DA*55mm Lens
DA 21mm Limited Lens
At this year's PMA, after speaking with Yvon Bourque about various Pentax photography topics, our conversation turned to another of our passions - growing tomatoes. I thought about our tomato talk today, as I finally got around to planting a few of my favorite heirloom tomatoes.
It seems we have quite a few Pentaxians that are as passionate about growing their own tomatoes as taking photographs. Since many species of tomatoes are as lovely to view, as they are to eat, I'm thinking about having a "Best Tomato Photo '09" contest. For anyone that's tried, photographing tomatoes can be a pretty challenging assignment, requiring precise control of the lighting that falls on the fruit, especially since the waxy or shiny skin can create unattractive hotspots.
The idea for this contest, or challenge, is that you have to shoot the tomato on the vine, showing both the fruit and leaves. You would have to use only natural light, but could employ any type of reflectors or diffusers to balance the lighting. As shooting tomatoes on the vine requires that you balance both the ambient light falling on the fruit, and controlling the shadows that naturally occur under all the leaves, you'll find that setting up the perfect tomato photo is a lot harder than it looks.
I'm thinking that this contest should end in September to allow most folks enough time for their tomatoes to grow to full size. I haven't yet figured out how I'd host the images, nor what the prize for the best tomato photo will be. But I figure there's a little time to work out these details. In the meantime, I hope all you tomato lovers have already started your '09 crop, and if you have any ideas or suggestions about the contest please leave me a comment here on my blog.
Note 1: The contest will be limited to photos taken with any Pentax SLR, and submissions from Pentaxians worldwide will be accepted. Since many of my favorite heirloom tomatoes come from seeds that originated in Europe, and Momotaro is a Japanese variety, it wouldn't make sense to limit this challenge to US growers only.
Note 2: Only one photo will be accepted. The photo must be of an heirloom tomato and you'll have to submit the name of the variety as well.
Best wishes for a warm, sunnny season and happy tomato growing!
