Photo-Object: Research

In this workshop we focused and got taught how to set a composition for a still life photograph using some objects we bought into the studio. My group worked with perfume bottles, candle holder, a cactus and a flower neck chain to create great photographs in a dark setting. Overall I really liked the outcome of these photographs and I really enjoyed taking photos in this workshop as I never in my life focused on objects but mainly people which meant that this was a little challenge for me.

Equipment: 1 Head, 1 Pack, 1 Large Softbox, 1 Light Stand, 1 Set Wizards, 1 Normal Extension Lead, 5d + Tethering Leads.

Our First set up: The mood and scene was dull, ancient and focused on objects only.

Here I will present three of the the best photographs we took in our lighting workshop:

Second set up: This mood was more bright, exciting and pure.

The second time shooting objects we limited what we used and tried to make our photographs crisp and clean as we had a nice white sheet surface set up to use which created an amazing look for our products. The only problem I had woth this set is getting the camera to focus on the logo(text) of the perfume, the bottle was transparent and really hard to find the perfect time ot catch it in focus.

Equipment: 2 Heads, 2 Packs, 1 Mighty Baby Light Stand, 1 Normal Light Stand, 1 Snoot, 1 Soft Box (medium), 2 Plinths (same height), 2 Packs Wizards, 5d + Tethering Leads.

Here I present a few photos from the second scenery:

Third Set up for this Workshop: Working with still life objects and having a moving light strip in the background creating an amazing effect of shutterspeed light flow. This made the background far from boring and simple and still created a mood where the object was in full focus and still being the focal point of the photograph.

Here is one photograph from this set up:

The photography style of “Still life” was firstly invented in the 17^th Century. The painting generally considered to be the first still life is a work by the Italian painter Jacopo De’Barbari painted 1504. The “golden age” of still-life painting occurred in the Lowlands during the 17th century.

Still Life in Photography is stereotypically seen as having objects in the frame of the shot and them being taken to life by adding effects, props, models, art, surfaces, layers, animals, rocks, lighting, etc. Still life Photography is the representation of lifeless subjects, which are mainly a small grouping of objects (such as flowers or fruits). It is a picture consisting primarily objects (a representation chiefly of inanimate objects as a painting of a bowl of fruit).

Furthermore, still life photography gives the photographer a more flexible way of arranging the design elements within a composition. This photography demands art, one which the photographer is expected to be able to form their work with a refined sense of lighting, coupled with compositional skills. The goal of a still life composition is to direct the viewer’s eye through a painting and lead them toward what the artist thinks is important. … Many beginning painters tend to devote their energy to drawing and painting objects accurately and find it difficult to create a strong composition.

In my opinion, to perform a great still life photograph you should: Choose subjects that speak to you, Get comfortable with the lighting, get hold of a decent tripod to keep your photos crisp, get an impressive but simple background and compose a shot in a way only you see the object.

Lastly, nowadays still life photography can be portrayed in a modern style, the backgrounds are more colourful or more intense and not just simple, the idea and meaning is far more overthought than it should be and its mainly make up or accessories that are taken into consideration. Moreover, still life gets more retouching introduced and photoshop is a major deal with it too as the photographers and artist want to create something that the human eye never seen before and all the mainstream ideas has already been taken decades ago.