Art Around the House - Tethered Desktop Studio

[Robert Watcher]

Looking around the house for interesting photographic subjects.

This is not only a closeup of two forks out of the drawer, but I was also able to experiment with Live Composition to introduce some colours in the background with my iPhone. I just did a Google search for a colour and then click Images at the top of the browser and filled the phone screen with the colour.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

I do a lot of still life images and have often done many household items in the past with anything I find laying around the house. I have also done my share of kitchen utensils. Spoons are a great subject because their rounded parts reflect whatever they are placed on. That can bring about some cool creative shots. I like what you've done with the background. I have done water and oil shots and googling for colors and then setting my glass receptacle with water and oil directly on my ipad and taken the shot from above. Using the ipad gave great light too. You will find that there is no lack of things that you can use, even the tiniest bit of crimped up paper can give you interesting shots.

I'm going to be looking at your journey into still life as it is something that I enjoy so much and truly interests me. So cool!

 

[Robert Watcher]

I do a lot of still life images and have often done many household items in the past with anything I find laying around the house. I have also done my share of kitchen utensils. Spoons are a great subject because their rounded parts reflect whatever they are placed on. That can bring about some cool creative shots. I like what you've done with the background. I have done water and oil shots and googling for colors and then setting my glass receptacle with water and oil directly on my ipad and taken the shot from above. Using the ipad gave great light too. You will find that there is no lack of things that you can use, even the tiniest bit of crimped up paper can give you interesting shots.

I'm going to be looking at your journey into still life as it is something that I enjoy so much and truly interests me. So cool!

thanks for the tips Maggie.

I have an interesting option with my Olympus cameras that isn’t available on other brands. That is Live Composition. And that is how I achieved my background here.

The shutter was open continually (using the magic of taking continual short exposures) for several minutes while I found a colour to display on the iPhone screen, waved it in between the vertically positioned forks and black foam core leaning against the wall. Then walked around the desk and fumbled to find another colour and waved it while watching the screen to see where it was having effect, and on and on. It’s really quite an incredible feature. I could have kept the exposure going for a few seconds or several hours, and the picture would never overexpose - and every picture will be unique with its background and reflections off the shiny surfaces. Because of that, I just took my time after I clicked the shutter and didn’t have to specifically prepared anything other than position the forks in front of the lens with a couple of clamps supporting them. I am enjoying the experience.

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

That sounds like an interesting thing to do. Very creative. Some people look down on still life, but for me, I find it very creative because all aspects are put into your hands so you are responsible for all of them. I never do just snapshots and I think that you can tell when people simply do just snaps as the composition and the light isn't good or exciting. It's going to be a lot of fun for me to watch your progress and the ideas you come up with. Maggie

 

[Jim Olson]

So simple but so cool.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Started out with a dead dandelion from the front yard, then expanded into a small glass ornament Anne has sitting on a table in our living room, where the base contains a bunch of air bubbles embedded in the glass.

the first pic is a set of images Focus Merged in Affinity Photo. The second pic, I used Stacked Set of 3 images so I could use specific areas of the 3 focal points, to create mood - by masking each layer and brushing in the areas I wanted included. For the third image, I took off all the macro rings and shot at f4 for a Close Up view with the macro lens. I couldn’t figure out how to keep the dandelion in position without dropping to the bottom of the vase, so you can see I improvided by wrapping some paper towel part way down the stem, and jamming that into the opening.

As well, a few BTS shots of my simple setup, taken with my iPad

 

[Robert Watcher]

I tried Focus Merge with a set of these images, but it just didn’t work well. I shot a couple at f22 and f16 to get as much DOF as possible. Those are these ones.

I find it so fascinating to see all the little micro air bubbles inside each air bubble.

 

[Robert Watcher]

I wanted to try the extension tubes on one of my zoom lenses tonight. I used all 47mm on my 75-300mm zoom. For creative purposed I used to do this years ago in my studio with film cameras - using all the tubes I had, a 2x multiplier, and the longest zoom lens I had in those days (I think went to 150mm).

How it works for focusing with a zoom lens with extension tubes - is that your Zoom ring becomes your Focus ring. A little bit of mental gymnastics.


TOOTHPICKS IN A HOLDER

MY BOTTLE OF PORT

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

So cool, Robert. Looks like you are exploring and finding techniques that work for you. The bubbles are fascinating.

 

[Jim Olson]

Your shots are fantastic
I love them
Jim

 

[Robert Watcher]

Your shots are fantastic
I love them
Jim

thank you