Book Me

I do have a fondness for still life photography.   It is sort of like painting, you have a blank canvas before you, that you build upon one object at a time until the final subject is completed.

Still life photography unlike other types of photography that we are all familiar with like street, landscape or flowers…in still life you control the creation of the image.  You choose the subject, arrange it and light it anyway to your choosing.  You really have complete control of the creative process. which is a reaffirmation of your composition and lighting skills…and can also be a learning process as you work through building the image.

 

In this series of still life images I have chosen to include books in a series of images.  Because I am using other objects along with the book arrangements, it sometimes become questionable, is it the books or the accessory object that are the main subject?  However, in this series of images it really doesn’t matter because the images are left to the viewer to decide what within the image draws their attention.  I prefer to follow a minimal approach with not too many objects in the image. The main lighting for most of the images is early morning window light with sometimes a small handheld portable light to highlight  an area, this combined with a black background to produce a Rembrandt style image.

Camera used SONY A7II…I can be contacted at nymacc@gmail.com for any inquiries about this post or past posts.

Still Life Adventures

While one of my joys of photography is simply capturing the events and people I find in the world around me. I do have a fondness for still life photography because of the challenge of creating an image from scratch.  In a way it is like street photography, it is a way of exploring the things you find around you and finding a pleasing way of presenting them in a visual pleasing way.

On those rainy days or just simply when you want to explore another area of the photographic process – try creating still life images.  Where do I get the idea for a still life?  A painting I may have seen in a gallery or magazine image sometimes triggers it.  It is also simply a case of looking at some of the objects I find in my home and being curious about combining them with other objects sometimes unrelated.  It is an exercise in creative exploration using simple window light and composition.  A tripod, some white or black material for a backdrop, homemade reflector and a definite sense of curiosity is all that is needed to begin this adventure in still life photography.