Behind the Scene of Carrot-Lemon Risotto

Several of the blogs I follow occasionally post behind the scene photos and I find them extremely helpful, so I thought I’d try one too.  Recently I did a series of photos for iStockPhoto of Carrot-Lemon Risotto and before I put everything away I thought to snap this photo:

These images where shot in my basement with my shooting table (Ikea) right up against the French doors leading outside. The light outside was a bit too bright so I diffused it with a large 5 in 1 reflector/diffuser.  I used a 40″ round reflector with the silver side out on the left of the plates and a white foam-core bounce card on the right.  The camera was mounted on the tripod with my Nikon 60mm Micro lens, using f/3.2 for the image on the inset.  Below is my favorite of the ones currently on iStock:

The recipe for this risotto was in the April issue of Marta Stewart Everyday Food. It is just basic risotto with 1/2 cup of carrot juice added when adding the stock, then adding a tablespoon of lemon zest and lemon juice to finish it.