Studio Photography - Still Life

 

 

John set us the task of bringing in textured objects that we could make still life arrangements out of and then photograph with his Mamiya medium format digital camera (which is a gorgeous camera by the way!).

 

I used a soft box on the side, which gives a soft diffused light and spreads it evenly, and a deep reflector with the barn door accesory behind the arrangement to bring out the textures in the subject. Reflective card is also useful when doing still life photography to highlight areas that are hard to get to.

 

 

 

 

I chose to photograph a large sea shell i've had on my shelf for years and some pebbles. I asked a fellow student to hold a piece of gold reflective card just infront of it so that I could capture the detail in the wood beneath the shell because without the card, the detail was lost and looked too dark. 

 

 

 

 

I then went outside and had a look round the college grounds to find more things to photograph. I picked a sprig of Holly, some bark and some small bits of tree branch to make a christmassy still life arrangement! I used the gold card again but maybe should have positioned it a little closer as the detail below the bark is lost.

Evaluating Exterior Location Brief

 I have completed my 10 images for the exterior brief. My subject is water and reflections. You might notice that I have a mixture of black and white and colour images. I chose not to do them all in colour, simply because some worked better in black and white. I aimed for my images to provoke certain moods and the colours really help with this. Most of the images I intended to look quite abstract like some of the photographers work I have looked at. I am really interested in making photographs look painterly and distorted. Some of the images will be displayed upside down so that the reflections are the right way up. Throughout the series, i have concentrated on both cold and warm colours. I think they have a calming and serene feel to them. During this project, one of the photographers I was inspired by was Juma Puranen. I was really interested in his technique so I experimented with using transparent materials inbetween the camera and the subject. I only chose 2 images from doing this to use in my final 10 images. 

This is a rotated image of a reflection. I think its quite abstract. I like the green colours and the lines.

The colours and tones in this image remind me of Rinko Kawauchi's work. Also the shallow depth of field reminds me of her work. I decided to focus on the greeny yellow leaves in the foreground rather than the reflections in the water in the background. 

This is an image (above) inspired by Jorma Puranen as I mentioned earlier. I used a piece of glass (after spraying with water) infront of my lens. Puranen likes to prevent direct admiration of landscapes by putting something in between the viewer and the subject.  I chose black and white for this image because i thought it worked a lot better and gives it a sombre mood.

This is another image that I have decided to display upside down. I like the sun shining through the trees in the reflection and i like how there is a mixture of actual twigs and branches in the foreground and refections of them in the background.

Again, a rotated image so that the reflection of the tree is the right way up. This is how it would be displayed. 

This is another Jorma Puranen inspired image, using the wet glass infront of the lens. I kept this one in colour because the different tones on the leaves combined with the water on the glass gives a nice painterly effect.

This is the image that i should have printed off but ended up printing the wrong one which is a similar image. I got confused with the file numbers so in future, i will give the files different names! 

This is the one i printed. The reflections in this one aren't as clear and aren't as prominent as they are in the other image. 

Studio Photography - High Key & Low Key lighting

Low key

Low key lighting is on a black background and uses only one main light . It accentuates the contours of a surface so it is often used when photographing men as it is quite flattering for a man to look quite 'rugged'. Here is an example i shot of Andy. I used one main light (a reflector) at one side of him, with 2 black boards in front of the light leaving a small gap in between them to let the small stream of light through. Its quite a moody and masculine light.

 

 

 

I will use this image as part of my submission because I like how just one side of his face is lit and the other side shows the texture and expression in this face due to the shadows created. I do really like the expression on his face. Andy isn't usually very comfortable at all in front of the camera and usually does a silly face to try and cover up his embarrassment, but I think I captured a very natural expression here which shows the real Andy. 

High Key

Hight key lighting is a lot more fun and lively and usually would require a 3 light setup, a white background and possibly a reflector to illuminate any shadows. This is very flattering lighting for women......but I used Andy again for this example. I also bumped up the contrast for this image.

 

Film Noir

Film noir is a  term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas.  It uses low key lighting with shadows to build narrative. 

 

For this image, I used the same lighting as the low key lighting, but this time, added a light with a honeycomb at the back pointing towards the black sheet at the back. A hammer was held infront of the light to create the shadow.

Studio Photography - Lighting

In our first session on studio photography, we were introduced to different lights and accessories that are used in a studio setup. We got in the studio and took a few shots of each other to see the difference between the different lights and accessories and discussed the possible uses for each of them.

My main model was Andy.......He definately prefers being BEHIND the camera........

Soft box

A soft box is an enclosure around the bulb made up of reflective side and back walls and a diffusing material at the front of the light. This modifies the hard light coming from the bulb and spreads it across the front panel, creating an even and diffused light. As the light is coming from a much larger source and not the small bulb, it gives a much softer light with less shadows. The soft box is used for portraits and fashion photography as the light is very flattering and gives a broad illumination.

Beauty dish

The beauty dish isn't as soft as a soft box but is still one of the softer lights. It gives a dramatic light that wraps around the subjects face. A beauty dish is used in portrait and fashion photography to generate a concentrated pool of light and produce its characteristic round catch light in the subject’s eyes.

Deep reflector   A deep reflector gives off a stronger light and gives more contrast. The inside of the deep reflector is shiny silver so gives a stronger effect than a mid reflector.

 

 

 

 

                Snoot

A snoot is a tube that fits over a studio light and allows the photographer to control the direction of the light beam. It concentrates the light through the small opening at the front allowing no light to come out sideways. The snoot gives a more concentrated and harsh source of light and can isolate a subject when using a flash. They are useful when shooting still life.

Umbrella with spill kill

 

 

When using a reflective umbrella, the lamp is positioned facing away from the subject, it shoots into the umbrella and the light is then reflected towards the subject. 

Studio Photography

Straight away when people think of studio photography, most will think of a white background and lots of big lights! However, there are lots of different types. Studio photography doesn't have to be in an actual studio with fancy lights and a white background, it is photography in a space where we have control of lighting and other things. Here are a few different types of studio photography........

 

 

 

Portrait Photography

Photographing people and what they look like using flattering lighting. With portraits, photographers would probably use a softer light for women and a more harsh light for men. Portraits are often taken for use of the people in the photograph e.g. family portraits to put on the family home walls or portraits of individuals for modelling portfolios etc.

 

 

 

 

Fashion Photography

 

Photography to display and help sell clothing and accessories. Fashion photography is most often used for advertisements or fashion magazines.

 

 

 

 

Food Photography

 

A still life specialization of commercial photography. The aim is to produce attractive photographs for use on packaging, menus and in cookery books and to aid in selling the product. Food photography is a collaberative effort and usually involves a photographer, a photographer's assistant, a food stylist, a prop stylist and an art director to get the food looking as scrummy as can be!!! 

 

 

 

 

Product Photography

 

Commercial photography, emphasizing the best features of the product and usually making logos stand out and be recognised in order to sell the product. Produced for advertisements, catalogues, magazines etc.

 

 

 

 

Still Life Photography

 

Inanimate objects usually photographed for creative, artistic purpose. Some still life photography you wouldn't think is shot in a studio set up but there are small tell-tale signs that lighting is being controlled such as shadows and highlights in certain areas that wouldn't necessarily be there in natural or available lighting conditions.

 

 

 

Animal Photography

 

 

 

A difficult type of photography involving uncooperative models! (although this one above seems to be an exception)

 

Brief - Exterior Location - Shooting

 

I took another walk round a woody area that I know to take some snaps for my exterior location brief. Some of the images in this post are just images to show you where I was and the environment I was in (like above and below) and some are ones that I will consider printing for the final work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this one the leaves on the outside (mostly in focus) almost frame the blurred reflection in the background. I love the colours in this image. I think they work really well. I bumped the saturation up a little bit to bring them ou more.

 

 

 

I photographed this with the intention of making it look quite surreal and abstract. It is an image that i have rotated so that it is upside down. I think this is one of my faveourites but i couldn't decide if it works better in colour or black and white (below).

 

 

 

Here is a similar image to the one above but in black and white. I think this one if harder to figure out what is actually going on in the image which makes it more abstract I think.

 

I only like a small section of this image (the top left) because the leaves in that section look perfect. The shape of them and the shadows on them look lovely and they are floating ontop of the water where the tree that they have come from is reflected into it. The other leaves in other parts of the image just look blurred and over exposed. It's a shame really because I would have liked this one.

 

 

 

This is another rotated image. It reminds me of walking through the woods with the sun shining through the branches. Quite mellow and serene. Again, it is quite dream-like as it is actually a reflection so not quite a clear image but distorted and surreal.

 

I took this because I noticed the shadow of the tree on the floor and liked how it feel. Changing it to black and white gave it quite a haunting feel. This image really reminds me of one of Lee Friedlander's images of a road side and the lamp posts in the street and the shadows they cast on the road, but mine is a natural version! The compisition is similar and the shadows.

 

 

 

I like that the leaves frame the subject in this image.

 

 

 

 

I like this image of the contrasting colours of blue and yellow. Also i like how the leaves in the foreground are blurred.