Chiaroscuro Apples {Experiments in Photography}

| Allison

Hello, dears!

We recently got a few bushels of apples to make applesauce with, and I took the opportunity of such an abundant photography prop to experiment with a different photography style. In case you were wondering, “chiaroscuro” refers to an effect where part of the subject is lit up while the other recedes into darkness. It makes for really dramatic, artistic-looking photos, and was also used a lot by master painters like Rembrandt.

SO, now that we’re done with the little word lecture, let’s get on to the photos! šŸ˜€ I really enjoyed attempting to make ordinary apples look special and yet homey at the same time. Enjoy my experiments!

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Mom neatly arranged some apples on this window stand my dad made years ago.

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She also put a few peaches on top and tomatoes on the bottom, but I’ll just be focusing on the apples today. šŸ˜‰

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Ooh, I really like this one! It looks like it could be an oil painting.

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Is this picture satisfying to anyone else? XD I just love the rows of brightly colored fruit!

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Ooh, this is one of my favorites! It looks like those dramatic food portraits from food blogs, except maybe not as high quality. šŸ˜› But I love the flat-lay style of this one!

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Okay, next I went down to the basement, where I found more apples and some applesauce jars, as well as a dead frog and a live, enormous spider. O.o But don’t worry, they don’t appear in the pictures. XD

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Oooh, the texture and form of the apple leaf looks super neat in this one!

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This seems like a good exercise in drawing shadow and light. šŸ˜›

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This is another one of my favorites! Super simple, but… classy? A cement basement floor makes a surprisingly good backdrop with a little editing. Also judging by the leaves, it was about 3:00 when I took this picture. Do you get it?

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We’ll end with a nice, chubby apple to hold. šŸ™‚ Can apples be cute? Because this one looks cute to me. And comfortable.

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That was fun! I think common subjects like this make interesting, compelling photos partly because of their ordinariness. Especially when you contrast that commonality with a dramatic style of photography. That was a lot of letters, but in other words… I enjoyed that and I might try this again! XD

Which photo was your favorite? Do you like this style of photography? Does your family can or preserve a lot of food?

Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens. Edited with picmonkey.com.

P. P. S. I probably won’t be posting this Friday because I’m rather overloaded with projects at the moment. I will hopefully be back in a week with a golden hour photoshoot! šŸ˜€

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44 thoughts on “Chiaroscuro Apples {Experiments in Photography}”

  1. AHH FUN! I love these! I really like dramatic natural light and these were a great exercise! *applauds* Well done, my dear. I really like the 3:00 apple and the row of brightly colored fruit picture. XD šŸ™‚

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  2. Wow! Those are some unique photos! While I’m in no way a professional, I love taking photos as well. I enjoy experimenting with light and different poses. I want to take shop shots during golden hour sometime as well.

    Our family cans spaghetti sauce which is delicious and can be used for chili soup, lasagna, and anything else that needs a saucy taste.

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    1. Why thank you, Laura! YES, it’s so much fun to experiment, isn’t it? That’s a great idea!

      Ooh, tasty. We’ve made pizza/tomato sauce like that before, but this year we canned tomato soup instead. šŸ™‚

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  5. The title of this post immediately made me think of ‘The Tale of Desperaux’ by Kate DiCamillo, because in it there’s a rat named Chiaroscuro. I think I understand now why she named him that. šŸ™‚

    Gorgeous pictures! I love how the apple’s leaves are pointing to 3:00. šŸ˜‰

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  6. I can almost taste the apples! Our apple tree grew a lot of apples this year, so I’m hoping to make some apple sauce and apple thins! Great pictures, Allison!

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  14. Ooh, these photos are super cool! Nice job, Allison! šŸ˜ I love the ones of the apples on the shelf. šŸŽšŸ

    My family made applesauce recently too… have you ever had applesauce bread before? šŸ˜

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    1. Thanks so much, Liz! I like those too. šŸ™‚
      Really? That’s great! Ooh, that sounds tasty and somewhat familiar, but I can’t recall if we’ve made that for sure or not… is it like a banana bread time of thing?

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      1. No, it’s just bread with warm applesauce spread over it. šŸ˜† Plus cinnamon sugar. šŸ˜

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  15. Ahhh!! I LOVE THESE!! And I got the 3 o’clock apples after about 5 times of scrolling down then scrolling back up and staring at it. XD I really love ones were there are rows of apples! We don’t really can much food, we used to when we had a garden though! šŸ˜› Awesome post! šŸ˜€

    -Laura ā¤ šŸ™‚

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