Playing at still life.

[stevegreen]

As the weather has been absolutely poop I decided to have a bit of a play doing some still life. This was about the best of a short session with some bread, flowers and some slowly rotting fruit.

Whaddya think?

[bodoman]

Well i think its rotten




The apples and the flowers that is, was that intentional, if so is the bread stale as well

I rather like photographs with subdued colours and i like this, might have been even better with fresh flowers and a couple of rosy Royal Gala apples

[onefivenine]

I think it's great.
Looks weirdly familiar, like a painting.

[Liquid101]

I quite like this - the muted colours, the classic subject matter.

I'll take a guess.

Candle from Ikea.
Bread from Morphy Richards
Flowers from Sainsburys

[johnaalex]

I think it is a very nice picture. The one thing I think would have capped it if would have been if the candle had been allow to burn a bit to get some molten wax down the side.

[bodoman]

Yeah i think it would have enhanced it somewhat if it had a few loose breadcrumbs next to the loaf of bread

[denno75uk]

Originally Posted by onefivenine

Looks weirdly familiar, like a painting.

I agree. Especially the apples. Very weird effect. Quite dark as well Steve. Is this intentional as part of the effect?
Like it though. It'd look good on a wall.

[T0MAT01]

Originally Posted by bodoman

Yeah i think it would have enhanced it somewhat if it had a few loose breadcrumbs next to the loaf of bread

And some peeling wallpaper...!

I like it Steve, nicely done.

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by bodoman

The apples and the flowers that is, was that intentional, if so is the bread stale as well

I rather like photographs with subdued colours and i like this, might have been even better with fresh flowers and a couple of rosy Royal Gala apples

It was kind of themed on things ageing to be honest. The flowers are coming to the end of their life and the fruit is probably past it. I think if the fruit had been fresh and shiny and the flowers blooming I would have treated it differently in post processing.

Originally Posted by Liquid101

Candle from Ikea.
Bread from Morphy Richards
Flowers from Sainsburys

Tick, Tick, Cross

Not sure where the flowers were from.

Originally Posted by bodoman

Yeah i think it would have enhanced it somewhat if it had a few loose breadcrumbs next to the loaf of bread

I very nearly buttered the piece I cut off, but yes, crumbs would have definitely helped.

Originally Posted by denno75uk

I agree. Especially the apples. Very weird effect. Quite dark as well Steve. Is this intentional as part of the effect?
Like it though. It'd look good on a wall.

Not quite sure how the overall effect culminated to be honest, I added a texture over the original shot which I had played about with a fair bit in Photoshop and then played a bit more.......probably completely back to front but it came to a pleasing result.

Originally Posted by T0MAT01

And some peeling wallpaper...!

I used a piece of mounting board as a background which has a slight texture to it but I overlayed a fairly strong texture because the 'dead' space mid to top right was not sitting well with me, the texture and slight vignette made me happier.

As an aside, my influence came from here. Some utterley gorgeous still life pictures here, something to aspire to!

Thanks for the comments

[Sorj]

Originally Posted by johnaalex

I think it is a very nice picture. The one thing I think would have capped it if would have been if the candle had been allow to burn a bit to get some molten wax down the side.

I would have to agree. The looks sad and unused.

[Malone]

Hope you dont offend easily
Its all about personal opinion but for me I always felt these sort of images needed firstly a specific point of interest, I cannot see what that is supposed to be in this. Secondly I would prefer to see a much closer shot with maybe less in shot so one could see great detail on one or more subjects. Thirdly it feels off balance.
Hope you dont mind my critique
You did say "Whaddya Think" after all

Have to say I haven't been too successful with these themes. Cant seem to get inspired with still life.

Matt

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by Malone

Hope you dont offend easily
Its all about personal opinion but for me I always felt these sort of images needed firstly a specific point of interest, I cannot see what that is supposed to be in this. Secondly I would prefer to see a much closer shot with maybe less in shot so one could see great detail on one or more subjects. Thirdly it feels off balance.
Hope you dont mind my critique
You did say "Whaddya Think" after all

Have to say I haven't been too successful with these themes. Cant seem to get inspired with still life.

Matt

I know what you mean about a specific point of interest and to a point I agree that this shot does not have one that grabs you immediately. I intentionally placed the knife in the position it is in to act as a subtle lead in to both the fruit and the candle, obviously didn't work.

I'm sure that a competition judge would bemoan the fact that there are four fruit where three would have been better but I think the composition kind of works though I am still thinking that there is too much space mid to top right which could be the reason that you mentioned the unbalanced feel to the shot.

I think still life is an genre that takes a lot of practice and I'm sure that I certainly need to play at this a lot more before I crack it.

Thanks for the comment

[Bristol Pete]

I love it - it represents still life with the subject matter. The tones are superb and this picture has soul. Simple as that

[tontoshorse]

Gotta ask... what'ya doing keeping rotten fruit? Just in case?


Good image though, a somewhat biblical inferrence.

An instant Catholic thought went through my head -perhaps its the bread?

But please light that candle.

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Yes I like it as an image. It's very painterly and I suspect if you saw it as a print it'd be really very interesting to look at.