I choose.
■ (4) A sharp knife to cut the fruit. Try to keep the thickness consistent, this will help with image sharpness by keeping the fruit within the same focal plane.
■ (5) A piece of glass; I used some from a window which was larger and a bit thicker (tempered), as an alternative you can use the glass from a picture frame (8″x10″ or 11″x14″) but be careful it can break very easily. Use some masking tape or duct tape along the edges of the glass so you don’t cut yourself.
■ (6) two objects to suspend the glass, higher than the white box and back-light.
■ (7) White Box; White foam board, 20″x30″x5mm from Dollarama (you can purchase single sheets in-store for about $2 each); to create a white box (4 pieces; bottom + left side + right side + back), using a metal ruler, x-acto knife, duct tape or masking tape, for the background. Which will bounce the light placed under the glass. Make the white box the required size considering your back-light source, the height and the width available under the piece of glass.
■ (8) Paper towel + water to clean the glass.

Here is a crude setup drawing as described above. Note your setup maybe different because of the size of your sheet of glass. Basically the light (white box + flash,or led light) is below the sheet of glass. Point your light toward the back of the white box to create a nice soft light box, as the light will bounce around the white box.

Camera Settings: For camera settings you can start in Aperture Priority mode (Av for Canon or A for Nikon, Sony etc…). Depending on your subject and focal length the aperture would typically be between f/5.6 and f/11, just check your images in camera to make sure they are sharp across the whole frame. Keep your  ISO as low as possible between 100 – 800. Keep an eye on what the camera chooses for the shutter speed. If the shutter speed is slow say 1/50 then raise your ISO to obtain a faster shutter speed of at least 1/100 or as a minimum 1/focal length. Use a wired remote or a 2 second timer. Use manual focus while in live view mode with x5 or x10 magnification.

Focal Length: To fill the fame as best as possible try using a lens between 50mm -100mm. Be aware of your minimum focus distance to ensure you can focus on your subject.

Example Images

For the example images below the camera, 5DmkIV, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, settings were; f/8, 1/200, ISO 100, @100mm using a Canon 580EXII off camera flash with a wireless Godox Trigger system. The Fruit I chose to photograph was; a pink grapefruit, naval orange, lemon, lime, and kiwi. All images were edited in ©Adobe Lightroom.

Additional Resources

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below are some YouTube video links to help with some tips, hints and ideas.
Photographing Fruit instructional aids:
■ How to Photograph Fruit with Back Lighting – Start to Finish: by Janice Sullivan (9min 35sec)
■ Fruit Macro Photography Tutorial: by Adaptalux (11min 17sec)
The following video has vegetable and fruit ideas to make them more interesting subjects to photograph
■ Cut The Cucumber Just So & It Becomes A Work Of Art: by Scrumdiddlyumptious (3min 29sec)

An important part of improving your photography is practice, practice, practice which is one important aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips that you are not familiar with.

Share your images and stories experienced this month

Even though this website is not setup to directly upload your images, you can achieve something similar by commenting on the post; paste your social media or google drive link to your image in the comment, then type any additional message you’d like to share. Everyone who visits will be able to visit your link. Note comments are moderated so it will not show up right away. We do get notifications when any comment is posted, so it won’t take long to get approved and have your comment subsequently show up. By pasting your social media or google drive link in your comment, it gives everyone visiting the blog a chance to click the link to see your image for the challenge and also the ability to look at your other work by viewing your social media through your pasted link. We want sharing to be a positive experience and we hope you have fun with this month’s photo challenge.

January Theme Challenge – “Minimalism”

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Firstly we would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and hope you all experience a fantastic and prosperous 2025.

For this month, January 2025, the theme challenge is “Minimalism”. The intention is to create an image that would be obvious to the viewer who or what the subject is, typically accomplished by using; light, and negative space, while eliminating any other elements from the image to help the subject to stand out, “less is more“.

The photographer decides what to exclude from an image by using composition and perspective techniques, while using negative space to exclude elements as best as possible making the subject stand out in the image. Also, make use of other techniques by combining; colour, lines, shapes, patterns, symmetry, geometry, and repeating shapes to help identify your subject.

Include us in your success, share the image you’ve created this month.

Some Considerations

Composition: Importantly eliminate distracting elements by using a subject supporting composition, think negative space. Fine tuning the composition can be accomplished by moving your camera position or angle, getting further away, or getting closer, or by further cropping your image in post-production to remove any or as much as possible distracting elements.

Camera Settings: For camera settings you can start in Aperture Priority mode (Av for Canon or A for Nikon, Sony etc…). Depending on your subject and focal length the aperture can be pretty much anything, just decide on how much depth of field you need for your subject and the overall image you are trying to create. An aperture anywhere between f/4 and f/11 and keep your  ISO low say 100 or 200, remember this is just a starting point. Keep an eye on what the camera chooses for a shutter speed especially if you are taking your images handheld. If the shutter speed is slow say 1/50 then raise your ISO to obtain a faster shutter speed of at least 1/100 or as a minimum 1/focal length. If you are using a tripod slow shutter speeds can be used if the subject is not moving. It may be desirable to use slow shutter speeds depending on the image you want to create.

Focal Length: If you are shooting a vast landscape, you may want to use a wider angle lens somewhere around 16 to 35 mm, as an example, or if you need to isolate the composition you may want a longer focal length say between 100 to 200mm and can be as much as 400mm depending on your final composition.

Remember this genre of photography is not confined to only landscapes it can also apply to environmental portraits, street, and nature genres to name a few.

Example Images

Three of the images below use a boat as a main subject with lots of negative space. The last image shows a beach at sunrise created from one single image; one layer using path blur in Photoshop to simulate horizontal intentional camera movement (ICM) and the second layer was as shot, then the two layers were combined using a simple soft brush mask with the blending point where the fog and ocean meet, which helped the subject, the sun breaking over the island, standout because the ICM technique softened the distractions of the sand, seaweed, and ocean in the foreground.

As mentioned above “minimalism” images can be created in other genres such as the wildlife examples shown below; a Long-Tailed Duck, Gray Seal, Barred Owl, and White-tailed Deer which are all presented making use of negative space. Note: if it’s snowing you may need to focus manually on the subject.

Protect your Gear and be Comfortable

Equipment care: Taking your camera gear from a warm environment to the outside usually does not cause any issues, however when going from the cold back into a warm environment is where condensation can quickly form on your camera/lens and this is where it can be harmful to your gear eventually causing spots on the external and more seriously the internal lens elements which eventually causes mold which can destroy your lens. Before going in to a warm environment from the cold, place your camera/lens back inside your camera bag (your bag needs to be padded with the zipper closed) this will allow your gear to raise in temperature slowly and therefore condensation will not happen. An additional protection tip is to put your camera/lens in a large double Zipper Seal (Dollarama 33cmx39.6cm / 13″x15.6″) bag, this will allow the condensation to form on the outside of the bag and not on your camera/lens. Condensation will occur going from the cold outside into a warm building or into a vehicle, keep the temperature of your vehicle cooler to minimize the effect.

Clothing & Footwear: Stay warm, to enjoy your time out in the cold dress in layers with thermal socks for your feet and gloves that allow you to operate your camera and keep your hands warm. If you are in icy conditions use crampons or cleats on your boots, they will keep you from falling so you don’t get hurt or break your gear.

Additional Resources

As always with our monthly theme challenges we try to seek out an instructional resource, below are some YouTube video links to help with some tips, hints and ideas.
Minimalism Photography instructional aids:
■ Minimalist Photography Tutorial (Using Negative Space): by Mango Street (6min 29sec)
■ 5 Steps to Incredible Minimalist Photography: by Mads Peter Iversen (17min 27sec)
■ The Secret to Killer Minimalist Photographs: by Henry Turner (10min 4sec)
■ Minimalist Photography: by Thomas Heaton (14min 31sec)
■ Landscape Photography | Minimalism: by Simon Booth (9min)
■ Learning to Observe – The landscape Minimalism of Michael Kenna: by Joel Ulises (22min 8sec)

You’re encouraged to develop the ability to “tell a story or invoke an emotion“, as well as learn to plan and troubleshoot while creating images.

  • It’s important to not only create an image but to also include a “Title”, this process helps with; determining your subject or story, and composition.
  • Try writing a short paragraph about; how you came up with the idea, any interesting back ground that compelled you to make the image, and describe any techniques how you overcame any obstacles.
  • Do some research and include any relevant information behind the subject of your image. This helps with planning and your approach for a story

An important part of improving your photography is practice, practice, practice which is one important aspect of the monthly theme challenge, in addition you have an opportunity to learn about different genres, techniques and tips that you are not familiar with.

Share your images and stories experienced this month

Even though this website is not setup to directly upload your images, you can achieve something similar by commenting on the post; paste your social media or google drive link to your image in the comment, then type any additional message you’d like to share. Everyone who visits will be able to visit your link. Note comments are moderated so it will not show up right away. We do get notifications when any comment is posted, so it won’t take long to get approved and have your comment subsequently show up. By pasting your social media or google drive link in your comment, it gives everyone visiting the blog a chance to click the link to see your image for the challenge and also the ability to look at your other work by viewing your social media through your pasted link. We want sharing to be a positive experience and we hope you have fun with this month’s photo challenge.