Good Morrow fair readers (let's be optimistic)... This morning I have been mainly shooting still-life. I found these dishes in a charity shop for £1.25 - I haunt bargain shops in my meagre lunch break ever on the look-out for props for photos. David brought me the lovely chopsticks when he went to Japan and I've been waiting for the right photographic moment to present itself to make use of them. The little cat is actually a money box and I got him from a cat show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
Technique? I shot in front of our French doors so lots of lovely morning light, and I used two large pieces of card - one behind and one to the left as reflectors. The dof was created by using my 50mm lens with its aperture wide open (f/1.8). Processed in LightRoom.
I do love all those beautiful colors in your pretty little vignettes, especially those chopsticks. Beautiful shots!!
ReplyDeleteYou give life to still life :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely collection (of treasures AND of photos!) Those chopsticks are elegant, and the dishes - what a fantastic bargain you found! I'd love to go thrift-shop shopping with you. :-) The whole collection is colorful, cheerful and gives me a powerful hankerin' for Asian food! :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen you say you used "pieces of card" as reflectors, what exactly are you talking about?
Thank you Deanna, and RuneE you are too kind.
ReplyDeleteLaloofah:Ah yes, the joy of lurking in cheap shops and snaffling up a bargain... I saw a very nice wedding dress today and was standing there wondering who I could persuade to wear it when I came to my senses...
Righ then, reflectors, the use of... I use a reflector or a large piece of white card from a stationers to bounce back light onto a subject. So if my still-life objects are on a table with the light coming from a window to their right, I put the card on a chair to their left to bounce back light onto them and lift the shadows - try it you'll see the difference. I also put white card on a chair behind them to act as a backdrop and again bounce back light onto them. A reflector is good for taking portraits too - you can really lift the dark shadows on someone's face by using one (have a practice on BW - obviously you have to get your victim to hold the reflector out of shot if there's only the two of you!). If I get my act together in the morning (ha!) I'll set up a shot to and take a photo of how I do it.
Thanks for the explanation! I knew about the concept of using reflectors - even tried it myself once, to photograph some food on our dining room table. But I wasn't sure what you meant by "pieces of card," I'm thinking you're using pieces of white card stock paper (stiffer and more glossy than regular paper). I'd love it if you can post or email me a photo of your technique in action! I should use it more.
ReplyDeleteOh my God, I love your photos so much I don't even mind waiting for them to load on my rather cheap computer ! Thanks for commenting on my blog, Barbara and have a lovely week !
ReplyDeleteI'll always look down on wooden chopsticks now.
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