Adobe Lightroom classic is an editing software where photographers can edit there photos. its like photoshop just a bit worse.

Lightroom classic was made on the 19 of February 2007

When using Lightroom Classic you are able to filter through your photos and choose the best ones for you.

You can pick and discard each imagine using white and black flags and with the photos you pick you are able to rate out of 5 stars then colour code with a red amber green system to decide which photos will be in final use.

This systems allows you to avoid clutter and becoming overwhelmed with too much to choose from.

In the image above is my catalogue after using the filtering system, as you can see i have a significantly reduced the amount of photos to choose from allowing me to make sure I have the best result.

Collections

Here we made a collection to help organise to allow me to find my pictures easier using the collections as if they are sub folders.

Still life in photography derives from the traditional concept of photographing objects organised in such a way that orchestrates a narrative, forming complex compositions that communicate varied allegorical meanings. In its early days, still life photography took the initial meanings and ideas behind still life used in painting, and implemented it into photography, slowly becoming less and less definable over time, to where – in the modern day – still life pieces are able to take any form or definition; from concerns surrounding the environment

The use of still life was very prominent in photography inventors Jacques-Louis-Mandé Daguerre and William Talbot’s work dating back as early as the 1830s. Still life itself originated within painting in the Netherlands during the 17th Century, representing wealth of the upper classes, religion, morality, colonialism, and various other themes within literature – the phrase ‘still life’ forming from the Dutch word ‘stilleven’.

The ‘first’ still life painting ever created was created by artist Jacopo De’Barbari, although still life didn’t rise to popularity until later on up north. It depicts a deceased grey partridge, with two iron gauntlets, and a bolt from a crossbow passed through each object against a wooden table or wall.`

A vanitas is a piece of artwork that typically symbolises the transience of time and life, the idea of death being absolute, and the futility of pleasure. In its prime, vanitas paintings were produced primarily from the mid-16th-mid-17th Centuries, being another key genre during the Dutch Golden Age. The paintings contrast ideas of wealth and death, ‘vanitas’ deriving from Latin – meaning vanity – which links to Christian beliefs in the sense that material objects have no meaning, as they can’t be carried to the next life with us.

“Memento Mori” – remember death – is also another key theme presented throughout still life, vanitas works in particular, the theme that all living things must die at some point or another, and that nothing is forever.

The common themes and symbols – death, wealth, vanity, time, beauty, nature, etc. – used in still life are used to enforce a clear and concise message, and almost provide a comfort about the terrifying uncertainties that are experienced throughout a lifetime.

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:

A leap into the Void

Yves Klein was born on April 28th 1928 in France. He was a member of a group of painters, but he was also one of the most well-known. He trained in judo and earned a black belt at age 25. He later taught the sport for a while and even wrote a book about it.

A small group of people worked together to create the image. While seven other people held a tarpaulin for Klein to land in, he asked photographers Harry Shunk and Jean Kender to take a series of photos documenting his jump.

What is photography?

The practice of capturing light to produce images is known as photography. Photography, which is the process of capturing an image on light-sensitive film, literally means “drawing with light.”

Photography is frequently used to document the viewpoint of the photographer, who is usually using it to share their ideas and raise awareness of particular issues. Through the images they produce, one can also express themselves.

David Campany

David Campany is a British author, artist, and photographer. He was born in London in 1967 and has won numerous writing awards in addition to his PhD. He has also penned about 20 books, one of which is titled “On Photographs” and discusses the purpose of photography as well as his own viewpoint on the subject.

He saw photographs as ways to pause time and give us the freedom to revisit those moments whenever we like. He adds that while the images themselves never change, the meaning behind them does and most likely always will. He also discusses how different viewpoints and meanings can be depicted in photographs. His well-known quote, ‘Photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.’ Since everyone interprets what they see differently and sees a different side to the image than another, I think he is trying to say that there will always be two sides to every picture.

Continuous Lighting vs Flash lighting.

Continuous lighting: Continuous lighting is when they lights stay constantly light almost acting as a torch.

Flash lighting: Flash lighting is intermittent light. The light flashes when the shutter is pressed and lights up the objects your photographing.

Example of a continuous lighting image I took:

Example a of flash lighting image I took: