Sadly, mango season is about over in much of the more tropical regions of our world. I hear you, you in the more temperate climes muttering under your breath, “so what.” I understand that you just don’t understand, and that’s OK.
In the tropics we think of mangoes as the “fruit of the Gods,” and mango season is a time to celebrate. A time for gluttony and hoarding. A time for cheesecake and chutney, for smoothies and salsa.
For some time I have wanted to create a still life image of mangoes. Not just a photograph, but an image that has painterly qualities, that is softly but warmly lit. An image that is somewhat surreal. An image that is unique and unusual. I am  fairly please with my first attempt. What do you think?
The Process: I photographed the bowl of mangoes on a wood shelf against a white background. Upon importing the file into Lightroom, I did basic processing such as white balance, straightening and sharpening. The image was then opened in Photoshop where I selected and removed the white background and replaced it with a photo of stuccoed off-white wall I had taken at a church some years ago. The new background was then tinted a light golden color. A variety of filters were applied such as a vignette, a Gaussian blur, and a blur vignette to further visually separate the fruit from the background. A rice paper texture was then applied with the opacity reduced to give the desired effect. The image, now back in Lightroom, gets a final tweaking with some minor adjustments to the red, orange and yellow saturation sliders. A tiny adjustment to the exposure, highlights, and shadows.
And there you have it: my “Still Life: Mangoes” painting.
Rick Bishop
9 Sep 2013Nice job.
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Rick.
Sal Anastasio
9 Sep 2013Ron – Truly spectacular! Looks like it belongs in the Metropolitan Museum!
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Sal. I heading to MoMA right now. 🙂
Angeline M
9 Sep 2013I think you should feel pretty proud of your first attempt at a mango still life! This is lovely!
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Angeline, I am quite pleased.
adinparadise
9 Sep 2013This is absolutely wonderful, Ron. It looks just like a Cezanne. 🙂
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Oh Sylvia, thank you. You are too kind.
Char Lesie
9 Sep 2013The finished product looks so much like a painting! Very nice indeed! And you also reminded me of the mango I have chilling in my fridge. . . should be ready for my smoothie later. 🙂
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Char. So you make mango smoothies too!
David Priest
9 Sep 2013Great stuff,I have been fooling around with onone softwear also.When I get something halfway nice I will send you a copy.
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks David. I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
ilargia64
9 Sep 2013Incredible!!!! Love it!!!
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thank you Ilargia.
Peri's Spice Ladle
9 Sep 2013For many of us Bombayites (now Mumbai) end of mango season meant a lot of Alphonso mango coming our way before it went out of the markets:)
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Not many Alphonso grown here but I understand they are wonderful. Thanks for stopping by.
Dina
9 Sep 2013A truly wonderful tribute to my favourite fruit. Thanks. The still life is gorgeous.
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Dina. Mine too.
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge / B4 Retouch: An Unusual POV (size of man) | What's (in) the picture?
Cardinal Guzman
10 Sep 2013I like the result and your process.
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks my friend and thanks for visiting.
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge – Unusual POV | Joe's Musings
DagEnDauw
10 Sep 2013Great job! The Dutch masters couldn’t do better… 😉
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Now that is an awesome compliment. Thanks.
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual POV, #4: Proud o’ my wheels | Rob's Surf Report
Swati Singh
14 Sep 2013Really nice
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks Swati and thanks for visiting.
westseventhfreelance
14 Sep 2013Such a lovely rendering of the shot…I am still learning Photoshop- how do you select and remove the background, replacing it with another? I am working with Elements 11… advice is always appreciated!
fotograffer
17 Sep 2013Thanks for your comment. There are several ways to do this. Space won’t allow a detailed answer here but you start with the selection tool and select and delete what you don’t want and replace with the new background using layers. There are many tutorials online to walk you through it. Google it and you will find tons of tutorials.
westseventhfreelance
17 Sep 2013Thank you for your reply- I will check in to it!
drawandshoot
20 Sep 2013Oh yes, the fruit of the gods! Worthy of tribute.
fotograffer
20 Sep 2013Good, you are one of us “mangoholics” too. 🙂
Gigi Galore
26 Sep 2013Really “like”! It’s beautiful and I was drawn to it straight away! 🙂
fotograffer
27 Sep 2013Thanks Gigi, I am happy you liked it. I was pleased with the result.