For this photoshoot, I was inspired by my previous research on Still Life and so decided to take some pictures of old/ vintage looking objects that I found in a box in the studio. I also used some of my own objects that bought up feelings of nostalgia to me. I chose to use old looking objects as a common theme in the still life images I looked at is that most of the objects looked old and expensive, so I thought I would try and recreate that tone in my photographs too.

Whilst in the studio, I used a variety of the setups such as the infinity curve. I then tested out using different lighting eg a warmer toned light and cooler toned light. There was also a light that I put on underneath the objects in some of the photographs.

Once I had taken the photographs, I put them into my media folder and imported them into Lightroom. I then gave them either a white flag (if I liked the picture) or a black flag (if I didn’t like it). Once I had decided what pictures I liked I rated them out of 5 and gave them a colour (green=good, yellow=alright and red=bad). By doing this, it allowed me to narrow down my selection and make it easier to see what images I wanted to use as my final images and edit.

For this photograph, I decided to use more of a warm tone as that is what I associated those objects and memories with. I like the clarity of the photograph and the reflection of the objects on the infinity curve. When editing it on Lightroom, I went onto the develop tab and then experimented with different settings eg bringing the contrast and highlights down and trying different levels or clarity/ texture.

For this image, I decided to attempt to create a cool toned image utilising an abstract approach in the style of Daniel Sigg recreating the monochromatic effect of his photography. I did this by going onto the colour setting and enhancing the blue in the image. I then changed the exposure and contrast of the image too.

In this picture, I decided to add a light underneath my objects. I think this helped to bring more of a soft, comfy feel to image. However, if I were to edit this again, I would make the clarity of the image more clear as the objects look a bit blurry making it look less professional.

Overall, I like how this photoshoot came out as a first attempt of recreating still life images because I managed to grasp and understand the essence of still life photography as shown in my earlier blog post on still life. I really enjoyed using the infinity curve and will remember that for future projects, as well as beginning to experiment with other setups and attempting to refine my images further.

Still life is a painting/ drawing of an arrangement of objects. These typically include fruits and flowers and other objects that contrast with those textures e.g. bowls and glassware. Still life pictures are often rich with symbolic depth and meaning. It first emerged as an independent genre in the early 1600s in Dutch and Northern European paintings.

Image analysis:

I think this photograph is interesting but also intimidating to look at due to the dark colours and skull, potentially symbolising death.

The various gold objects, book and guitar give me the impression that whoever owned these items was potentially rich and might have passed away (hence the random placement of the objects suggesting to me that the owner didn’t have time to arrange them properly). The objects being unorganised may also represent how we take for granted time and let things pile up until you realise you don’t have enough time to organise them and leave it for others to clean up. This idea can also be seen by the candle which has been blown out, implying the person who owned these objects time was up sooner than they expected.

I think the photograph was potentially taken in natural lighting coming from a window due to the light hitting the objects from the left in a non overbearing way. Most of the objects and table have a smooth like texture furthering the idea of wealth as it is like the objects are perfect and unflawed.

Overall, I like this photograph as I think it allows the person who’s viewing it to interpret it in their own way and come up with a story behind the picture and its meaning. The clarity and quality of the photograph is also very good.

Still Life photography Timeline:

Still-life art has existed from the 17th century until the modern-day, but in the 19th century, artists adopted photography as a new medium for still life art, to express their concepts in a novel format, and thus the still-life photo was born.

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. 

What is Memento Mori?

Memento Mori is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. It is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘remember you must die’.

Metaphors and symbols used in still life:

Many of the objects depicted in still life images are symbolic of some quality of the Virgin Mary or another religious figure (for example, the lily stands for purity), while other objects may remind the viewer of an edifying concept such as worldly vanity or temperance.

Some common symbols in Still Life paintings include:

• Fruit: Varying Symbolism In Still Life Paintings.
• Skulls: The Certainty Of Mortality.
• Candles: The Passing Of Time.
• Flowers: Symbols Of Life And Growth.
• Seashells: Birth, Purity, And Fertility.
• Mirrors: The Soul In Reflection.
• Insects: Transformation And Decay.

Exposure:

Exposure is the amount of light a digital camera’s sensor captures when a photo is taken. Too much light results in a washed out photo (overexposed). Too little light and the photo will be too dark (underexposed).

Aperture:

The aperture setting controls the size of the lens opening that allows light into your camera. You can blur the foreground and background that bracket your subject (known as shallow depth of field) by opening up the aperture with a low f-stop number; alternatively, you can keep your photo sharp from the foreground through to the background (known as wide depth of field) by closing the aperture down with a high f-stop number.

Shutter Speed:
The shutter speed setting controls how long the shutter opens to expose the image sensor to that light. Open it for just a millisecond and you can freeze a fast moving subject. Alternatively, you can show the movement of a fast moving subject by keeping it open longer with a slow shutter speed.

ISO:

The ISO setting a camera’s image sensor can be adjusted to detect more, or less light as needed for a good exposure. On a bright sunny day too much light hitting the sensor can cause an overexposure so make it less sensitive with a low ISO number. If your shooting conditions are dark the sensor needs to detect more light so increase its sensitivity with a higher ISO. High ISO will cause graininess so as a rule use the lowest ISO possible. 

Exposure Meter:

The Exposure Meter is your final check before you snap a shot. At a glance it tells you how your exposure will turn out based on the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings. A well exposed shot lines up right down the centre at zero. An underexposed shot (too little light) falls left of centre and an overexposed shot (too much light) falls right of centre.

Introduction to A-level Photography Quiz

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

20sec

Writing with light.

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

20sec

1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce)

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

20sec

1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’

20sec

Robert Cornelius (1839)

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear?

20sec

1861 (James Clerk Maxwell)

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre?

20sec

A creative process in art

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

20sec

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

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

20sec

To affirm photography as an art form

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography?

30sec

Staging images for maximum effect.

Q10: What is exposure in photography?

20sec

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

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?

30sec

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO.

Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects?

Shutter

Q13: How do we explain depth of field?

20sec

How much of your image is in focus.

Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field?

30sec

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

Q15: What is composition in photography?

20sec

The arrangement of visual elements within the frame.

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art?

30sec

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?

30sec

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?

4.7 billion

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

The Queen (Elizabeth II)

Lauren Hodgson