Thank you Kristen. I had some time today to spend working with some other shells we brought back from our trip to North Carolina. I try to show them in a little different way than just a photo of a shell. The symmetry of their design has always fascinated me and I enjoy trying to emphasize different aspects of that with the lighting.
James Newman
Hi James,
I do like this and the first shell picture. There are a lot of nuances one can bring out too. You picture is dark or light with little softness in between. That, however, is no fault, just
one way of many in lighting the shell. Each photographer can thus develop a distinctive composition. However, even if one can imagine such an individual idea, getting that into a picture it does not necessarily come so easily.
Excuse me for now bringing in someone whose work humbles anyone even with the most creative ideas, Edward Weston who took his efforts to the extreme.
Edward Weston spent months photographing one shell. He obsessed about, wouldn't let anyone in that room as he had everything balanced perfectly and he waited for the correct light.
Edward Weston 1927 Natural Studies Edward-Weston.com
One result of this is that a standard of expectations in such photography has been set. You have no worry that yours is not good enough. It is very nice, but seeing the shell, I know there's more possible.
I do not know what visions you have for your pictures of the shell. However, by sharing with you the work of Edward Weston, perhaps you might get that extra creative inspiration to take your composition further. If it can be done
without going against what you have in mind, try using very soft window light in the evening.