When its raining hard outside, and you still have that urge to take some photos;  and you don't want to take more pictures of your wife, children, pet dog or parrot...   or whatever...  and you've had enough with surfing photography websites, and dreaming about your next camera which you can't really afford...   then it's time to head for the kitchen!

Make yourself a coffee, break open a packet of hobnobs;  and while you're there, why not take some photos of the kettle, coffee pot, mugs and coffee container.  If you happen to have the odd toy robot, then you can have a little fun.  Sometimes 'street photography' is just too much hard work,  architectural photography is just a bit serious and boring.  Wildlife images are wonderful but...  it's raining outside.  Try photographing things around the home instead. Look in the drawers and cupboards, on shelves and in boxes.  We all have so much stuff!

I took these images in about half an hour; carefully arranging the objects and moving the lighting.  I don't have a decent camera flash, so I have to make do with available light (and a desk lamp).  I enjoyed playing with reflections and colours, focussing on different aspects.  Obviously a couple of these have been squeezed through photoshop for a quick selective desaturation experiment. I have to say that I am not a big fan of selective colour processing, but I thought I'd even break my own rules this time.





After this little experiment, I can understand the amount of work that must go into advertisement photography, and commercial product promotional photography.  Although for those professionals life is so much easier with pro-lighting, studios, and high end cameras and lenses; making a product really desirable (for example, a cup of coffee) is a true science.