Cauliflower in monochrome

[Mike Buckley]

After making this colorful photo of cauliflower, I followed up today with the monochrome shown below.

Setup
The tabletop and background are a single sheet of translucent vellum. That material creates extremely soft reflections in the tabletop. A small continuous-light lamp on the left rear lights that side of the background. The bounced light backlights the large piece of cauliflower at an angle that also bounces to light the far right piece of cauliflower and casts its long shadow. A medium continuous-light lamp on the left front adds light to that side of the overall scene and especially to that side of the middle piece of cauliflower. A white reflector on the right side lifts the shadows on that side of all three pieces of cauliflower.

[Shadowman]

Nicely processed.

[mugge]

Mike, because you are so good at it I am going to whinge about the very bright light just touching the second cauliflower. The light just before the last cauliflower is as perfect as you can get. I only like cauliflower in white sauce with a hint of mustard.
Cheers Ole

[joebranko]

I prefer the lighting you employed on the coloured version. In this image the lighting produces shadows within the florets themselves ,which was probably done intentionally, but which I find off putting. Just my own humble opinion.

[Cogito]

Mike, in all honesty, my like of cauliflower is limited to its nutritional value. I'm afraid I find nothing entrancing in an item best served with cheese.

[tbob]

The lighting is well done to enhance the detail. I am just curious about why all the open space to the right if the image is a study in texture?

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone for your insightful comments and questions!

I am going to whine about the very bright light just touching the second cauliflower.

That very specific touch of light is by design. It's okay for you not to be as pleased with it as I am.

I prefer the lighting you employed on the coloured version. In this image the lighting produces shadows within the florets themselves ,which was probably done intentionally, but which I find off putting.

If you review the color version with an eye for that, you'll notice that the lighting in that version also produces shadows within the florets themselves. If the lighting didn't do that, none of the texture or shape would be revealed.

my like of cauliflower is limited to its nutritional value. I'm afraid I find nothing entrancing in an item best served with cheese.

I completely agree. In fact, once I got done photographing the four kinds of cauliflower, my wife took them to her office and gave them away. I'm the cook in the family (my wife never cooks unless she is home alone) and I'm convinced that cauliflower's photographic characteristics are far better than any of its other characteristics.

I am just curious about why all the open space to the right if the image is a study in texture?

In my mind, it's not just a study in texture. All three bits of cauliflower are facing to the right, so I designed the composition to include the negative space much as you might do when photographing an old barn. The long shadows to the right of the far right piece of cauliflower are also integral to my composition; to leave less space on the right would prevent the image from showing the length of those shadows.