This week’s workshop focus was still life.
We got into groups and took photos concentrating the most on composition, lighting and shadow.
These are some of the pictures Lydia and I took.
Lydia and I both chose objects we thought were interesting. Lydia chose the object shown above. I like how unusual it looks and it’s soft pink colour. We mainly wanted to experiment with lighting as we wanted to show a distinct shadow in the image. For the first image, we used a softbox light which created the strong lighting from the left-hand side of the image, making it very white. For the other two images, I held the object at an angle to obscure the image a bit and allow the viewer to question what the object is. I also held an LED light close to the object at different angles making the shadows harsher the more I move it directly behind it. The main thing that I would improve on with these images is the composition. In every image, we either have a lot of black space at the bottom which I’d prefer not to be there or part of the white speckled background is cut off revealing the classroom setting.
This is my favourite image with that object. I like the lighting on the object, how it’s not too harsh but there’s enough light to see the detail and enough shadow in the image. I also like the composition – I think holding the object at an angle is more visually interesting than seeing the whole object stood still in the shot. It adds depth and life to the image because of the movement within the tilt. Again, the composition isn’t slightly different to what I would prefer, with the black space at the bottom and background cutting off at the top.
I chose some plastic grapes as my object. I really love the bright colour it has and how it stands out against the pale background. Lydia hung the grapes from fishing wire above the camera to allow for a more visually interesting look. This technique moved the grapes around, adding life to the image. These images are either slightly out of focus or the composition isn’t how I wanted. Also, there isn’t a very prominent shadow but I like how the lighting reflects off of the left-hand side of the grapes.
This is my favourite image from using the plastic grapes. The composition is just how I intended, with there being no black space and the grapes hanging directly in the centre. I also like how when I took this image, the grapes had spun so you could see the unique shape, rather than just a ‘bunch’ of grapes. I also like how the grapes are filling more space in the image, in this case, I think the fuller the image, the better it looks. I would have liked the shadows to be more prominent but again, I like how the light is reflecting off of them – it makes the object look more 3D, adding depth.