I was going to title this when seemingly intelligent people do dumb things.

I have been trying to isolate the special of the night at work. Ultimate goal is make some money with food, without having to buy it and cook it myself. Nice deal?

So I tried the table cloth on the cart. Nah, too much texture. Then I did glass tables, silver trays, counter tops and a sheet of white plastic. I did soft flash, back lighting, all kinds of things.

One day, I was struck by the obvious. Isolating a white dish on a light background was plain stupid!



I could edit and paint and erase for 30-40 minutes and get some jagged edges, something that was driving me nuts.

So I ordered a 12x24 sheet of black plastic. (also green, blue, red, yellow, translucent white and bronze as long as I was paying the freight) I would have liked sheets twice as large, but at $24 a pop, I thought I'd better stick with the $12 size...

On camera flash, pocket Powershot, test photo. I use the Canon A400 for testing, so I don't have to carry around the DSLR. Quick and dirty. Reduced to 640x480 from 2026 image. Minimal editing for reflections and the counter top that showed on the edges, also did some spot sauce removal with the cloning tool.



What do you think. Am I ready for the real thing? :-D Where's the smilie for slapping oneself in the forehead, or the little light bulb.

Light plate - dark background!

Now, do I want to do a soft box or to diffuse the flash, so I don't get the sparkles and reflections? Moving up towards some serious micro.

ps I didn't stay at a hotel last night, but I work at one. ;-)

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