How to photograph kitchen utensils

We are going to spend the next three days in the kitchen. Depending on your perspective that might sound idyllic or it might be hell on earth. Whatever, one thing for sure and is that the kitchen holds a world of photo opportunities and all you need is some imagination to exploit it.

For day one, it is daylight and utensils.

Gear needs
Your DSLR and a tripod are essential but in terms of lighting, you can be inventive or just rely on that free stuff coming in through the window.
For this series of shots, we used a Nikon D300 and a Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR DII VC lens. Light was from a north-facing window and because it was soft and quite weak we used a Velbon CX640 tripod to allow the use of slow shutter speeds without compromising sharpness.

Techniques to try
Things like pots and pans, colanders and, as here, a trivet can be pressed into service as subjects.
The trivet here was photographed with the camera in auto white-balance and it worked fine, but for the colander, the camera was switched to incandescent white-balance to give the overall blue colour cast. The Tamron 17-50mm focuses pretty close but pulling away slightly and including the stainless steel sink give an interesting backdrop. Filling in the shadows was done with some silver foil just held in position.
You've read the article, now go take some fantastic images. You can then upload the pictures, plus any advice and suggestions you have into the dedicated Photo Month forum for everyone at ePHOTOzine to enjoy.