COMPOSING STILL-LIFE

For a good still –life photographs, a composition must constitute some link between the different objects. It is always good if a person choose a theme or a subject and then builds the composition. Taking a still life shot requires patience and a sense of composition and theme.

Building up a composition

Virtually any object can forge part of still life. Mainly, still life pictures are constituted on adding on the elements step by step. You should begin with the main object, view it through the camera and align it until you are satisfied. After adjusting the position of the former object, add another component and check the view. Similarly, you can arrange more objects one by one till the time you get satisfying results.

Analyzing still life

An assemblage of the object in still life must share the attributes like form, shape, color, tone and texture. Once a person starts taking care of all these elements along with the conspicuous thematic connections, your creative scope widens boundlessly, ultimately resulting in marvelous pictures.

Balance and harmony

The toughest part of creating a still life is to know when it’s complete. A final composition must display balance and harmony. The objects should be arranged in such a way that the emphasis from the main point is not taken away. Composing a balanced still life is instinctive, which comes with practice and good observation skills.

Lightning

The lightning depends largely on the factors constituting the composition and the amount of solidity, translucency or color saturation you desire in the final photograph. Generally, a soft light coming from the front of camera will produce flattening effect, whereas sidelight has a tendency to intensify the surface features of an object.

Below: a large aperture was used to emphasize the color of these flowers by minimizing depth of field and throwing the background out of focus. The lines of the steps beyond are still just discernable and lift the background so that it remains a composite part of the picture without being too bland.

Below: some beautifully composed still life arrangement present theselves; this collection of African craft objects and furniture was lying in the corner of a room, lit by weak sunlight coming through an open window. a white reflector to the right helped throw back just enough light to illuminate the shadow areas.