It's about the light............

Nikon D200, 1/125 second @ f/5.6, ISO 100, 18-200mm lens @200mm

Light.  I have heard more lectures about light than anything else in Photography.  I guess without it there's nothing to shoot!  What is really incredible is trying to make the final photograph look just like how we remember it.  Cameras do have limits.  Unlike our eyes and incredible body.  I learned that I am drawn to subjects with a lot of contrast between them and their background.  It is appealing to me.  Much like my first gander at my wife some 33 years ago.  A double take or two and I am thinking how can I make this a good photograph.  In my wife's case how can I accomplish that "I married up" thing.   Why talk about the tomatoes above and not wildlife?  Because I was able in this instance to better control some specifics of the light and subject.  Too much exposure and the specular highlights on the tomatoes would burn out.  Too much depth of field and the stairs in the background would be a little too obvious.  My neck almost broke while passing this subject.  It yelled at me "take my picture stupid".  It may never win a contest.  But it is one of my favorite still life.   I exposed on the tomatoes and ensured that no highlights were warning me of an overexposure anywhere.  Bracketing one stop over and one stop under, three shots were made.  It turns out I used the exposure that the camera liked best.  Of course I was shooting in aperture priority.   In my digital dark room I dropped the exposure by about three quarters of a stop.  Then dodged the tomatoes and the metal fence rails.   The shot was made very late in the day.  Pica-Boo lighting was what made the shot dramatic for me.  Rays of sunlight where being filtered through trees along the sidewalk.  Very little dodging had to be done.  One note that also made this shot good for me...there was just enough light reflecting from above the stairs to bring the background up and add depth to the photo.  Just another one of those times I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.