Still Life

Boot

Beach Balloon

Green Glass

Blueberries

Blue Glass

This post has been done in response to the Still Life competition being run in May 2013 on The Digital Lightroom Blog.

Constructing a still life is difficult.

The most popular seem to involve flowers and textured backgrounds. Perhaps, given time, and some planning I might come up with something worthwhile.

The alternative is to find a group of objects that fit the bill because all the arrangements that I’ve tried to set up just look clumsy and artificial. The solution for me would involve looking at the work of artists like Cezanne, Matisse, or the Dutch School of painters, and then try to do something similar. The key, I feel sure, would be the control of the lighting. …………All that seems too much like hard work.

…….So the photos here are all found still lives, and like most subject matter in photography, the framing is the thing that makes the image work. Being lazy, I shoot first and then resort to cropping to get the framing right.

Of the 3 photos below, the first is a tone-mapped, then with increased vibrance and reduced saturation, the clarity was reduced and a little yellow toning added, plus a gentle vignette. The second picture has some yellow toning as well, and was given a blur and slight vignette around the edges. The final photo is an HDR of 3 or 4 images which brings out the textures nicely.

Garage Still Life, Fort Cochi, India

Ginger Warehouse, Fort Cochi, India

Colin’s Shed, Kirkcudbright, Scotland.