What is still life:

Still life photography is a from of photography that focuses on everyday objects and captures them in a unique way to make the images more interesting and engaging to the viewer. It defines detail within the objects and brings it out showing the greater depth, making them something more that just a flower or piece of fruit for example. It started in the 17th century when photos and painting of still life objects became very popular, the names ‘still life photography’ comes from the Dutch word stilleven which directly translates.

Examples of still life photography:

Types of still life photography:

There are two main types still life photography, found still life photography and created still life photography.

Found still life photography:

This type of still life photography is when you have randomly or naturally find anything life flowers or fallen fruit etc, without any help e.g. not adding or moving anything around to make the ‘perfect’ image.

Created still life photography:

Whereas created still life photography is when is when you have set up objects life fruits, flowers or food purposely to take an image. The objects are very often simple objects that are placed to make them more interesting and engaging.

What is vanitas ?

Vanitas is a symbolic style of art which shows the certainty of death and purity of pleasure. The Dutch painting was first used in the 17th century and contains anything from books, fruit, cards, jewellery, wilting flowers, hourglasses, skulls, wine and many more objects like that. Giacomo Carissimi was one of the first people to make a Vanitas painting, he made his painting between 1604 and 1605.

what is Memento Mori ?

A memento mori is an object or item that reminds us of the inevitability of death such as a skull. These items are used widely in Vanitas as it matches the structure of the piece.

What kind of metaphors and symbols are used in still life and why?

There are many different objects that are used within Vanitas such as candles, cards, wine, dead flowers, skulls, jewellery, hourglasses, fruit, bubbles and more.

What do they represent:

candles – the human soul

cards – faulty of life goals

wine – pleasure of goods

dead flowers – beauty and death

jewellery – nature of beauty and sin of narcissism

hourglasses – the brevity of life and ephemeral nature of life

skulls – certainty of death

fruit – youth and beauty

bubbles – suddenness of death

For my first selection process on Lightroom I clicked file and then import photos and videos. I then went to my drive and selected the images that I wanted to use and then imported them.

I then flagged my images with either ‘x’ to reject them, or ‘p’ to select them.

I have filtered out my rejects to only see the images that I wish to use to make it easier to work with them.

You can compare two images using the compare view and can zoom in using the magnified glass, this allows you to choose with image is of better quality.

I have now switched my image from library to develop to edit the image. I have cropped my image down to focus on the objects in the image.

To edit the image I used the auto button on the right hand side to create better lighting on my image.

I added a shadow by using present on the left hand side, as well as vignetting and I used the level medium to give the image a slight shadow.

To export my images I pressed file export and the adjusted the filters:

For the blog:

To print:

My final image:

What is aperture:

Aperture is the adjustable lens opening that lets light into the camera when taking and image. It is important to know how to use the aperture as it determines the depth of field which controls the sharpness of the image.

A higher depth of field would allow for the whole image to be in focus with a sharp finish, and vice versa, a lower depth of field would only have a certain object in focus with the background blurry.

My examples of aperture:

What is shutter speed?:

In photography shutter speed effects the sharpness of an image, it is the speed at which the shutter within the camera closes. A higher shutter speed will allow a low amount of light in to the camera. Therefore a low shutter speed will allow a high amount of light in to the camera.

Considering this we know that by using a high shutter speed you will produce a sharp high quality image, and vice versa, by using a low shutter speed you will produce a lower quality and blurry image.

John Baldessari:

For this photoshoot I was inspired by John Baldessari. He was an American conceptual artist and was knows greatly for his photography which he blended with his art. He combined the two he created some very unique images which engaged lots of viewers.

He created a range of images using just three balls. He threw the balls into the air and tried to capture them all in a row before they fell back to the ground. he also created images of people as they tried to dodge him and he tried to follow them using different shutter speeds.

Some examples of his work:

My photos:

Artists that inspired me:

Noemie Goudal:

David Goldblatt:

My place:

My person:

My object:

My final three images:

My final pieces:

Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography?

Writing with light.

Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera?

1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce0

Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear?

1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’

Robert Cornelius (1839)

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear

1861 (James Clerk Maxwell)

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre?

A style or category of art

Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life?

An image that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world.

Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement?

To affirm photography as an art form

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography?

An interpretation of reality as witnessed by the photographer.

Q10: What is exposure in photography?

The amount of light that reaches your camera’s sensor.

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO.

Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects?

Shutter

Q13: How do we explain depth of field?

How much of your image is in focus.

Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field?

Lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length.

Q15: What is composition in photography?

The arrangement of visual elements within the frame.

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art?

It is subjective and in the eye of the beholder.

Q17: What are contextual studies in photography?

To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images.

Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide?

4.7 billion

Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world?

The Queen (Elizabeth II)