Husk

Husk
Studio, San Diego, CA
June, 2010

I found this insect-eaten, dried out husk of a tangerine in the back yard, and brought it inside for a studio shoot.  I laid out a large sheet of white paper, set out the husk, and lit it from two sides with 100 watt lamps.  I took about twenty shots of this bit of ex-fruit, playing with shooting angle (from above, from below) and the side from which to shoot it.  I also played with long exposures while panning a flashlight around the interior to light the interesting detail inside.

In the end, I liked the versions with the darker interior.  A lit interior made it hard to discern the shape of the husk, because it reduced the contrast between the interior and exterior.

In editing, I played with the levels to accentuate the texture on the surface and crank up the contrast.  Conversion to monochrome made the shape and shadows much more interesting, as the husk is a dark tangerine orange inside and out.  Like the interior lighting experiment, the similar colors made it hard to make out the shape.