This is a mood board of still life. They are very traditional.

Throughout its long history, still life has taken many forms, from the decorative frescoes of antiquity to the high art of the Renaissance. Traditionally, a still life is a collection of inanimate objects arranged as the subject of a composition. Nowadays, a still life can be anything from your latest Instagram latte art to a vase of tulips styled like a Dutch Golden Age painting.

Creating a beautiful and successful still life image is an impressive feat, but just as painting a bowl of fruit is a good introduction for new painters, still life photography is a wonderful training ground for new photographers. It gives you an opportunity to experiment with light, materials, textures, and subjects in a controlled setting. Whatever your creative vision and artistic goals, still life is a great place to start.

Still life photography has opportunities to experiment with different styles, such as:

Composition. First, play with your composition and test different layouts and arrangements of your objects. Consider composition styles like the rule of threes when composing your still life image. Tweak and adjust your layout as you go to refine your composition skills and identify what makes a photo pleasing.

Subject and materials. Compose your photo with diverse textures and materials. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a handful of random objects from your home or a curated collection of sterling silver candlesticks. Explore how shadows and light reflect off of various surfaces, and see how it affects your final composition.

Different lighting. Experiment with different lighting, both in the studio and in natural light. Avoid shooting with the traditional overhead lights in your home, as light colours will mix and produce odd and unintentional shadows. Different light sources can subtly change the mood and atmosphere of an image.

Camera angle. Try moving your camera as well, and see how the composition changes. Shoot both with a tripod and with your camera in your hand. You might just find an even better angle of your subject than the one you had in mind. When shooting handheld, make sure your shutter speed is fast enough to avoid camera shake.

Focus and depth of field. Experiment with depth of field. Consider focal length, and try using a prime lens or a zoom lens to mix things up. Focusing on one small point rather than having the entire frame in focus can change your composition dramatically. Many cameras are designed to focus on the human face, so try using manual focus instead.

Add motion. While traditionally a still life is just that, “still,” you can add elements of motion to your still life photography. Reach your hand into the shot and move something mid-photo. Or slow down your shutter speed and catch motion blur with a spinning ballerina music box. It’s up to you.

History

The creation of still life painting in the sixteenth century, perhaps with religious motives, continued through current time. This may be because the freedom this art offers in placing the elements where the artist wants, which generates control on the structure of work. Still life works gradually included anything that did not move as well as those that are dead. In addition to creating still life work normally, artists also included elements of still life in other genres of work, such as portraits, in supporting roles. The still life has witnessed a transformative and interesting evolution from the bottom of the hierarchy of artistic genres. In France, still life photography came back in the late nineteenth century, when modernist painters discovered it as the perfect subject for the formal exploration of different styles, colours and compositions. 

There were different styles of still life, for example:

• Product photography: used to showcase products, such as electronics, jewellery, and clothing.
• Food photography: a subset of still life that often centres on depictions of food in an attractive way.
• Flower photography: focuses on capturing the beauty of flowers.
• Abstract photography: focuses on the shapes, colors, and textures of objects.
• Table-top photography: a great way to get started in still life photography and can include any of the above types of photography.

HERMENEGILDO ANGLADA-CAMARASA, DAHLIAS AND OTHER FLOWERS, 1951

This still life painting shows joy. The different colour bouquet shows the happiness through its bright colours. It is flower photography focusing on the beauty of the flowers but comparing them to the beauty if life.

Timeline of still life photography

The English term “Still Life” originates from within the 17th century when still-life art was at the height of European popularity. Still-life has existed since the 17th century until the modern day but, in the 19th century, artists adapted photography as a new medium for still life art, to express there concepts. Still life became less popular at one point, but regained its commonness again. Even today, still life photography is still very popular within many photographers.

What is Vanitas?

Vanitas is a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability. This genre began in the 16th century and continued into the 17th but has since lost its popularity.

What is Memento Mori?

The phrase “memento mori” is Latin for “remember you must die.” It is a reflection on the impermanence of life and a constant reminder not to take your time on earth for granted and not to worry about things beyond your control. Memento Mori is an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull.

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

From flowers to seashells, decoding the symbols in still-life paintings can reveal a hidden world of deeper meaning.

Fruits are some of the most ubiquitous subjects in still-life paintings over the centuries. Not only does a basket of fruit offer the artist a variety of colours and textures to utilize, but it also offers a variety of religious and mythical symbols.

Made famous by Dutch and Flemish artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ‘vanitas’ still-life paintings express the transience of life and the futility of materialism. This tradition also provided a justification for painting beautiful and expensive objects instead of more overtly moralizing subjects.

A beautiful bouquet of flowers in full bloom can signify life, faith, growth, and power. Wilting flowers, on the other hand, serve as grim reminders that life, material goods, and beauty are fragile.

In ancient times, it was believed that a person’s soul was contained in their reflection. Mirrors have been included in a variety of paintings throughout history. They can represent either truth and self-assurance or vanity and distortion, the difference depends on who is looking at their reflection. A broken mirror is universally recognized as a bad omen.