A bloody hand and little people

Couple of months ago I entered a photo contest with an open subject. The contest was also judged by a single judge although the top 25 entries were to be picked by a voting public. The instruction was pretty simple...impress the judge with a simple but powerful image that catches the eye. I usually don't enter contests that are picked by a voting public at the same time free, as these two things together create a bit of a problem for photography contests. The thing is, I wanted to create a photo project for myself so I might as well enter it at the same time, so I chose to create this image and enter it.

The setup was simple. I needed a white background and lots of blood...fake blood that is. So I went to the grocery store for some ingredients. I got colorless syrup that acts like a base for the blood and red food coloring. I mixed them up together with water until I got the consistency that I wanted. Problem is, the blood looked transparent red, so I read online that to make it more realistic you add chocolate syrup which I did. I finished my blood mix and was ready to go.

So I went up the studio and prepared my shot. I prepped my light table and all the stuff that I will need. I bought some little people from the hobby store and arranged them around the jar that I'm using. 

Fot this shot I chose to use my Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro. It's the sharpest lens I own so that's a no brainer if I'm willing to get all the sharpness I want for the shot. I attached it to my full frame body and then attached a wireless shutter release. I then attach it to a tripod then pre focused on my jar. I then attached a wireless flash trigger on the body to trigger the lights. 

I used two lights on each side. The light on the left of my had acted as my main light and the opposite became the fill. I then overpowered the flash at the bottom of the table to overexpose the bottom of the table where my jar is located. I also did the same thing on the light behind the table to make the background overexposed. I then set my aperture to f16...the maximum I get without underexposing my shot. Then the shutter to 125th/sec. 

I then practiced some shots with the fake blood pouring out of my hand. I then chose the best one.

My entry didn't win. Although I had lots of fun doing it.