Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Still Life" assignment. The goal of this assignment was to encourage participants to use form and color to compose a pleasing image, in conjunction with controlled lighting to bring out the form and dimensionality of the objects being photographed.
My
Redbuds image submission was a "typical" still life image.
Redbudsby Keith Snell
I "pre-visualized" this image and knew I wanted "soft light" to produce soft shadows that would provide some depth to the image. It was a cloudy day, so the light from the window wasn't adequate, even when I bumped the ISO to 1600. I knew I couldn't use direct flash to light the scene, since it would have resulted in "hard" shadows. Instead, I aimed my flash into the corner of the ceiling just above the window, knowing that the reflected light from the ceiling would provide a "big" light source (versus the "point" source of the flash) and that this big (diffused) light source would produce softer shadows. By bouncing the flash off the ceiling I was able to produce a second diffused lighting source coming from the same direction as the window, and provide the extra two + stops of light I needed, with the quality of light I was looking for. I set the flash exposure to manual mode, and adjusted the power down until it provided just the right amount of fill flash without overpowering the scene. (I used 1/16th output power.) Note how these "soft" shadows provide dimensionality to the scene. The soft, gradual shadow transitions on the vase proved visual "cues" we subconsciously interpret as "depth," and the soft shadows on the wall provide a subtle depth cue as well. I composed the scene to "balance" the compositional elements without placing the vase in the (boring) center of the image.
Rick effectively used soft light in his
Goblet and Bottle image as well, along with an effective placement of objects in the scene. The goblet and bottle are both placed at "strong" points in the image (intersection of thirds), and the diagonal of the bottle provides a leading line into the scene and helps produce a more dramatic image. His clean simple background kept distractions out of the image and helped focus the viewers' attention on the primary subjects. Well done. I've awarded this image
Editor's Choice for Technical Merit.
Goblet and Bottleby Rick (trvlrick)
Congratulation to Lars, whose image
Music Maestro Please won the vote for
People's Choice and was awarded
Editor's Choice for Artistic Merit.
Music Maestro Pleaseby Lars
Lars used soft light and an effective placement of objects to draw the viewer into the scene. This was a well composed image that very effectively conveys the photographer's message. Nicely done!
Thank you to everyone that participated in the "Still Life" assignment. I enjoyed seeing your images and learning a little bit more about you in the process.
Keith
