History

Still life (Coined in the 17^th 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

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.

Camera settings + exposure values

Aperture

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.

Walker Evans

“Beauties of the Common Tool” was originally published in 1955 by Walker Evans with several photographs of individual tools.

The tool is clearly made of metal which reflects light and creates a clean, elevated appearance which demands respect. Depth is clearly shown with the tools harsh shadows that the lighting provides giving the tool a more complex appearance.

This photograph shows a utility tool raised in front of a plain background. This is a birds eye view with an overhead light and raised so that the shadow is kept to a minimum. This ensures that the tool is shown like you would see it and is clearly in focus showing that the subject is deserving of attention and easily draws the eye.

The photographer made sure that there were no distractions in the photograph by using having a plain colourless background framing the object. This ensures that focus is purely on the tool and forces the viewer to see the subject in an isolated environment and appreciate it in a way they wouldn’t have before.

Response

For this photoshoot I arranged tools in front of a lightbox for a bright white background, this made sure the objects were well lit. The second part used two sheets of card with only the pre-existing natural light. This meant that the images were much darker. To adjust the camera settings was difficult and required the ISO to be largely increased as well as the shutter speed and white balance changed. As a result lots of the photographs looked blue or dark because I had to trying out each option. Only the final 6 were bright and the correct white balance.

To narrow down the selection of photos I compared a few images at a time and selected the better one either with stars of colours. I managed to narrow the images down to 3 photographs highlighted with yellow.

Final Image

Darren Harvey-Regan

“Beauties of the Common Tool” was created in 2013 by Darren Harvey-Regan inspired by Walker Evans photographs of the same name.

This photograph combines two work tools through editing. They would have been two separate photographs that were joined together down the centre for a a clear line of separation.

I believe that this line was vertical because it purposefully shows both the head and handle of both the tools. This is significant because had the split been horizontal, one of the tools would have been beheaded. This would look more like the photographer was picking and choosing his favourite parts of the tools rather than appreciating both tools for their usefulness. A tool is useful as a whole rather than dismembered parts

Similar to Walker Evans, this photograph is to celebrate and appreciate house tools for what they are. The tools are infront of a plain background as to not draw attention however this time the background is much lighter. I believe this is because the photograph isn’t supposed to be as dramatic, it is brighter and more celebratory. Both the tools have different functions and different appearances but by stitching them together, this shows that they are equal. The tools are significantly darker also which contrasts with the background making them stand out more.

For this image I set the ISO to 100 since the lightbox was really bright and didn’t need any higher. Since it was so bright I also used a low aperture so that only a small amount of the light was allowed into the camera. This meant that the tool would actually be visible. I used 1/13sec shutter speed which was higher than the others to balance out the light slightly and the camera was zoomed to 41mm so that the whole tool was in frame.

Response

For this photograph I used the two Walker Evans photographs in black and white with a frame. Using photoshop I halved the plyers and layered the cropped image on top of the scissors. I tried to line up the round middle for both and arranged the handles on the same half. I think this image works best in black and white.

Formalism is the basic structure made up of 7 basic elements:

Line

A line through an image which creates a path from one specific point. Lines can be straight, curved, solid, implied or even psychological. Implied lines can be seen in the horizon line and psychological could be the point of a finger. These lines can also hold meaning i.e. Vertical – stability/static, Horizontal – distance, Diagonal – dynamics and Curved – fluidity. This is especially true with the horizon line which creates a sense of calm.

Shape

A shape is a universally recognised formation of lines and space. These can be an outline of an object or a gap in a surface. Shapes can overlap to create new ones or change in angle and appear completely different. A silhouette contrasts with its backgrounds and contains no textures – this is the most visually obvious use of shape in photography and is clearly 2D.

Form

Shape and structure distinguished from its material. It is 3D with height, width and depth. Shadow creates depth that would otherwise be missing in a photograph. Highlights, midtones and shadows capture the spectrum of tone.

Texture

Characteristics and appearance of something. Texture can be described as: soft, shiny, wet, bumpy etc. These can effect factors like light, reflections, shadows. Similar to form this is shown with shadow.

Colour

Colour is the aspect of appearance of an objects that differentiates between objects with hue, lightness and saturation. Colour has 3 properties: hue (description of colour), value (relative brightness or darkness of a colour) and saturation (intensity of a colour). Colour can draw different emotional responses for example: red – danger, blue – calm and purple – wealth. Bold and bright colours are good for catching attention however take away from the subject which is where black and white shines.

Size

Size is the physical size or bulk of an object seen in its proportions and dimensions. Size is often manipulated in photographs to create illusions. Using familiar objects is useful to create proportion in the eye of the viewer (a basketball for example). Without a recognisable object it can be difficult to understand the scale.

Depth

Depth is the direct linear measurement from front to back. Depth is broken down into 3 parts: Foreground, middle ground and background. The clearer it is between, the stronger the sense of depth. It is provided by visual cues: further away objects will have less clarity.

Image Analysis

We broke down these photographs into four sections whcih allows for great detail analysis of images:

• Techincal (i.e lighting and ISO),
• Visual (colour and pattern),
• Contextual (significance and inspiration) and
• Conceptual (meaning and ideas).

Features

Quick edit which is on the right hand side of adobe lightroom. Has a crop option, white balance and also a black and white section when the drop down is used.

The catalogue shows all the photographs. These can be filtered and saved in Collections.

Collections are files within Lightroom. The plus in the corner adds a collection and you drag images into it. If you ‘ctrl’ or ‘shift’ you can select multiple at a time.

This changes how you view the image. The grid shows the whole catalogue at once, the rectangle shows the one selected image in large. The ‘x/y’ shows two selected images back to back for comparison if there are two similar images.

For filtering and rating images there are three options:

• Flags, are a simple yes/no option. If you press p, its a white flag and ‘pass’ or ‘yes’. If you press x, its a black cross flag and a ‘no’. A yes means it is relevant to the project and a no means it is not relevant.

• Stars are a five star system. If you press a number on the keyboard the corresponding number of stars will show up under the image. 5 is 5 stars. 3 is 3 stars. Stars are the quality of the image and the second stage of the process. 5 stars means everything is in focus and in frame. 1 star means the quality is not usable.

• Colours are a small rectangle to the right corner of the bottom of an image. A drop down will reveal 5 different colours for further filtration and organisation. This is the final step after using stars. This refers to whether it is going to be edited. Red means no it will not be edited. Blue means unsure and depends on the amount needed. Green means that yes it can be edited and yellow means it will definitely be edited.

Edited Images

I started with 46 images and narrowed it down with gradually with each filtering option. I finally settled on one yellow and one green photograph which I edited in the quick edit tab.

Both the images were brightened using the white balance option however I didn’t know how to crop or rotate them. The first photograph has a shiny background and reflected the light differently to the second which has matt paper as a background so the whites look different.

Q1

What is the etymology (origin & history) of the world photography? 

A: Writing with light 

Q2

What year was the first photograph made in camera? 

A: 1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce) 

Q3

When did the first photograph of a human appear? 

A: 1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre) 

Q4

Who made the first ‘selfie’?

A: Robert Cornelius (1839) 

Q5

When did the first colour photograph appear? 

A: 1861 (James Clerk Maxwell) 

Q6

What do we mean by the word genre? 

A: A style or category of art 

Q7

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

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

Q8

What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement? 

A: To affirm photography as an art form 

Q9

How do we describe the term documentary photography? 

A: Capture images that truthfully portray people, places and events 

Q10

What is exposure in photography? 

A: The amount of light that reaches your camera’s sensor 

Q11

What controls exposure on your camera? 

A: Aperture, shutter speed, ISO. 

Q12

What control on our camera records moving objects? 

A: Shutter 

Q13

How do we explain depth of field? 

A: How much of your image is in focus 

Q14

What factors affect Depth of Field? 

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

Q15

What is composition in photography? 

A: The arrangement of visual elements within the frame. 

Q16

What is your understanding of aesthetics in art? 

A: Concerned with the nature of beauty and taste. It is subjective and in the eye of the beholder. Aesthetic qualities refer to the way and artwork looks and feels. Making a critical judgement based on observation and understanding. 

Q17

What are contextual studies in photography? 

A: To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images.  

Consider factors outside of the image, as well as inside the frame. 

Q18

How many images are captured on average every day worldwide? 

A: 4.7 billion 

Q19

Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world? 

A: The Queen (Elizabeth II)