Still Life

Hi everyone, congratulations to Paul Anthony for winning February’s A Shot in the Dark Challenge. Don’t forget this month’s Still Life Photo Challenge winner will be announced at the start of April, so make sure you submit your entry before the closing date of 31st March to be in with a chance of winning!

A Still Life photograph is usually defined as ‘The depiction of an inanimate subject or a grouping of objects’. This sort of photography can be quite demanding on the photographer. My personal definition of Still Life is: ‘When the Photographer makes pictures rather than takes pictures.’

So, following my own description, I set out to take a few different shots for you to view.

I intentionally used a simple household ‘angle-poise’ lamp to light all the shots. I was ready to interchange between a clear and opalescent bulb, however, to suit the subject. I always ‘pre-visualise’ how I think the shot will look and what items to use for it. In fact, I often sketch out an idea before a shoot. Here, I tried to use easily obtainable objects for the compositions. The fruit and veg I purchased specially; the other items I already had in the house.

Why not experiment with an assortment of your own?

When you are composing, remember that it’s as much about the spaces between your objects as it is about the objects themselves. Also, you want to be shooting on a background or surface that suits your choice of items. Another element is knowing when you have reached the right point in the composition to then experiment with the direction of light. All this is prior to actually shooting.

All these shots were taken using a Lumix G2 mounted on a tripod with the 45mm Leica DG Macro-Elmarit lens attached. Everything was shot in the Raw to enable final tonal and colour balance in post-production.

Shot 1 “The Apples”

I decided that I would like to shoot the apples on a neutral background that would contrast totally against the lovely red of their skin. The background here is a raised flooring tile such as you’d find in a computer room – which I found on top of a skip!

The shot is lit with my single angle-poise lamp with a clear bulb, with a few strips of card just behind the apples to create the shadows; plus, I bounced the light back onto the apples using a piece of card I had covered in cooking foil for a reflective surface.

• Exposure 8 secs @ f11
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Shot 2 “Ball of String”

I raided my garden shed for this one. I had an old broken wooden gate in there, which I used for the background/surface. As previously, I lit the shot with a single-angle poise lamp (clear bulb again), from the right-hand side. I reused my home-made ‘cooking foil’ reflector, this time behind and slightly above the composition, to reflect light back into the knife.

• Exposure 1/20th sec @ f2.8
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Shot 3 “Vegetables”

For this shot, I decided again on the ‘rustic’ background of the wooden gate, to give a home-grown look to the shot. To get the ‘just dug up’ look for the vegetables, I put dirt onto the carrots and parsnips, and composed the asparagus so as not to show their neatly cut and uniform ends. Don’t be afraid to compose in this way to achieve the shot you want!

This composition is, again, lit by the angle-poise lamp fitted with a clear bulb. And I stood a piece of card off to one side, at the back right of the shot, to shadow the background.

• Exposure 1/20th sec @ f2.8
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Shot 4 “Stones”

Basically, this is a tower of small stones from the garden, literally balancing on each other. I shot it simply on a white sheet of A4 copy paper. I chose a low viewpoint to emphasise the ‘balancing’ element of the composition. To light the tower, the angle-poise lamp has been fitted with an opalescent bulb and also shone through a piece of opalescent perspex approx. 30x50cm, with a white piece of card to the left of the stones, to reflect the light back.

• Exposure 1/5th sec @ f2.8
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Shot 5 “Chains”

A relatively close-up shot of some shiny chains on a black formica surface. Using the Macro lens enabled me to get in quite close to the chains, to create a powerful composition. I previewed this shot in the ‘Dynamic B/W’ setting and decided to go down that route.

As I was shooting a JPEG and a Raw image, I de-saturated the Raw to match the JPEG’s ‘Dynamic’ setting.

The Lighting was almost identical to the ‘Stones’ shot.

• Exposure 1/100th sec @ f2.8
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Shot 6 “Love Heart”

A really close-up shot of my wedding ring on an open book, throwing a heart-shaped shadow. I took time and care over the composition, to make sure the shot was symmetrical. This meant taping the pages in position and making sure the angle-poise lamp was fitted with an opalescent bulb shining in the dead centre of the book, at just the right position to create the shadow I wanted. I added a small amount of ‘Vignette’ in post-production, to pull your eye into the important part of the shot.

• Exposure 1/6th sec @ f8.0
• ISO 100
• White Balance – Tungsten

Well, I hope this article has inspired you to start thinking about creating your own Still Life images on your Lumix G.

Remember, I want you ‘make the picture’, not just take the picture!

Also don’t forget to enter this month’s Photo Challenge based on Still Life photography.

Thank you and good luck,

Phil Surbey