Still Life

What is Still Life photography?

Still Life photography is photos of objects that have been arranged in a specific way by the photographer. The photographer is able to arrange the items how they like, and can take the photo from any angle they like. They create the shot they want instead of just taking a shot of something already laid out.
The backdrop should have no creases, folds or marks to avoid it standing out over the actual objects.

They also need to ensure the lighting is appropriate and avoid unwanted shadows to make the picture looks professional.They need to think of the light contrasts to ensure the sections you want to stand out are the parts with the brightest light. They also need to think of the direction of the light. For example, a side light would enhance textures and variations of shadows. Photographers should spend time working on angles that work best for the camera, and so the lighting is at an advantage.
They can use lighting to enhance each of the shapes. A side light would make the object seem 3 dimensional as the highlights created would create an edge to it.
The photographers need to have a skill of choosing the right items, arranging them in a creative way, and using the right lighting to get the desired photo. Each object should be relevant to the picture they want to create. Still life photographers need to be creative, a good problem-solver, disciplined, and be able to improvise.

Still life photography can be found in brochures, paintings, covers of magazines or books.
You arrange the objects until you find a strong position, and then take the picture at a strong angle.

Still life was first used in Ancient Egyptian times but as paintings. They wrote it in tombs or on walls as they thought that if they drew things such as food or luxuries, it would join them in the afterlife. Still life got popular for photographers in the early 19^th Century. Photographers were inspired by still life paintings and used them as inspiration to create a photo of still life.


Painting of Still Life in Pompeii
(around 70 AD)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pompejanischer_Maler_um_70_001.jpg

Early still life photo by Adolphe Braun, 1867

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc9ayKEAkTw30GYei8pAYmEJgNTk-hf2MgNwlJJGQN_JNYFs0j_JyeL7nQahP3sJCvZ75Hd7OOZQtXfKVuHEEpeNk9S-Yf2KyaXVVuP033_5aeuoDTzNPu0PawKBjjq-qpdj00veF7-16E/s1600/2.-mart-17.jpg

How does it work?

Photographers have to take a photo of something that doesn’t move, in an environment which they control. For example, they could find objects and place them next to a black screen so they can edit them later on to be in the scene they desire. They have to be imaginitive by arranging the objects chosen in a creative way, as well as finding an angle to take the photo from that compliments the image. This means looking at the image through a good view so it doesn't look too flat, and so there are no shadows ruining the image.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Still Life Photography?

The advantages of Still Life Photography are that you can spend time working on how you want the image to look instead of just taking a photo of something that is already set up. It allows you to open up your imagination and express it through the image. You don't have to take the photo straight away like you would have to do with a moving object; you can take your time.
The disadvantages are that it can be hard to arrange objects in a creative way so it can look really boring and have no meaning.
Another disadvantage is that it is also hard to arrange the lighting in a way that suits the objects. The objects all have different shadows created so you have to change the lighting to stop shadows from appearing.
It can be very time-consuming as well to take one photo as you have to take into account what objects to use, what position to put them in, where the lighting will go and what angle you're going to take it at.

Examples of Still Life Photography

The first still life photographer I came across was Dennis Pederson. He is a photographer who works in the studio to product still life images of products for his clients. These clients include brands like Adidas, Boots, Chanel, Dior and Max Factor.
He started photography by working for a range of photographers before opening up his own studio in London. He enjoys making still images look like they're coming to life by using his technical abilities, and use of water, heat and ice.
I have chosen three images from his site that I really liked that will be shown at the bottom of the text. The first image I fell in love with. The colours really stood out and it amazed me at how creative it was; turning make-up into a universe-like scene. I loved the colour scheme of blue, grey and purple; it really represented space and science.
The second image was also very creative having the ribbon near the hair dryer looking like it's being blown. The colour pink gave it a girly theme as well as the fact it was a hair dryer. I felt like I could relate to it seeing as I'm a girl.
The third image was just crazy as he managed to turn a plastic bag into something so beautiful. The use of the light behind the back made it stand out from the plain background, and the simplicity of it worked really well.

Sources from: http://dennispedersen.com

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Another photographer I looked at was Jonathan Knowles. He is based in London and specialises in still life, liquid and people photography. He has received many awards for his photography, and has even been 'featured in the "200 Best Advertising Photographers In The World" books.' (http://jknowles.co.uk/about/) It's not a surprise when you look at his photography. I chose three of his photos that I loved from his website. The first image stood out to me because of the spray actually being visible. It's not something you can really see in every day life so using the black background was perfect for showing the perfume off; the pink looks really eye-catching. It's the perfect photo for advertising because it really shows off the product in a good light. However, I don't really like the angle it's at because it's quite distracting. If it was straight it would look better to me.
The second image was strange to me. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, but then looking at it again made me change my mind. Although it was plain white, it really represented the theme of something dripping. The brown stood out from the white because it was all plain then you get hit by the brown; another great way of advertising gravy adverts or any other liquid-type of advertising.
The third image showed lots of patterns that I really liked the look of. It was like the lollipop was blended in with the background, and you kind of needed to look twice to realise what it was. However, I don't feel like it worked. The idea was good, but it didn't turn out well. It wasn't really promoting the lollipop, it just made it look like it blended in with everything else; not really making it stand out.
Overall, he is a great advertising photographer, creating imaginative ways to make the product stand out.

Moodboard

Sources from http://jknowles.co.uk/still-life/portfolio/

Experimenting

Once I had looked at other photographer's still life work, I had to experiment by trying my own still life photography. I did this by choosing objects I wanted and then arranged them in a way that I felt was appropriate. I will now analyse three photographs that I have taken.

The first image I chose to analyse was this candle in a lamp. I feel like your eye gets drawn straight to the candle as the red stands out more than the other colours. Even though the lines are blurred, they work as leading lines towards the candle which also helps drag your eyes towards the centre. I would say that the composition of this image is in the centre which is a good thing in my opinion it is symmetrical which makes it work. The techniques I used was an aperture of F/10 and a shutter speed of 1/60 sec. This was because I had to get a lot of light so it reached all of the lamp and candle because I had to take this image from the top so I didn't have any shadows being shown. I had a narrow depth of field as well so the background was blurred and the candle sharp. This was so your eye got drawn to the candle which is the main part of the picture.

The colours in this image are red (which is a high contrast), purple (which is also a high contrast) and silver (which is a low contrast). I would say that the red has the highest contract though which makes it stand out from all the other colours.
I think this image has a relaxing mood to it as you usually associate candles with relaxation. It could also represent romance as well because of the candle and the colour red.
This image has only a few textures to it. It has a smooth texture for the lamp, a waxy texture of the candle, and a straw-like texture to the string.
To improve this image, I feel like I should have arranged it so it was more in the middle because it's distracting to see more space at the left side. It ruins the symmetrical look.
I feel like I should have removed the dust from the lamp as it ruins the effect of the freshness of the candle. Also, I should have removed the dint in the candle holder as it's distracting and ruins the symmetry.

The second image I analysed is this one of the perfume bottles. I feel like your eye gets drawn straight to the bottles as they are in the middle and stand out from the background as it is at a higher contrast. The colours in this photo are black, white, blue and green. All the colours except the green are at a high contrast as the green parts are blurred and less bright. This creates a happy, fresh mood as the bright blue makes you think of summer where there's fresh air and sun. Most people are happy at this time as it doesn't look dull.

The composition of this image is in the middle, although it is quite wonky. I feel like if I had use the rule of thirds it would have made it more interesting, or by being at a lower level so it's like you're looking up at the bottles. I used the techniques of having a shutter speed of 1/500 sec and an aperture of F/5.3. This is so I had a narrow depth of field so I had the writing on the bottles sharp and not blurred. I also wanted the background to be blurred so all the focus was on the perfume bottles as they were the main objects. The aperture had to be high as I needed a lot of light because when I was experimenting, this aperture was the best option as all the others were too dark or too light.
The texture of the image is the softness of the sky, the smoothness of the tile, and the bumpy texture of the perfume bottle's pump.
To improve my image I feel like I should have removed the green trees in the background as it is really distracting and ruins the background of the sky. There are also some bits on the tile that I should have removed as they have no reason to be there and ruins the image.
I also feel like I should have got a better angle of the perfume as it looks quite boring being in the middle. Perhaps being at a low level and looking up at it would create a more weird effect.

The final image I am analysing is this one of the perfume bottle in a shoe. I feel like your eye gets drawn straight to the shoe, then to the perfume bottle, and then the sky. This could be because the colour is a bright pink which stands out from the blue. The colours include fuchsia, black, white and blue. I would say that all the colours are of a high contrast because they are all bright, although the pink stands out more as it is more of a outstanding colour.

The mood created is fashion and girlishness as it's typically girls who wear heels and perfume. You think of getting dressed up to go out on a date or somewhere formal.
The composition of this image is in the middle, which I again feel is annoying because it's wonky from where I tried to hold the camera at an angle. I think it would be much better straight.
The textures in this image are the smooth, softness of the shoe, the coldness you feel when touching a bottle, and a softness from the clouds.
The techniques I used in this image is an aperture of F/5.3 and a shutter speed of 1/640 sec. This is because I was outside so the light was already bright, but I still needed an average aperture to get a narrow depth of field because I wanted to get the perfume and shoe in focus.
To improve my work I would want to remove the green line under the shoe that is there because of the trees. I feel like it ruins the image of the blue background.
I also think the shadows from the bottle and shoe ruin the image because the bottle shadow ruins the shoe's colour, and the shadows of the shoe ruin the ground part.

Response

After experimenting with Still Life photography, I chose to respond to my chosen photographers of Dennis Pederson and Jonathan Knowles. They both seem to find some objects and turn them into something beautiful, which is what I tried to respond to with my own work.
To do this, I used a used teabag to create some art using various objects (truck, trolls and a toy elephant). Below is a picture of the tea bag when I was testing the lighting of it. I like how this photo sets up the main object of this still life photoshoot. Your eye is drawn straight to the middle part of the teabag where all the tea leaves are as it stands out from the background and other parts of the image due to it being a dark brown so its got a higher contrast than the brown bag and cream background. Your eye is also drawn to it because of its texture of a soft, grainy feel of the tea leaves.
The composition of the image seems to be in the centre but at a diagonal angle. Because of the sides not being symmetrical, I thought it wouldn't look right being just in the centre as it would look too plain. The diagonal angle of it meant that I could see the whole shape of the teabag and contents.
The techniques I used were an aperture of F/6.3 and a shutter speed of 15 sec. I did this so there was a narrow depth of field so all the detail on the tea bag were sharp and in focus.
The mood I get from this is confusion as it makes me wonder why the tea bag was opened up when usually it is held together.
To improve this image, I would do it in the studio so the background is completely white, as in this image it looks cream so the tea bag doesn't stand out as much.
 

 

This next image shows how I used the tea bag to look like mud. When you first look at the image, your eye leads towards the truck because of it's bright colour and the fact it's part of the rule of three in the right corner. This means you think it's a truck in mud, but when you look again you see it's on a tea bag.
The techniques I used were an aperture of F/5.6 and a shutter speed of 5 sec.
The colours in this image include yellow, black, silver, brown and cream. The yellow is from the truck so it is at a higher contrast than the other dark colours.
The mood I get from this image is a sense of adventure because you can associate mud and trucks with this theme.
The textures in this image include the grainy feel of the tea leaves, the paper-like feel of the tea bag and the hardness of the truck.
To improve this image I would go in the studio so I can use the lighting to make the background whiter so it doesn't look cream, and by changing the composition so you can see the whole truck.

This image is using a troll in the tea bag. Your eye leads to the troll because of it's bright hair colour and lines on the face. I would say the hair attracts your eye causing it to guide you along the rest of the image. I do not follow rule of three, although it is quite neat the top left corner.The techniques I used were an aperture of F/5.6 and a shutter speed of 2.5 sec. This is because I wanted a narrow depth of field so all the detail was in focus, and because I needed longer for the light to get through.

The colours in this image include yellow, brown and cream, with yellow being in a high contrast against the dark colours.

I get the mood of remembrance because it reminds me of the story of the three goats not being able to cross the bridge because of a troll. You would associate trolls as being dirty, so using the tea bag allowed me to use it as mud again.

The textures in this image include the grainy feel of the tea leaves, the paper-like feel of the tea bag, the smoothness of the troll's skin and the straw-like feel of the troll's hair.

To improve this image I would go in the studio to use the lights to make the background whiter because it's a distraction from the main image.
 

The final idea I used was an elephant in the tea bag to make it look like it was travelling through mud.
Your eye leads towards the elephant because it stands out against the dark colours of the tea bag. I would say rule of three has been used because it's really close to the top left corner.
The techniques I used were an aperture of F/5.6 and a shutter speed of 2.5 sec. This is because I wanted a narrow depth of field to capture the detail of the tea leaves and elephant.
The colours in this image include brown, cream and grey, with the tea bag colour being a high contrast as well as the elephant.
The mood I get from this image is adventure as you associate elephants with being in the wild. It makes me feel like I have explored a safari to find elephants.

The textures in this image include the grainy feel of the tea leaves, the paper-like feel of the tea bag and the smoothness of the elephant.

To improve this image, I would go in the studio so the background is completely white to stop the distractions of the shadowns. I would also remove the tea leaves that are not wanted in the shot.