Photography | alan frost photography

Learning from Still-Life

A tulip and three apples

I think there is saying which goes something like this –

‘If something is easy, then make it difficult. It’s the only way to learn’.

I regard myself as a reasonably competent photographer but I am always keen to learn new skills and try new techniques. In the very short time I have been making still-life images, the above words sum up my current feelings rather well.

Having given myself the challenge of trying a new photographic genre, it is already clear to me that making a good still life image is far from easy. Naively I thought it would be relatively straight forward. I would choose the objects I wanted to photograph, place them how I liked in the frame, and finding a suitable background shouldn’t be a problem. Lighting might be more of an issue, but again I was of the view that having some control over the direction and intensity of light would quickly give me the result I imagined. And processing the final image should be a breeze – or so I thought!

This image, ‘A tulip and three apples’ is the result of my fourth still-life session. Whilst I am more than pleased with the outcome, getting there was far from easy. So what did I learn by making things difficult for myself?

Repetition – Yet another email about GDPR.

Repetition

Hardly an hour passes and yet another email appears in my inbox about the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which come into effect on the 25th May 2018 and will have an impact on everyone. These emails have become rather repetitive but are of course necessary when an important change to the law takes place.

I have to admit I am rather confused. As a humble ‘blogger’ I simply do not know if these new regulations relate to me and this photography based website or not. I have not created this website for commercial gain, albeit I may sell the occasional print to someone who would like to buy a particular image. To be on the safe side though I thought I should send out this entry to all my ‘WordPress and Email’ followers just in case.

In the past you have agreed to me sending you an email each time I post something new on my website and I do hope you have enjoyed my images and the words to be of interest. If you no longer wish to receive these notifications or would like to update your preferences, please could you opt out using the ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘manage subscriptions’ links below.

If however you are happy to continue receiving these emails, and I hope you are, then no action is required.

Whatever you decide to do, this is an opportunity for me to thank you for following my site and I do hope your ‘likes and comments’ will continue to feature in the future. You might even want to leave a comment about GDPR!

Having fun with a compact – Street Art in Chichester

There are times when I think I take my photography a little too seriously. My recent ‘Still-Life’ images are a case in point. The light, the composition, the processing, are all very controlled and take quite a long time to get right.

For a while now I thought it would be a good idea to buy a compact camera. Something truly pocketable, that I could have with me most of the time but would still produce good quality images. A smartphone is great but it does have its limitations. Most of all this camera would have to be fun to use.

I attended a talk a recently by Charlie Waite, the well renowned landscape photographer. It was a charity event in aid of The Disabled Photographers Society. As part of the fund raising there was an auction of items donated by various organisations. One of the items was the Sony RX100 Mk3. Although an older model which has been superseded by the Mk4 and Mk5, these are more expensive and the main improvements are video related. The lens and quality of the still images from all three models are very similar and the Mk3 has a better battery life. I took the plunge, kept raising my hand to bid and after a few minutes proved to be the successful bidder.

Yesterday I went into my home city of Chichester for an hour or two, to put the Sony through its paces and have a bit of fun. I concentrated on a some of ‘street art’ which can be found if you know where to look.

Three vessels and a tulip

This is the result of my third session making a still-life image.

Yesterday morning my wife and I visited The Curiosity Centre in Dorset. A large warehouse selling second hand furniture, collectables and what can only be termed as bric-a-brac. I was looking for some items which I thought would lend themselves to a still-life composition. I found three pewter vessels which I manged to buy for the princely sum of £10. I liked their simple design, rustic nature, patina and marks. I bought a bunch of tulips for my wife to enjoy but pinched one bloom for the photograph!

I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon creating a basic setup. Nothing elaborate. I used the natural light from a side window and a head torch. I changed the composition many times and tried different lenses and aperture settings until I had a selction I could download into Lightroom for further assesment.

My chosen image was processed in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro II. I like the square crop and the warm tone was added in LR to complete the workflow.

I find this genre of photography most appealing, so I will definitely be on the lookout for more items to help make suitable compositions. In the process I am sure my compositions and understanding of light will improve, as I refine my approach to still-life photography.

Do click on the image to view a larger version.

More ‘Still Life’ – further experimentation for the fun of it!

A few days ago I experimented for the first time with still life photography. (You can read that post here). I have to say rather enjoyed it. Sometimes I think you need to break free from the norm, try something new and endeavour to be a little creative in the process. It can be very refreshing to photograph subjects in a different way and to make images which challenge how you think and approach a new technique .

With more time on my hands this afternoon I gathered together a few items of glassware from around the home and raided the fruit bowl and the fridge. I used a very simple set up. A black cloth was served as a background and a base. In addition to the natural light in the room I used a desk lamp to provide some directional light, plus a small head torch to cast light on a particular area of the subject. I used a 90mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera mounted on a tripod for stability.

After a certain amount of trial and error here are the results.

All in all a very pleasant and satisfying way to spend an afternoon. Still life photography may not be to everyone’s taste but I particularly enjoyed the complete control I had over composition, lighting and final processing. Without question I shall experiment further. I would like to try different backgrounds, reflectors and mirrors to change how things are lit. Choose other items to photograph and consider options for their placement in the frame. I may possibly acquire some interesting objects from charity shops or boot sales etc. The permutations are endless. Long term projects continue but photography should be fun and having experimented with ‘still life’ I do feel that my creative juices are flowing once again.

Do click on any of the images to view a larger version which will open in anew window.