Egg in the raw -- Take 4 (completely broken)

[Mike Buckley]

I became inspired to make these images of an egg by a fabulous image of a broken egg by Irving Penn that I recently saw at the U.S. National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Penn is known mostly as a portrait artist but he also made some terrific still lifes. Of the six images I have made (possibly one more to go), the image shown below is most directly related to the image he made. Even so, it's not remotely the same.

Setup
The tabletop and background are a single sheet of translucent vellum. A medium continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock is on the right side. A white reflector on the left side lifted the shadows.

[Wavelength]

Beautiful..... i love that heart

[Marie Hass]

Really nice.

Looks like you are headed down the path of creating food porn. LOLS.

(Which I love)

Marie

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[IzzieK]

Lovely...but a little bit too late for Valentines...

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

I never noticed the heart until my wife mentioned it immediately upon first seeing the image. She joked that I change its color to red. I then joked that I could print it as a card and send it to her with the reminder not to break my heart.

Looks like you are headed down the path of creating food porn.

My eventual goal (not a near-term priority) is to create images of food out of context of our normal daily experiences. All but one of the six photos of an egg that I have recently made are in that category.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice I would like it more without the vignette and the gradient like effect in the BG.

[Mike Buckley]

I would like it more without the vignette and the gradient like effect in the BG.

I actually created the image without either of the two gradients (the upper one in the background and the lower one in the foreground); the foreground and background were lit to be almost identical, which requires considerable care and effort. Much to my surprise, after I got done post-processing the image, I didn't like that aspect of it. So, I added the two vignettes as my final post-processing steps.

[george013]

Mike,

If you've broken several eggs and have some brandy home, you can make advokaat. http://dutchfood.about.com/od/drinks/r/Advocaat.htm

George

[bnnrcn]

IMO light grey color goes with yellow and white better than the dark grey color does. May be that's why I would prefer the image without dark tones of grey. But , it is your image and what you like matters most

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, George! Never heard of it! Is that serving a favorite of yours?

However, I've been eating so many omelets lately that I only have one raw egg out of the shell at the moment. It's the egg that I used to make the above photo.

[george013]

Thanks, George! Never heard of it! Is that serving a favorite of yours?

However, I've been eating so many omelets lately that I only have one raw egg out of the shell at the moment. It's the egg that I used to make the above photo.

An old fashioned drink. Mostly drunk by elder ladies with whipped cream. Nothing for me.
When you make this, you can stop with the omelettes for a while.
Just joking.

George

[Rebel]

Looks good to me Mike

[flashback]

Mike, two questions:
One, was this a double yolk? I ask because of the heart shape, seems as likely a double yolk as a random occurrence and
Two, how did you managed to so badly mutilate the larger shell?
Ok, make it three questions;
Three, was this supposed to represent a dropped egg? Because if so I don't really see that. Since an egg wouldn't bounce, the visible damage on the LHS shell should be on he surface side rather than facing upwards.
And now that I think about it, a photo of an egg as it impacts a hard surface would be an eggsemplary image to add to your ever eggspanding egg eggspose'.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Matt and Jack!

was this a double yolk?

Only in the sense that the egg has one yolk and that your thinking that it might have two also makes it a yolk on you.

how did you managed to so badly mutilate the larger shell?

Very easily. I hit it on a surface much as I do when I cook.

was this supposed to represent a dropped egg?

Nope. I partly cracked open the egg just as I would when cooking and then separated the two parts of the shell also as I would do when I was cooking. Once I had poured the egg onto the tabletop, I then placed the shells on the tabletop in no particular fashion.

Since an egg wouldn't bounce, the visible damage on the LHS shell should be on he surface side rather than facing upwards.

The broken parts are facing upwards because after pouring the egg onto the tabletop, I simply placed the shells also on the tabletop. I didn't make a point of setting them any particular way other than slightly turning them laterally toward or away from the camera.

And now that I think about it...

Time to stop thinking, Jack. Just enjoy (or not) the lines, shapes, colors and overall composition.

[flashback]

Consider my thinking ceased

[Brownbear]

Hi Mike,

Egg-quisite! These egg images of yours are so beautifully photographed and such fun but I'm commenting on this one because it's my favourite of the egg series. Truly beautiful and I've never said that about an egg until today.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Christina! We've missed you and hope you are doing well.

[Brownbear]

Thanks, Christina! We've missed you and hope you are doing well.

And I've missed the pleasure of viewing your images. I'm doing well. Thank you.

[pnodrog]

I have always cracked eggs on an edge of a bowl or frying pan but NO I am wrong again http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/...ectid=11607239