Theme 1 - Pic 2 - re-creation of Lemons and Limes

I wanted to practice re-creating further images at home, using the equipment I have there. I chose this subject (see above) due to lack of 'human' subjects to choose from! I also like it's simplicity and contrasting colours. The composition is also very simple with a central focal point.

I quickly realised that I needed a black background, a lime and lemon and a single flash head. I have a set of interfit EXD 200 flash heads and kitted it out with the standard reflector. I arranged the set up as shown below:

I then chose my 50mm lens and did a light reading using my sekonic L385 light meter. I chose a 1/60 sec shutter, manual focus and an aperture of f5.6 in order to get most of the subject in focus, but the background out of focus. I shot the picture just above the level of the subject. It is shot in RAW to enable me to change the white balance and exposure in lightroom 3 if necessary and produced the following image:

In order to achieve this picture, I tweaked it in lightroom using the following process:

I feel that the resulting image does resemble the initial image. What I have learn't from this exercise is:

• How to create a softer cloning effect in photoshop by changing the cloning tool and changing the opacity.
• Where to position the key light to create the correct level and position of shadow.