The first question I get when people see this image is “How in the heck did you cut the egg open that way?” Well, I cheated. This isn’t a real egg, it is an alabaster egg from the town of Volterra, Italy. Yes, this is the town of Twilight fame. Before that it was known as (and still is) a hotbed of alabaster sculptures. You can find these eggs in every size all over the town.
This image was done with a 30 second exposure while painting the back of the egg with a small penlight. It took several tries to get the right lighting. I shot it with my Nikon D300 tethered to my MacBook. That way I was able to review my images as soon as I took them and improve my light painting skills from shot to shot. I was able to decide how much to light each area and angles to shine the light. Fun little project.
This image took second place in a 2011 Northern Virginia Photography Club monthly competition.