For the photos I took, I chose my favourite ones and flagged them green and rated them five stars, for the ones I disliked I flagged them red. The photos coloured yellow were the photos I wasn’t sure about.
This photo of plyers was my favourite and the best looking photo I took. I edited the plyers to have a darker ambience and sharp shadows around the tool.
For this photoshoot I arranged tools on the copy stand. These were well lit and didn’t require much editing after. As a result lots of the photographs looked well lit and bright and I edited the photos after to have a darker vibe like Walker Evans has in his photos. The six photos I edited all matched this vibe.
This photo is before and after I edited the paintbrush on adobe Lightroom. I edited the temperature to be darker and have more colour and changed the exposure to -50 to have a darker feel in the picture.
Today we opened up Adobe Lightroom and created a new collection called “Tools”. I then selected all my photos of tools that I took in yesterdays lesson, and ranked them based on how good they are and how accurate they are to the inspired artist’s. This gives us a good idea on which images we would like to use in the future on projects etc. The images that are ranked green are my best photos, they are the ones I like the most and will definitely use in projects etc. The yellow images are the ones that I could potentially still use, however improvements could be made. For example, most of my yellow images do not have good angles, or are slightly blurry. The photos that I ranked red are ones I will not be using in my projects.
I edited all my photos using Adobe Lightroom classic.
I warmed this photo up by giving it a yellow tint. I did this to create a nostalgic feeling almost as if it was a memory. I picked these objects because they feel homely, again creating a good, joyful image in your head.
For this picture, it was basic and white. I turned the temperature all the way down to -100. I did this as it drew me in to the picture more than the original colour. It brings peace and tranquillity to mind. I picked this object because it was simple, but with some editing made it effective.
In this picture, I turned the temperature down to make a colder and darker effect. I also put the contrast all the way down to get strong texture. I picked this object as i thought it was quite unique.
Walker Evans began to photograph in the late 1920s. Walker Evans is known for his black and white images. He uses low light in his work which helps create the shadows he focuses on.
Darren Harvey
Darren Harvey’s photography has similar vibe but a different ambience as the colours used are a lot of brighter colours or more light involved to make the picture look sharp with the shadows behind the photos.
Still life is a way of taking pictures or painting of objects by arranging them in intricate designs which often are used to remind the viewer of how volatile life can be but also the beauty and complexity behind living. They are commonly seen depicting fruit, flowers, vases and skulls.
Paulette Tavormina
Richard Kuiper
Kevin Best
My attention was first brought the the frilly collar in this one then the skull and then finally the books. With the way the light is so intense on one side of the skull and so weak on the other it is most likely artificial lighting. The texture on the spine of the books appears very smooth and the fabric that the objects are stacked on.
Compared to other still life’s that include things such as skulls and books this one is rather simplistic and I think that’s what drew me to it the most and made it stand out.
Kevin best managed to create dark gothic still life’s with light foreground objects. These often depict books, skulls, fruit, instruments and a glass by reinventing the paintings from the “golden age”.
Timeline of Still Life
The term Still life comes from the Dutch word ‘Stilleven‘ and gained popularity in the 16th century, however, there have been paintings of paintings fond in Egyptian tombs such as the tomb of Menna. dating back to the 15th century the ancient Greeks and romans created similar art with one of the most famous examples being a first century wall in Pompei.
During the Middle Ages still took on a religious theme, incorporating arrangements into biblical scenes. They also decorated manuscripts with coin shells and shells.
the renaissance saw an increase in popularity in still lifes of flowers. This mainly occurred in the 17th century when northern Renaissance artists became interested with creating studies of everyday.
During the Dutch golden age artist took flower paintings to the next level with the development of vanitas, which showed the mortality of life.
Still popular in the modern art movement with Pierre-Auguste Renoir dabbling with the genre, but it really made an impression in the post-impressionist period. Vincent van Gogh painting flowers vases and Cezanne painting a famous series involving water jugs, apples and wine bottles on top of askew tables.
With the invention of the camera and society developing at a rapid pace, new themes started to appear among the genre: modern food such as a fast food and intricate perfume bottles. The still lifes created with a camera are hyper realistic compared to the other periods- however, they display a restricted spectrum of emotions. But with the use of new technologies, photographers are able to create more detailed designs.
What is a Vanitas?
A Vanitas is a work of art that uses symbols such as skulls and fruit to show the shortness of life and the futility of pleasers, they are designed to remined the viewer of their own mortality.
What is Memento Mori?
The phrase ‘memento mori’ is Latin for ‘remember that you must die’. these portraits often include things such as skulls and hourglasses to remind the viewer that time doesn’t stop for any one and that we all eventually run out.
Still life (Coined in the 17th century and derives from the Dutch word stilleven) is a Dutch style of painting popular throughout Northern Europe during the early 1600s with arrangements of lavish and exotic objects with depth and meaning.
Abraham van Beyeren is a Dutch artist who painted ‘The Hague’. This painting includes fruits, a lobster, metalwork and glass to represent wealth, luxuries and earthly pleasures. Previous paintings of the century focused on reminders of immortality with wilting flowers, human skulls and rotting foods.
Timeline
Still life solidified itself as a genre from the Netherlands in the late 16th century hence ‘stilleven’ the Dutch origins for the English term still life. These were paintings made up of religious symbols. It emerged from rising fascinations with high detailed realism in art.
Gradually the religious symbolism was swapped with moral lessons, the natural world and exploration of the new world. This prompted the beginning of scientific illustrations and the appreciation of objects without religious or superstitious meanings. Interest with exploration of the new world brought newfound wealth and with it expensive arrangements of silvers and golds as opposed to flowers and meats.
By the 18th century production decreased in favour of Rococo decorations on porcelain and wallpapers. All religious symbolism had been lost and paintings were made up of interesting textures like feathers and fur instead.
The 20th century saw attention shifting to abstract, representational art instead. Detail had been replaced with bold outlines and vibrant colours, backgrounds were no longer plain and incorporated many different colours which was a major step towards abstract art.
Now in the 21st century still life has extended to all sorts of mediums such as sculptures, photography and digital art.
Objects and Meanings
Vanitas are a metaphor for transience(the state or fact of only lasting a short time) since the 1620s saw the outbreak of bubonic plague.
Memento Mori is an artistic reminder of the inevitability of death. Skulls, hourglasses, clocks and snuffed candles are all common symbols used in Memento Mori photography.
Skulls represent the certainty of mortality probably because the skeleton is only visible after you’ve begun decomposing after death.
Flowers represent life and growth because spring is when flowers bloom and their lives are so short that you can witness their whole cycle.
Mirrors represent soul in reflection because they reflect.
Musical instruments represent beauty and transience because music requires skill to master and can singlehandedly change the mood of a room as well as being an admirable skill and can create beautiful art pieces.
Silvers and golds represent luxury because of the price tag associated with these items.
Candles represent the passing of time because they gradually burn down.
Seashells represent birth, purity and fertility.
Insects represent transformation and decay because of the change from caterpillar to butterfly and they slowly eat away at plants and creatures.
Dead animals represent contradiction and the hunt because they are either a predator which hunts or prey and will be hunted.
Final Image
For this photograph I only used 3 objects. The background is split in two with both black and white card used which lines up with the tapes and tools. I used a low angle which made the objects appear slightly larger so they would fill the shot. There are only three colours: black, white and red which I think creates a more uniformed look and gives the photograph a simplistic appearance. I changed the temperature because it had a blue tint before but also increased the exposure and contrast. This made the photograph brighter and the difference between tapes and tool clearer.
Albert Renger Patszch takes black and white photographs with distinct shadows for the appearance of depth. His photographs focus on plants and landscapes and with repeating patterns and clear lines. I believe this photograph is a good example of these features combined.
This photograph shows a plant stem vertically filling the frame which creates a clear line through the centre. This creates a sense of symmetry without both sides being the exact same.
This photograph is black and white with the subject dark and the background much lighter which contrasts to separates the two. Black and white is more dramatic since colours are vibrant and cheerful. This photograph could have easily been taken in colour but that would focus attention to the shades of green as opposed to its shape and texture.
Aperture controls the blur or sharpness of an image. f/2.8 blurs the background so makes the subject stand out so is used in portraits. Lower number means more background blur. f/22 has a clear background so is used in landscapes.
Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed is how long the camera is taking the photograph. A longer shutter speed (i.e 1 sec) will have moving objects blurred. This shows movement. A shorter shutter speed (i.e 1/4000) will have a moving object crisp.
ISO
ISO affects the exposure by sensing how much light to let in. On a bright day you would use a low ISO so it isn’t as sensitive and in the dark you would need a high ISO. You always want to be using the lowest ISO possible because it will look grainy otherwise.
Camera simulator
I used Cannons camera simulator three times with different settings to see what affect they had on a photograph and I think the third turned out the best. The colours are bright, the shutter speed is slow so shows movement and the background is slightly blurry so the aeroplane stands out. The photo before is grainy and too dark but the propeller is completely still. The second photo had its ISO too high and looked grainy and the first was a bit too overexposed.
I’ve discarded these photos because they didn’t meet a standard, and a lot of them involved hands and blurs that were automatically taken by the camera.
These are two photos that I deemed valuable enough for an edit, but overall didn’t turn out too great and I wasn’t impressed with the result of the editing process. They were too grainy and lacked the detail in texture that I wanted to replicate from Walker Evans and Daren Harvey-Regan
Overall I think these images turned out the best of the 54.
The shadows and texture were what I wanted from this photoshoot and they also contained the specific clarity and vintage look I wanted to include to match that of Walker Evans and Daren Harvey-Regan.
