1. Portraits
2. Texture - Lines - Pattern
3. Color - Light
4. Still Life
5. Macro
6. Landscape - Panoramic
7. Clones
8. Photo Essays
Still Life Links:
AGFA - Still Life in a Glass
digital DESTINATIONS
Mark Meyer Photography
Ebay Photo Tips
GIMP Tips:
Selection Tools -
There are 6 basic selection tools. Double click on each icon to see tool options.
If you're pasting still life photographs onto new backgrounds you'll want to use the layers tool box.
Still Life
Artists have been painting scenes of objects
for a long time. This painting of strawberries was discovered in
ancient Pompeii. It
was covered by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in
0079. Still life paintings use everyday objects positioned in common scenes. They are really a study of light, color and texture.
One of the most famous still life painters was Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. He had the ability to use light and color to create an almost photo-like quality in his work.
If you think these paintings are simplistic you should read about how to setup a still life. Your still life photographs should use objects you can find all around you in interesting arrangements.
This photograph of a golf ball is simple but it has lots of texture and the position of the ball draws your eyes into the frame. This image was coverted to gray-scale using the Gimp.
These grapes are only part of the
photograph. The blue sky and panoramic view add depth to the image. Be
sure to click on the image to see the full-size version. The colors and
saturation were enhanced in this photograph using the Gimp.Assignment:
Select and mount 6 of your best still life photographs. Use the links below to give you some ideas for composing your still life photos. You can think small or big. Compose your objects and shoot from different angles and with different light.
I used a simple background and the blur filter in the GIMP to get the
highlight effect seen in this photo. If you're using a wide angle lens to get the photo try using a slow shutter speed and tripod with a smaller f-stop to increase your depth of field. You might also experiment with using the telephoto and taking the shot from far away for a different look.
You can use selection tools to completely
remove the background from your image. This is often desirable for
photographs used in catalogs or on ebay. If you want a fun photo
assignment, photograph some model cars to create advertising
photographs. Experiment with removing the background or pasting in one
of your own. You'll use the GIMP selection and layers tools to do this.
- David Latchman's Still Life Photo Gallery
- Better Photo.com's Still Life Gallery
- Usefilm.com's Photo Critique - Still Life
- The Photo Contest - Still Life
Evaluation Rubric - Use this tool as a conversation starter for your photos.