Still Life - Intro

What is still life? Well the definition in wikipedia is "Still life photography is the depiction of inanimate subjects or a group of objects which are either natural or man-made, via the means of a photograph"

Basically for me its a subject that can be manipulated into how you want it framed. You can also take your time with lighting and the settings. Still life is used everywhere, advertisements in shops, posters, tv, etc. One area I think its good to try still life is selling on ebay. With a bit of effort you can make your subject stand out from the rest.

Firstly consider the background. If its a solid colour or shade this will concentrate the focus onto the subject. For a solid background you can use a bed sheet, a towel, I've even used a black fleece before. Keep the subject a distance from the background to eliminate shadows

Secondly consider the light. The great thing with still life you can try so many different things and experiment. Light is the key, grab a bedside light a torch even and light the subject up. Play with shadows on the subject too, shoot away and see what you like.

Finally look at composition. With the flowers I think it looked better getting in closer and making the focal point the open flower. With the old camera it looked better with the subject turned inwards. Again experiment and see what works.

Flowers mounted in an empty wine bottle. Black background with two strong lights either side.






D700 ISO250 F13 1/60

The background here is a graduated one. I picked up 6 different colours off ebay for £10. Useful for these kind of shots for ebay.







D700 ISO100 F6.3 1/60