Still life: May 2013

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Evaluation

I think this has been the most enjoyable section of the course so far because it’s allowed me to revisit some of the sub-themes like ‘Food’ that I did a year ago in my A-level, so when I saw the brief I was feeling optimistic. However there’s the pressure of trying to work to a similar level or emulate the work of some of the most famous photographer and painters like Edward Weston and Irving Penn.

Despite being happy and optimistic about the latest theme I was struggling to think of a place to start which would allow me to flow from idea to idea. I eventually started by photographing my fridge and decided to use a Canon 5DII, with a 100mm canon and a 24-105mm Lens, which I would end up using for all my photos. This was a good idea because I took my photos in a few different locations so the portability was a helpful factor. I’m pretty happy with the way my work has flowed this time but I wish I could have spent a bit more time shooting because I was starting to find a subject that I was having success with and I’m sure it had potential to produce some really good work.

I don’t really think that the photographer research has inspired me to shoot in a specific way or with a certain object setup this time round. I think it’s taught me the different ways that you can shoot a still life photo, for example the Christian Coigny research which has taught me that still life photography can be done outside the studio as he’s used a room itself as the subject which clearly wasn’t the studio. So it’s expanded my thinking which has allowed me to shoot more creatively which is one of the most important things in the industry. My most successful pictures were from my final shoot. My favourite picture was of the cupboard in the studio at work which was done a few hours before I had to hand the camera back in. I chose it because it’s one of the more unique images I’ve taken during this section of work and it shows some of my ability when it comes to composition and lighting.

One of the hardest things about this section was the times scale because it was during the time were I was working hard with my contextual and professional studies, making it hard to get a good amount of work done in the four weeks I set my self. The best part of this section was doing one of the genres I loved the most, and having the freedom to use almost any equipment I want which put me within my comfort zone so I could produce some quality work will confidence. If I was to do this section again I would like to do some more traditional style still life, so I can say I had covered more bases and there’s always the potential that I could have found something that’s better than what I’ve produced now. Even though there were other opportunities in this theme I’m happy with the outcomes that I’ve produced and the final print.

Image for Printing

All the potential images for printing

Now I’m half way through the third week of still life I have to decide what my best picture is and send it to print. I think my best picture is the one at the top done at work. I’ve decided on it because it’s completely different to what I thought as still life at the start so it shows how much I’ve learnt. From a technical point of view it’s one of my best because it’s evenly lit throughout, all the points of interests are focused correctly and the camera was positioned to get an even perspective. My inspiration for this picture was the paintings by Juan Sánchez Cotán and the framing he uses.

Cupboards at work

I’m really happy with my second cupboard shoot. I continued the framing and perspective idea in this shoot but I’m particularly happy with the light which is a fundamental part of this photo’s success. To do this I used window light which has come from the right, but I also had a large reflector angling more of the window light directly into cupboard.

Because I did these photos in the studio at work there were some things lying around including a big bowl of pebbles so I decided it would rude not to. I’m pretty happy with the outcome. I did this by shining the modelling light on the side of the stones to get the strong contrast I wanted. I also used a large aperture to blur out the edge of the table and also bit of burning in the processing stage. Even though I like it, this composition has probably been photographed thousands of times so I won’t be using this as my final print.

I now feel that I’ve taken enough pictures to decide what I want to print and present for the hand in, so I will compare my photos and make decision.

Cupboards

After completing three food shoots I have decided that I want to explore other areas of still life. I chose to use cupboards because it links in to my first shoot, and I liked how I could use the edges of the fridge to frame the photo which I can do in this cupboard section.

I don’t think this has been a great start to this new section of work because I only managed to get two images from thirty photos, and the ones that have turned out aren’t the best. Out of the two, the first one is better because it’s tidier. It’s not a great explanation but the composition of the bottom one is a bit messy so it’s hard to see what’s in the cupboard, making it look ugly.

The main positive from this shoot is the framing. I managed to get the boarder equal all round and the camera central to cupboard to try and get the prefect perspective. These points will be taken into my next shoot

Potential images for printing

For this section I have grouped my best images so far to so I can decide whether they are good enough to be printed and where I will go from here in terms of photographing.

I am happy with the outcomes I have so far. They are well within the boundaries of still life and shown a degree of ability. Now I have a good base I want to expand and do something different that I haven’t seen before because all I’ve do so far is food. I haven’t done much of the framing that I said I would do, so I will definitely do that this time round. I was thinking of photographing the cupboards in my house because the boarders are a dark brown which would contrast nicely with the white inside creating a nice frame.

I think this new idea is a good direction to take because it takes my work away from the commercial side of photography which will allow me to be a bit more creative.

Peppers

After photographing my fridge I wanted to continue the theme of food so I chose peppers. I decided on peppers because I had recently been looking at some of the work of Edward Weston which is always great to look at because of his use of light which he uses to exaggerate the shape or texture of an object, but also because there was a lot of them in the fridge.

I think I was reasonably successful in my attempt to work in his style because I managed to uses the light to bring out the shape of the peppers but all of my results lacked the contrast that his pictures had. If I was to do this shoot again I would have to use a more intense light so the shadows would be more dominant, giving it a look that resembles Edward’s work.

Garlic

Garlic

I took these garlic and chili pictures to continue the food theme. When I took these I wasn’t really thinking about a photographer’s work, I was just experimenting with a Speed light, holding it directly above the subject, and for some, slightly above the camera facing the subject for some. I think my most successful attempt was the picture at the top. I like the warm tones but most of all the composition. I tried framing the garlic in the lip of bowl and I think it worked out pretty well. I debated using a small aperture to get some definition in the bowl but that was distracting so I went with a large aperture (2.8) which was less noticeable.

As for the other pictures they’re not too bad. The black and white is ok but the top of the garlic is burnt out. I think fixing this would be difficult because the exposure of the chillies is exactly how I want it, so reducing the power of the flash to reduce the highlights would affect this. So the only solution I can think of is to use computer software

Fridge

I wasn’t really sure where to start when It came round to take some picture for still life, so I made myself start simple and a place I was familiar with… the fridge.

For these pictures I used the light from the widow which is directly in front of the fridge and obviously the light in the fridge. I’m really happy with the results from my first shoot, especially with the picture at the top. The highlights in bottles help balance the tones and colours. The large aperture and increased exposure time gives it an appealing commercial look that I intended.

After a nervy start to the project I’m more confident in the direction that I want to take it. So for the next few shoots I want to focus on food.

Evaluation of artist research

I think my research has been informative and has left me with plenty of ideas and technique that I can apply in my work. I’m particularly interested in the idea of framing my photos with something within the photo. I was initially thinking to use simple things like window frames or door frames that were in studios but since doing the Christian Coigny research I decided I didn’t need to be in a studio so I could do any sort of framing I want. The Edward Weston research has taught me a good way to light the subject but I must experiment in different ways to cover different areas of the theme like Irving Penn.

Juan Sánchez Cotán

Clearly Juan is a great painter and widely respected for accurate representations of objects but when I first looked at his work I wasn’t interested in any of his material.

I’m not saying that I’ve spent a lot of my time looking at paintings in the past but I’ve never really seen painter frame objects in a painting.

So the main thing that I’ll take from this research is the idea of framing. I think this could be used to help balance the colours or tones of the picture and possibly give an organised look.

Irving Penn

Irving Penn

Irving is one of my favourite photographers because of the vast range of subjects that he’s photographed, and the fact that he’s done it very successfully. The three images that I have posted are some of my favourites because they are executed perfectly and encourage me to experiment with the different areas of the theme.

One of the things that I notice when I look at these pictures is the variation of lighting setups which is another area that I will work with when I start with my own photos.

With the type of work I’m thinking of doing, I will learn most from the picture at the bottom, which I think it done with a single light source, facing the skull and slightly above it.

As for the composition; it’s fairly simple, he puts two light coloured objects in the centre which are balanced by the dark objects in the bottom corners and the dark patches in the top corners. The texture of the two dark objects and the jug is very soft compared to the skull which has a vast range of contrast and tones making it the point of interest.

Edward Weston

Edward is arguably one of the greatest photographers and the picture at the top is considered one of his best and most reproduced so it would be wrong not to do a section on him.

Even though I’ve seen this photograph many times I don’t know how he’s got the strange dark texture that surrounds the pepper. For this picture I think there are two light sources. One positioned above and to the right of the pepper facing down and the second is a weaker light or reflector positioned to the left of the pepper directed towards the centre of the pepper.

I think this idea of exaggerating the texture of an object could be a good direction to take combined with minimalism so the focus it plainly on the form and texture of an object.

Christian Coigny

I found Christian Coigny and his work as I was looking through this site: http://azurebumble.wordpress.com

I had seen some work like this before in exhibitions, but I never considered it to be still life before now. With fresh thinking, I consider most things to be a variation of still life no matter now distant.

Even though I won’t be doing anything on a scale like this it made me think why not shoot on location indoors or outdoors, or just to get out of the studio and do something original.