Starting out to do still life from scratch!

[Dave Butcher]

This work is the product of behind the scenes assignments on very basic approaches to still life, covering simplicity of concept & design, colors used, tonalities and technique in lighting just using available window light, flags, black and white cloth card or paper, flags, depth of field and angles of approach. In suggesting corrections, we might even appear to trespass over the O.P.'s creative intent, but this license is required here as we are merely doing exercises to cover basics. So we are more concerned with the fluency is use of tools than personal authorship. ADK




Hello All, I know it has been a while since I posted any photo's but I have been working with one of our members who I think of as a mentor. For over the past week I have been working on Capturing the essence of the Pears. After working and trying different things retaking pictures and being pushed to take the photo and subject one step further and another step further. This was my best photo of the challenge.

Here it is before any kind of corrections.

​

I sent the above photo to my mentor and he helped me with the corrections to it since I do not have Photoshop. When he sent me back the photo I was floored because the changes to the photo were fantastic.

Thank you for looking and as always comments are always welcome.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Kudos, Dave for listening to Robert Watcher and taking positive steps to embrace learning. It's a pleasure to work with someone who has their own innate ideas, but is open to working from scratch with simple forms.

The aim was to frame the picture and process it without cropping and that you have aced! My corrections are routine but can only be applied to a picture that has the right DNA in the first place.

Asher

 

[Dave Butcher]

Thank you Asher I really enjoyed the exercise and look forward to the next.

 

[Dave Butcher]

I have been working on improving my ability to capture the essence of the subject and I have learned a lot over the past couple of weeks. The biggest thing that I have learned is something that is very simple but due to the way I have shot photos in the past hard for me.

It is very simple LESS IS MORE so here goes.

I do not have a program right now that helps with a lot of the edits and corrections but I am working on that.

I worked on shooting a rose and a raspberry in different kinds of lighting, all of it natural soft lighting and this is the last one that I took with the Black background. Due to the lighting the background is showing up grey.

As always all comments and critique is very much welcome.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Dave, you have a few issues. The first one is that you have used a black background but you have not controlled your natural light. To get a black background using natural light, you need to have some distance from your subject to the background and you need to stop light from lighting everything.

First I can see that you took the photo with the light from the window at the right. You now need to move your idea of how to do this. Part of the light from the window should be shielded. The large window gives soft light but it lights up everything. A smaller amount of light coming in may be harsh. If it's overcast, it will be softer, if not, you will need something to diffuse it like a white curtain or white cotton sheet. Don't use any other color as you will be changing the color of the light.

1- For the Background, I would use some black poster board (very cheap about $1.- at the dollar store) clipped onto something more sturdy like foam core. You may need something behind to hold it up. Any heavy object will do, some books, bricks, jar of change etc., Let the poster board lay lower than the object so that part of it lays on the tabletop.



2- Oftentimes using natural light, we use a white board to reflect light, but here you may want to control it further by absorbing the light so using again black poster board attached to something sturdy will do the trick.

Now, you need to place your object so it is far enough away from the background to make sure your background will be black especially since you are not using any software to help you deepen the blacks at all. Look at your light and place your object so that the part you want in focus is getting light but that slowly part of your subject will start to fall in shadow.

3- if you are having trouble with too much light getting on back of the stem etc., place a smaller black flag to help control even more.

The illustration below gives you an idea. Only when you are actually doing the shoot, will you see the exact positioning you will need to get it all right, but it won't be hard.. if you see light on the background, move things around until it works.

Also, you have focus on the wrong part of your image, You have focus more on the back of the flower and the stem instead of where you beautiful part of the rose is. Move your focus point around to make sure you get that part in focus.
Hope this helps you understand what I mean. Don't be shy to ask if something is not clear.

 

[Dave Butcher]

Good Morning Maggie

You are very right about the lighting. I had the window open with the shade up and the curtains pulled completely open. I also had the front door open with the screen door open as well. I was using white board as a reflector to try and get some better light on the front of the rose and into the petals. I had been trying to light up that portion of the flower with not much success. I was using a piece of black poster board that I had gotten from one of our local stores and had that taped onto the wall in the living room of our apartment.

Seeing the illustration makes a lot more seance than the way I was doing it. On the black flag can that be a piece of black poster board or construction paper? I am going to try and redo the shot this weekend.

Here is a shot of the Rose and Raspberry that I took and loved but I also wanted to try and get a different shot with the thorns and all of the stem included and not as much leaves.

Once again Maggie thank you and I will be redoing this shot on my days off.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Good Morning Maggie


Once again Maggie thank you and I will be redoing this shot on my days off.

Good Morning, Dave.

I like this image better than the first one, although again, the background is too light and the focus seams to be on the raspberry and the leaves. Now, although it is nice to see the reflection, I think it all depends on the viewpoint and if the reflection is helping your composition or not. In this instance, I feel that from the angle that the shot was taken and since your object line is slim and horizontal, the reflection takes up too much space and makes the flower float in the middle. It needs to be grounded, so I think a crop from the bottom would definitely help. Something like this:

Now I realize you may not have software to do this but for $10.00 a month, you can get Photoshop CC and Lightroom and you will always have the latest and best around but at this point, you may find it too much to take in all at once. There are alternatives that are free that will allow you to do all the basic things and a lot more. I found a list for you, although I cannot say which one to use as I haven't used any of them but I know of a few that I've heard people use, for example, Picasa and Gimp.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/best-free-photo-editing-software-10-top-image-editors-you-should-try-1135489

Now back to your photo. Also notice in your photo where the front of the rose is not in focus and the raspberry is as are the leaves. In my mind, the rose is probably your primary subject and on your camera, you can set it to one focus point and then move that point to where you want your camera to be focusing on, the pretty part of the rose. Now, I have no idea what you are shooting with but many years ago when I was just starting out, I had a point and shoot and couldn't move that point, I would turn my camera to focus where I wanted, half-press to hold the focus there, then turn the camera to the composition I wanted, then full click.

As for the light on the front of your flower:
Depending on the ambient light, you may need the white board to reflect light to the front of the rose. You will need to experiment.
A few years ago, I bought a large piece of white foam core and (1/4"thick) and cut it up into pieces and you might be able to find some at your local walmart. They are extremely light and I just slide them into the space between my desk and the wall. They are white when I need them or I clip on black or white poster board as needed. It just makes everything neat and easy and allows me to run the poster board low and curve unto my surface so I don't get a seam at the back. This set up is very versatile as you can use white or black depending what your situation demands and actually any color poster board. Last year, I did a shoot with water refracting through glass vases and glasses and I used lined wrapping paper to get the undulations I wanted through the water.

Most important of all, is controlling the light so you are not getting light on the background, keeping enough distance between your object and the background will help the background melt away. Slightly folding your black poster board to make it slide unto your surface will help avoid any seam lines.

Dave, I know this seems like a lot but it really isn't. Do not be discouraged. You have set yourself up a difficult task. Taking a photo with natural light with light surrounding your subject is quite easy, as you want lots of soft light. (huge window with white curtain or sheet makes for beautiful soft light). Tackling a dark surface with natural light demands a harsher smaller light to separate from the background and severe controlling of where the light is going. So take it slowly and start with just blocking light from the background and see if that is enough, then add flags as needed.

Here a photo with a black background with natural light that I took this summer. It's resting on a black box with a bit of cotton lace taped to it and the background is simple black poster board:

Again, don't hesitate to ask more questions or for clarification. One day, this will be second nature to you. You won't even have to think. You will always be on the lookout if you are in focus where you want to be, if your composition leads the eye the way you want it to, and how light can make whatever you are shooting interesting and exciting. Best of luck, Maggie

 

[Dave Butcher]

Good Evening Maggie

I picked up the Photoshop program that you were talking about and am starting to work with it a little I also added a couple of the other programs that you were talking about. I will be re-shooting the rose and raspberry tomorrow and will be using your suggestions on it.

 

[Dave Butcher]

After reading all that Maggie has said and going out and getting some fresh roses and foam board and other things I set up everything today and here is what I came up with.

 

[Asher Kelman]

After reading all that Maggie has said and going out and getting some fresh roses and foam board and other things I set up everything today and here is what I came up with.

Fabulous, but what is around the raspberry? First I thought it was jam now it seems to be rose petals. That, to me at least, at this stage in your art, (and you have all the license you want later), is too complicated and clumsy. Keep it pure. Just one berry or perhaps 2 but one should be enough as the shadow and reflection will give us the needed flourish.

Of course you could just have a rose petal and not the raspberry but not both together unless you are just doing that as a separate and new project. That BTW, would be a challenge but a great idea!

Asher

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

I think, Asher is right, that the raspberry and petal are too much together. I actually would like to see this just the rose and the petal, like it fell off casually.

I do love your background though, nice and dark and the low composition really works well, and how nice is that reflection? It shines and the tabletop now is dark so it feels very cohesive. You've comes strides.

As for what to fix: Try to get the focus at the most important place - which would be the front side that shows all the swirls of the layers of the rose (as Asher says, right now, it's time to learn the basics, later for your artistic vision).

All in all though, WAY TO GO! This is SO much better than your first rose photo from a few days ago.

 

[Dave Butcher]

I will be redoing the photo the way you and Asher have suggested. I want to thank you for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it. I should have an updated photo tomorrow. I am going to try and get home around the same time that I took the original photo and take a few more. I have also been playing around with Photoshop and trying to learn how to use the program. On this photo the only thing I did was add my copyright tag.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

I will be redoing the photo the way you and Asher have suggested. I want to thank you for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it. I should have an updated photo tomorrow. I am going to try and get home around the same time that I took the original photo and take a few more. I have also been playing around with Photoshop and trying to learn how to use the program. On this photo the only thing I did was add my copyright tag.

There was a crop though, so you learned something else. And depending on the image, sometimes a good crop can make all the difference. I look forward to your next image. Maggie

 

[Dave Butcher]

Maggie

I removed a very small amount and did not even think about it. It is like when I take a photo of a fire or fire truck I don't think about the small things like the engineer of the rig in the photo I just crop them out if I can.

 

[Dave Butcher]

I came home for part of my lunch break a little early yesterday and tried to re shoot the rose and raspberry and here are the two best. I did a little touch up in Photoshop and a slight amount of cropping (to remove a couple of small lines from the background and side piece.)

On this one I did a little sharpening to the rose itself.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I came home for part of my lunch break a little early yesterday and tried to re shoot the rose and raspberry and here are the two best. I did a little touch up in Photoshop and a slight amount of cropping (to remove a couple of small lines from the background and side piece.)

I like the first as the level of view is more appropriate while the second is unsettling. I would consider applying Maggie Terlecki's previous suggestion to remove some of the lower border to put more attention on the rose. You have made great strides in the lighting. Perhaps reverse the rose towards the window so that you can use a white card to reflect more light on the actual rose! Then you can youse photoshop to flip back the picture horizontally to have the same composition but with more light on the rose.

Alternatively, search in Google for a tutorial video on using masks. Then simply use a levels layer to brighten the rose by moving just the center control point on the bottom of the levels box right and left until you are satisfied. Now paint black over your picture everywhere except the rose and the berry and a leaf and then decrease the percent of that layer until it looks right.

Asher

 

[Dave Butcher]

I like the first as the level of view is more appropriate while the second is unsettling. Great strides in the lighting. Perhaps reverse the rose towards the window so that you can use a white card to reflect more light on the actual rose! Then yo can youse photoshop to flip back the picture horizontally to have the same composition but with more light on the rose.

Alternatively, search in Google for a tutorial video on using masks. Then simply use a levels layer to brighten the rose by moving just the center control point on the bottom of the levels box right and left until you are satisfied. Now paint black over your picture everywhere except the rose and the berry and a leaf and then decrease the percent of that layer until it looks right.

Asher

Thank you Asher I will do that in the next couple of days.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Dave, I'm surprised at this latest set of photographs. Doing a black background with natural light is definitely not as easy as doing it with a light background and I think you need to take a step back and forget about doing the black background for now and concentrate on getting an image in focus. In your latest images, nothing is in focus at all. I can't believe you don't see that.

You need to step back and learn how to use your camera properly. I don't want to be mean, but doing things that are too complicated will never work if you don't get the basics down right. Although you could simply take snapshots, like the candid photos of people around the laptop in a different thread, by letting the camera automatically set focus, I believe it is better for you to learn to focus manually and force yourself to choose where you want the focus and how to achieve this. This means abandoning your quest for a black background and using good light instead.

I have a few questions: Do you know how to focus your camera?
Do you know what ISO is?
Do you understand what F-stops are and what shutterspeed is.

Without understanding these very basics things, you will struggle with anything you want to take pictures of and you will be at the mercy of what the camera wants to give you.

I know this may feel harsh, but you can't allow your images to be good only when you get lucky. You want to be the artist and the camera your tool. Just like any tool, you need to learn how to use it properly.

Best of luck
Maggie

 

[Asher Kelman]

Dave, keep the background for a while but change to your cell phone as your camera doesn't focus well enough. This is one rare excuse to dump a camera, LOL! Then switch to a white by as Maggie suggests, just using the cell phone! See if you can then get the rose and berry in focus.

Meanwhile can you answer Maggie's questions?

I will delete this discussion once we resolve what you can and can't do.

Asher

 

[Dave Butcher]

Dave, I'm surprised at this latest set of photographs. Doing a black background with natural light is definitely not as easy as doing it with a light background and I think you need to take a step back and forget about doing the black background for now and concentrate on getting an image in focus. In your latest images, nothing is in focus at all. I can't believe you don't see that.

You need to step back and learn how to use your camera properly. I don't want to be mean, but doing things that are too complicated will never work if you don't get the basics down right. Although you could simply take snapshots, like the candid photos of people around the laptop in a different thread, by letting the camera automatically set focus, I believe it is better for you to learn to focus manually and force yourself to choose where you want the focus and how to achieve this. This means abandoning your quest for a black background and using good light instead.

I have a few questions: Do you know how to focus your camera?

All three of my cameras have a autofocus mode only. I am using a Galaxy Note 4, a GE x600, and on very few occasions I use a Nikon S6300 Coolpix Camera

Do you know what ISO is?

Basically I know that the higher the ISO setting the more light that the camera is sensative to. on my Cellphone the base ISO is 100 and the top ISO is 800. On my GE x600 the base ISO is 200 and the scale runs from 100 to 3200 on the camera. Do I know what the ISO does and how it affects the photos no I do not. And I am being honest about that. I have found an article after reading your question that so far seems to give a good explanation of what it and what it does.

https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography

I am giving this the best I have and working to learn as I go. That is why I work so hard on it and try so hard.

Do you understand what F-stops are and what shutterspeed is.

I will be very honest with you on this the answer is no although I can say on Shutterspead it how fast the shutter of the camera opens and closes.

Without understanding these very basics things, you will struggle with anything you want to take pictures of and you will be at the mercy of what the camera wants to give you.

I know this may feel harsh, but you can't allow your images to be good only when you get lucky. You want to be the artist and the camera your tool. Just like any tool, you need to learn how to use it properly.

Best of luck
Maggie

Thank you Maggie and it is not harsh as far as I am concerned. I am a amateur and I know it. I do manager to get some very nice photos but I am by far a amateur who wants to learn and who loves photography. When I am out taking photos I relax the blood-pressure goes down I forget about what I see and deal with at work everyday. I am able to loose myself in a world that I love. Yes I struggle to get the good shots, and for me when I took the photo of the resident around the computer all I was doing was working on what Asher has been trying to teach me and that is that less is more. I was working on getting a descent photo without including too much like I did in the example below where I should have moved a little and gotten more of the lady and a lot less of the rock.

I really hope that this does not deter anybody from working with me and helping me. What I lack in training and understanding I hopefully make up for in passion and desire. I want t learn and I want to get better and I want to become as good as Robert Walker, Asher, Maggie, and many others that I see here and many other places. Asher has been very kind and taking somebody with a basic camera and very little knowledge has been working with me to help me. And for that I thank him and for all of your help Maggie I thank you. I just ask that you not give up on me and I really want to learn and become as good as I can be.

 

[Dave Butcher]

Dave, keep the background for a while but change to your cell phone as your camera doesn't focus well enough. This is one rare excuse to dump a camera, LOL! Then switch to a white by as Maggie suggests, just using the cell phone! See if you can then get the rose and berry in focus.

Meanwhile can you answer Maggie's questions?

I will delete this discussion once we resolve what you can and can't do.

Asher

I will Asher and I have answered Maggie's questions. But I would like if you are willing to leave this discussion up for one simple reason and that is that it may show others here that I have the desire and the willingness to learn. But it is up to you.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Good Morning, Dave,

Don't be worried, nobody is going to give up on you. I'm glad that you explained that even though you looked up what f-stops were etc., that you truly didn't know how they work. The Good News is that you are going to learn a lot and with this new knowledge you will be able to take the kind of pictures you want to and not whatever the camera spurts out. It's going to be an interesting and very validating experience.

More Good News: Your GEX600 does have a manual mode. You should have a dial at the top that you can rotate to the M. There are other modes but let's start there.

I don't know if you still have the manual for your camera, but here it is: Although the numbers and explanations in a manual really are dry and not very helpful to learn to use your camera, you will definitely find how to set it in different modes and what is where. Since every camera is different, it is good to have this at hand until you know the basics by heart.

http://www.general-imaging.com/uploadedFiles/40_Support/User_Manuals/x600/x600-um-en.pdf
download it and place it somewhere safe on your computer.

Next. Tonight, instead of doing a photoshoot, I have homework for you. A bit of reading, right on this page.

Several years ago, I was an admin on a site that did Photography, Photo Manipulation, Illustration and Writing. One day, in Admin chat, the head of the Writing section was saying she wanted to learn how to use her camera. She had read the camera's manual, but couldn't wrap her head around it. Like you, she was a noobie and didn't understand the F-stops and what that meant etc., so it turned into a conversation, explaining how these things worked. After the conversation, another admin and I, realized how valuable it could be to share with noobies that really could use the information. We decided to turn it into a cartoon to make it a little less intimidating to read. I searched and found I still had it and I'm sharing it here with you.

See the name Eurydice? that was my username. How I got the username is another story for another time!

So here is your homework:
Read this cartoon (it is pretty long) but it goes over many of the concerns and thoughts that an amateur may have and explains it all in detail. Take some notes. Save it if you wish but read it. Without doing a real shoot, have your camera with you and set the upper dial to M (Manual) and find where to change the different settings. Take snapshots with the different settings and see what they do to the final image.

Once you are done, today, tomorrow, whenever you are ready, let me know and at that point, we'll move forward. Asher will guide you and I'll drop by and help too if you need me.

Here it is... ENJOY:

and don't be discouraged. It's fantastic that you have passion and want to learn. It's very good that we now know what you don't know because these are the very basics and it will now enable you to take control.

Have a great read, and again, if questions, don't hesitate.
Maggie

 

[Asher Kelman]

Beautiful!

Start at frame # 7 for aperture explanation! Look out for the owl at frame #12! This is so cool!

Asher

 

[Dave Butcher]

Good Morning, Dave,

Don't be worried, nobody is going to give up on you. I'm glad that you explained that even though you looked up what f-stops were etc., that you truly didn't know how they work. The Good News is that you are going to learn a lot and with this new knowledge you will be able to take the kind of pictures you want to and not whatever the camera spurts out. It's going to be an interesting and very validating experience.

More Good News: Your GEX600 does have a manual mode. You should have a dial at the top that you can rotate to the M. There are other modes but let's start there........................


Have a great read, and again, if questions, don't hesitate.
Maggie

Hey Maggie

Thank you I will go through this tomorrow after work. I just got off work and am very tired. I know that my camera has a manual mode but I am not able to focus manually. Thank you very much for helping me find the manual for the camera. I put a Nikon D90 on lay away a couple of weeks ago and hope to have that in the next couple of weeks. I was able to get it fairly reasonable at a local pawn shop. And thank you and Asher and Robert for not giving up on me.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Let me add, Dave, that many photographers that shoot street or even weddings might have a hard time doing as well with still life. Whether learning to draw on do photography, still life is the most demanding exercise but pays off for ever in better grasp of what is the "essence" of your subject.

This teaches the brain to focus on one subject gestalt "being" made up of things that go together in your arrangement. It allows one to optimize angle, lighting and everything that shapes and shades the arrangement without having to trek to the woods or the mountains!.

Don't be shocked at it being so difficult as in truth it really is....... until you master lighting, hard and diffused light, using flags and reflectors and focusing the camera manually.

Asher

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Hey Maggie

Thank you I will go through this tomorrow after work. I just got off work and am very tired. I know that my camera has a manual mode but I am not able to focus manually. Thank you very much for helping me find the manual for the camera. I put a Nikon D90 on lay away a couple of weeks ago and hope to have that in the next couple of weeks. I was able to get it fairly reasonable at a local pawn shop. And thank you and Asher and Robert for not giving up on me.

Dave, get some good sleep and don't worry too much. Still read the cartoon when you are up for it and learn what f-stops are for and what aperture is and how to make sense of it all. Don't worry, nobody is going to give up on you if you are still ready to work.

Have a good night and I'll be checking the thread for more comeback from you.
Maggie

 

[Robert Watcher]

I just noticed this thread. You are tackling a very difficult genre of photography Dave. Still Life. At least you have someone in Maggie who is masterful at the type of subject matter you are pursuing.

I am going to agree with Maggie on the one area of getting back to learning and mastering some camera technique basics. The primary one that you have issues with in all of the above photos - is focus. It will not matter one bit how nicely you have framed, composed and lit your image, if the focus is not in the right spot and with the right amount of focus.

All focus is on the stems and leaves - way behind the colourful flower and fruit. I suspect that you may be using a center focus point on your camer to attain focus and it is selecting the area in the middle when the flower is to the edge. Or it may be that you are using that point and prefocusing on the flower and then recomposing. Either way will not work with this subject matter. And attempting to fix focus in Photoshop will not make the image better. If it takes learning to Manual Focus if you aren't able to get a handle on the Auto Focus - then that may be what is required.

The second part of Focus, is selecting an appropriate Aperture setting to allow enough depth of field so that the subject will be properly in focus. Thecloser your camera is to the subject, the smaller aperture setting is needed to say have focus on the flower from front to back - letting the stem and leaves fall out of range. Surprising to sone is thst this may require f16 or higher a number depending on the situation. So when you are using natural light, this will create is issues with slow shutter speeds so that a tripod is needed.

Keep on working at what your project here is - but it will take a bit to master - and any mastery requires getting basic camera settings roght first, and then you can start controling the light and then the set and then the positioning. Looking at a great simple still life image, always looks like anyone can do it. I suppose anyone can. But only with some effort. Learning to see is a great start.

And at this point I don't think you're seeing what Maggie has mentioned from your first post related to focus issues. I think you've gotten lost in trying to change all of the other things - but each image goes back to focus. All the best.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Let me add, Dave, that many photographers that shoot street or even weddings might have a hard time doing as well with still life. Whether learning to draw on do photography, still life is the most demanding exercise but pays off for ever in better grasp of what is the "essence" of your subject.
Asher

After reading such statements from you on many occassions and more increasingly lately - and on an occassion or two included in a reply to me ----- I am going to take exception to your thought process of a street or wedding photographer not having the capacity or ability to photograph what might be considered fine art or still life photography. That is a terrible generalization.

I can tell you from my long career having knowledge of many different genres of photography - that in fact a skilled street or wedding or portrait photographer, may be one of the most qualified people to tackle any genre and do it well. Specialized still life or landscape or even advertising photographers, can be very limited in their skill set based on the style they shoot daily. A professional wedding or people photographer faces constant challenges of producing high quality saleable images that cross over everything from war to landscape to architecture to still life to macro - you name it - natural light, tungsten light, studio flash ---- and succeeds.


There is no doubt that to specialize in a certain field to attain top honours, there is some specialized training and insight that is required. But I would put a skilled wedding photographer above anyone else to have the quickest and best success of acheiving great results in any field. I can say emphatically that it doesn't work the other way around in most cases.

Just my 2, 3 and maybe 4 cents, so that this nonsense generalization stops.

 

[Asher Kelman]

After reading such statements from you on many occassions and more increasingly lately - and on an occassion or two included in a reply to me ----- I am going to take exception to your thought process of a street or wedding photographer not having the capacity or ability to photograph what might be considered fine art or still life photography. That is a terrible generalization.

I can tell you from my long career having knowledge of many different genres of photography - that in fact a skilled street or wedding or portrait photographer, may be one of the most qualified people to tackle any genre and do it well. Specialized still life or landscape or even advertising photographers, can be very limited in their skill set based on the style they shoot daily. A professional wedding or people photographer faces constant challenges of producing high quality saleable images that cross over everything from war to landscape to architecture to still life to macro - you name it - natural light, tungsten light, studio flash ---- and succeeds.


There is no doubt that to specialize in a certain field to attain top honours, there is some specialized training and insight that is required. But I would put a skilled wedding photographer above anyone else to have the quickest and best success of acheiving great results in any field. I can say emphatically that it doesn't work the other way around in most cases.

Just my 2, 3 and maybe 4 cents, so that this nonsense generalization stops.

I stand corrected, Robert, (but still have further faults that will be uncovered)! I will let you speak for wedding professionals. My observation stands that still life imaging is so demanding. Shooting beautiful events and things is not necessarily easier. However the [wedding]guys that can do it very well are not so common. That would include those who Bulova watches and Cartier diamonds, Hermes purses and other luxury brands where the photography is beyond superb.

Still life does not generally exploit luxury, breathtaking beauty, rarity, stunning women or rare jewels, just common things made to look holy! In my experience, a lot of photographers avoid this tier or photography as they can do far better in the street or catching that special sports or news shot in a fleeting moment. Except for the right lighting to come from the sky, the timing in not split second or so critical but the placement and lighting of everything is the "orchestra" the photographer is conducting.

There's no doubt in my mind, that a skilled and experienced wedding photographer can turn on a dime and deal with any change in lighting or circumstance. After all, that's what is needed in pulling off a great album no matter what happens! So I accept your assertion that they would excel in still life too.

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

I stand corrected, Robert, (but still have further faults that will be uncovered)! I will let you speak for wedding professionals. My observation stands that still life imaging is so demanding. Shooting beautiful events an things is not necessarily easier. However the guys that can do it very well are not so common. That would include those who Bulova watches and Cartier diamonds, Hermes purses and other luxury brands where the photography is beyond superb.

Still life does not generally exploit luxury, breathtaking beauty, rarity, stunning women or rare jewels, just common things made to look holy! In my experience, a lot of photographers avoid this tier or photography as they can do far better in the street or catching that special sports or news shot in a fleeting moment. Except for the right lighting to come from the sky, the timing in not split second or so critical but the placement and lighting of everything is the "orchestra" the photographer is conducting.

There's no doubt in my mind, that a skilled and experienced wedding photographer can turn on a dime and deal with any change in lighting or circumstance. After all, that's what is needed in pulling off a great album no matter what happens! So I accept your assertion that they would excel in still life too.

Asher

Although it's impossible to tell the intent of words in forums - please know that I was intent on getting my assertion across --- but doing it with a smile.It was not written in a mean spirit or in an attempt to expose faults. Nor am I looking for any faults in anyone. LOL