Rf Cookbook by Mateo Muñoz
Onions

The process of creating work for advertising or commercial use is exciting and interesting and involves more than just interesting ideas. As a photographer, I try to literally and figuratively see the products or the project from every aspect, in 360 degrees. It’s important for me to consider aspects such as point of market, retail cost, characteristics and quality of the products because this is the only way to create the right image for the client. My goal as a photographer is to help my client to sell more. The creativity is that element of the photograph that anchors people to the image.

This particular photo was created during one of my advertising classes at Brooks Institute of Photography, in Santa Barbara, CA. The idea was to create an interesting image of produce.

The photo was captured with a Nikon D100 digital camera with a 105mm Nikon lens. On the left side is a medium softbox; on the right side a white card to modify the density of the shadow. It was very important to do a white balance before the main capture. This helps to obtain neutral tones. In addition, I use Photoshop CS to open the RAW file. Photoshop gives me the control to change the white balance if necessary. The only color correction made to the image was increasing the contrast and creating more saturation on the green channel.

Digital cameras capture a wider range of tones compared with some films. Sometimes, this can make the file look flat. I find that adjustment layers are a great tool of Photoshop, giving me all the control I need to do changes in the future. In the photo of the green onions, the main layer was duplicated and applied with a high pass filter with hard light blending mode to sharpen the image, allowing me to control and adjust the amount of sharpening without altering the main layer. Adjustment layers are also very useful when I am working with different outputs because I can create any adjustment depending of the gamut of the output device. The final piece was printed on an Epson Photo Stylus 2200.

My goal was to deliver a clear, fresh message that will show the produce with beauty. This image represents a good piece within my portfolio and style as a photographer. On the other hand, I have to say that I am the kind of photographer that believes the right equipment is necessary to create the perfect image. I need to know and feel comfortable with the equipment. Digital technology is bringing more control and autonomy to my photography, and I love it.

Mateo Muñoz can be reached by email at hola@mac.com/.