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Whats your favourite ?
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This is my first attempt at still life, harder than you think, but forces me to learn something new.
So all c&c welcome.
Well, since I started a discussion about the pictures appearing in this section,
I suppose I’d better have a comment-I think this is a Pack Shot-
perhaps a branch of still life,
but not necessarily qualifying on its own-It’s a single object (including its contents) so it isn’t really part of an arrangement or composition
in the traditional sense of still life.The wrap around lighting, possibly one of those tents?-
is very flat and directionless;
it might be fine for describing an object on ebay,
but it makes this food seem listless and uninviting- to me-The lack of shadows does nothing to model the forms-
There are very bright bits to the sides too-
like the light source is showing through-
not particularly attractive looking, in my opinion-Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t see this as a still life-
and if somebody feels that it is,
well my reply would be that it really isn’t a very good still life-
which has got to be an important consideration-Sorry for the less than glowing comments-
but I recently posted a question about the nature of the Still Life-
and as I haven’t made a comment in this section before
(never having seen a still life in this section)
I thought I should-j
No offence taken,
It was taken just using the flash, and edited in PS, which is probably were most of the damage was done. I have been looking through the various groups on flickr and such for examples of still life, and you have had everything from your typical twee fruit bowls to marbles, even the ‘still life’ tutorial in this months digital photo magazine has everything from flowers, scissors and one shot which is a collection of objects. So hard to quantify what it is.
I appreciate the honesty, so back to the original question what consitutes a still life?
PD_BARBS wrote:
No offence taken,
It was taken just using the flash, and edited in PS, which is probably were most of the damage was done. I have been looking through the various groups on flickr and such for examples of still life, and you have had everything from your typical twee fruit bowls to marbles, even the ‘still life’ tutorial in this months digital photo magazine has everything from flowers, scissors and one shot which is a collection of objects. So hard to quantify what it is.
I appreciate the honesty, so back to the original question what consitutes a still life?
Thanks PD-
I think there has to be some sort of connection between the objects-
I’m speaking off the top of my head here, and it’s only my opinion,
but I find that my favourite still life pictures give a sense of wonder about the artist and their connection to the objects-
Why did he choose them, and what was he trying to convey by the placement of those objects, their composition-The objects might seem banal, but very often they’re the essence of life itself-
food, flowers- dead flowers even-
and it’s the job of the still life artist to capture the viewer and draw them in to the picture-
and if it’s possible to convey a sense of what the artist meant, or felt, then it’s probably been successful-And the lighting- natural, but leading sometimes to a sense of hyper reality-
often based on a window light, or a roof light-
simple, usually, but allowing the light parts of the objects to reflect back into the picture-
again, if they’re carefully selected and placed-A still life can be seen as an exercise for an artist, but sometimes it transcends that-
think of pictures by Vermeer, VanGough, William Henry Fox Talbot even- among many others-Modern artists- I’m not sure, but the works of Damien Hirst might appear to be a kind of still life-
though I’m quite sure I’m technically wrong about that-I wish I could give a long list of references for still life pictures,
but a search for still life will bring millions of results and pictures-j
Thanks for taking the time to comment on the picture and educate me. Which to be fair was one of the objectives of my original post to see if I was on the right track.
Obviously I am going to have to put some thought into this, which will be a challenge, used to compose, point, shoot. But this is what is good about this months comp, it forces people out of their comfort zone and forces me to play with my newly acquired flash.
Hopefullly we will get something more meaningful in this section.
Peter.
Well it was never an intention to educate anyone-
more a case of laying bare my own prejudices- as with any comment here-There are a few other opinions in the other thread- https://www.photographyireland.net/viewtopic.php?t=24850
j
jb7 wrote:
A still life can be seen as an exercise for an artist, but sometimes it transcends that-
think of pictures by Vermeer…Which picture by Vermeer, JB? I kinda thought pictures with people in
were not still lifes. I concede that some (many) of Vermeer’s
pictures are arranged in a “still life” style, but including people would
surely make them fall outside “still life” in photographic terms.Pete, you’re right, I picked the wrong Dutchman-
I could have picked anyone else-However, still life plays a large part in many of Vermeer’s pictures-
‘Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window’ contains a still life within it,
as does ‘The Milkmaid’, but you’re right, wrong reference-I’m easily confused-
j
Tee hee. I was searching for the right Dutchman myself only a day or two ago
(as chance would have it). I happened to know that Vermeer left very few
paintings behind, and that they are nearly all of people, or include people.The funny thing is, some of his most populated pics (e.g. The Procuress)
are referred to as still lifes, and you can see why if you look at the arrangement
of the people and objects.hi all
Mikel Arrizabalaga ….. found this mans porfolio on photo.net while surfing around and love the composition light and colouring
It’s an almost classical painting style of photography , something that the very early photographers were accused of way back in the beginning.
What’s the point they were asked? It seemed as if they were cheating to be able to produce an image without the “perceived” skills of being a painter
Perhaps that’s why photography has taken so long to become an art form in its own right
Would love to achieve this kind of picture with the story in there somewhere. Either that or its borrowing the kids poster paints
Geoff
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