I was picking up props from the store for my ‘sweet/sour’ shoot, when I found these small chillies which gave me the idea to use them as narrow. 

When I first got my flash unit, I was playing with the off camera mode and shot an image of a metal colander with the flash positioned behind it. It produced reflections in the colander which I though looked very cool, and it was with this in mind that I laid out the shot. 

The shot itself was done outside on the first bright day we’ve had for months. The colander was placed on top of our old microwave that had just been replaced. The microwave is silver, and was reflecting the light back which provided a nice clean background and lots of light to work with. 

I doused the chillies in water in order to get them a little more reflective and also with the hope that the water droplets would create some highlights by catching the light. Finally I placed a flash flat against the floor out of shot, so that it would fire into the holes and hopefully make some nice reflections in the colander. 

This I think worked nicely, with the colours of the chillies visible against the colander and making a nice colourful contrast.