Still Life Photography

 

Get inspiration for your next Still Life Photography shoot and learn the tips, tricks & techniques used by professional photographers for amazing results. Have you ever tried to do still life photography? It’s a wonderful way for photographers to practice and improve their skills. If you’re not sure what it is or how to get started, this guide can be of great help.

You’ll find some great still life photography ideas, beautiful examples of still life photos for your inspiration, and 16 pro tips for you to try on your next shoot. Still life photography refers to pictures that feature an arrangement of inanimate objects. These can be organic – like food or flowers – or human-made. It’s important to understand that still life photography can be broken down into two major categories: ‘created still life’ and ‘found still life.’ Which one your photography falls into depends on whether you planned and organized the still life or not.

It can be further sub-categorized according to the subject that the photographer decides to shoot  (i.e., still life product photography) or technique (i.e., flat-lay still life photography). So, for professional still life photography, what you need to prioritize is resolution and image quality. Full frame cameras are the best choice then, but they can be costly. If you can’t afford one just yet for still life photography, don’t worry, you can start with whatever camera you have – or even your smartphone. Prime lenses are the best for still life photography because they offer sharper images, less distortion, and wider apertures than zoom lenses. Since you’re working in a studio setting (most of the time) and using still objects, you don’t need the versatility of a zoom.

A nifty-fifty is a good overall lens to start with for still life photography. It won’t cause any distortions because a standard 50mm offers a similar perspective to the human eye. Then, a short telephoto (85mm or 100mm) with macro capabilities will widen the creative possibilities for your shooting. It will allow you to capture small subjects or experiment with selective focus.

A wide-angle lens will work well for bigger scenes or small scenes if you don’t have much room to step away from them. Something around 35mm will work well enough without causing much distortion. Using a tripod is key to still life photography. Having a steady point of view allows you to compose your image in the best possible way. Also, it will prevent any camera shake in case you have to work with slow shutter speeds. Since you’re working in the studio, you don’t need to worry about weight, so get the sturdiest tripod that you can. Keep an eye on versatility, though, because you’ll need to move your angle of view.

Make sure the tripod head allows you to pan and tilt easily. For low-angle shots, you might find it comfortable to have a center column that can turn upside down. Many still life photographers prefer shooting with natural light. However, using reflectors and diffusers can be really helpful to manipulate the light. To create good still life images, you need to thoughtfully choose the elements and arrange them with care. Still life photography is all about the details.

One of the best ways to get started is by planning your shot. Think about the shapes, colours, and characteristics that you want before you pick the right object. Try drawing your scene to decide on still life compositions; this will help you organize and execute the idea with better results. Composition refers to the position of the objects inside the frame. Many rules can help you with this: the golden spiral, the golden ratio, the rule of thirds, the rule of odds, etc.

Most cameras have a grid with the rule of thirds to help you compose and frame. If you’re practicing with your smartphone, you can download a camera app with different grids. Finally, you can fix up your still life photos using the crop tool and composition overlays in Light room. Although, it’s always better to get it right in-camera if you can. As any professional photographer knows, it’s always best if you have control over the final result of the photograph. While the auto mode might give you a well-exposed picture, you don’t get to decide the rest.

For some images, it works better to have everything in focus; for others, it’s better to have a shallow depth of field. To control this, you need to shoot with the right exposure. The same goes for the shutter speed. If there’s a moving element in the picture, such as water running or snowflakes falling, you have to decide if you want to freeze it or keep some motion blur. Learning to use the semi-automatic programs such as aperture priority mode or shutter speed mode will improve your still life photos. The background is a big part of still life photography. You’re not photographing a product where you use a white backdrop to isolate and highlight the subject – here, the background is part of the scene.

To choose the right background, you need to ask yourself what kind of ambiance you want to set for your images. For example, if you photograph a cup of coffee on wrinkled fabric, it looks like breakfast in bed – it’s cozy. If, instead, the coffee is on a wooden table, you’re already placing the viewer in the kitchen or a coffee shop – you’re up and active. The rule doesn’t just apply to a flat backdrop. If you’re photographing a bouquet of flowers, are they outside? Do you see a garden in the back? Or is it happening indoors? What do you see behind them? With the background, you’re establishing a scene where the story happens. It helps set the mood for your still life photography.

It doesn’t matter if you’re using artificial or natural light sources; finding the best quality of light and lighting setup for your still life photography scene is essential. Lighting is important in still life photography because it helps you control the scene and create a mood. It’s different from using a hard light with strong shadows than a soft light that brightens evenly. You can also choose between low-key and high-key lighting. These lighting setups are very popular in still life photography. You can use low-key lighting in still photography to have a dark and moody ambiance and High Key Lighting for a clean and ethereal look.

The light’s position is also important and often has to do with the shape and material of the objects. For example, glass benefits greatly from backlighting. Stunning still if photography demands the right lighting setup to turn even the most inanimate subject matter into an interesting subject. A great way to improve your still life photography is by trying different points of view. Move around your set and capture the subject from various angles to add interest to the final shot.

When you do this, you’ll get the creative juices flowing, and everything changes in your photograph. The objects’ shape is different: think about a cake that’s a circle from the top but a rectangle from the side. The perspective is also different because things that are closer to you will appear smaller than objects that are further away, and so on. Just by changing your position, you can get completely different pictures. That’s why you’ll notice many photographers are always on the move, even when taking portraits or capturing simple objects. To move is to see the world in a different way.

Much like product photography, still life photography is all about still objects. When you photograph only one object and leave the rest of the frame empty, it can be a powerful image. For this to capture effective still life images, it has to be done properly – and not all objects are suited for this.For creative photography, use props that go with your main subject because they share a theme or a colour – in other words, they make sense together. If not, you can try opposing things to play with other juxtaposition examples and create contrast in your image.

Before you get everything rolling with a still life photography shoot, setting up your subject is significant. There are numerous instances of still life photography abilities that photographic artists use to improve food or items to prepare them camera. A basic method for upgrading a still life photograph is by adding drops of water to a brew bottle or a glass of chilled tea. It's the most effective way to bring standard items like a jug of lager to life - build up is a characteristic event, in actuality. Setting up the items in the scene isn't just about improving or adding a wow factor; it's likewise about scrupulousness. Assuming you're working with flatware, you should clean it prior to setting your scene - the equivalent goes for adornments.

The utilization of variety is an incredible asset in still life photography. It very well may be a wellspring of differentiation or a typical subject between objects in the watcher's eye. You can direct the watcher's consideration through the scene by making objects pop on account of photography methods, for example, applying correlative tones. One more methodology for still life shots is to direct the watcher's eye to zero in on shape and surface by utilizing a monochrome variety range. Other incredible still life photography thoughts incorporate utilizing sparkling things that bling against a dark foundation, lively varieties that pop, and warm-shaded food things that entice the eye and the belly. You can get motivation from craftsmanship history and nature for an exemplary mixes or go to plan to see what's as of now moving. Surface can add visual interest to a still life photo in your next photograph shoot. Contemplate a tabletop scene: will the last picture with a plate of steaming food look better on a white-finished table, or could it at any point profit from a rough wood surface? Involving a finished foundation for artistic work or item photography can make a difference between the negative space and the subject. Obviously, this isn't a standard for every one of your pictures, however it functions admirably in certain circumstances.

Another significant surface is the one that the still life subject gives. Ponder an orange under the studio lights: could you rather see a level shape or the surface of the strip? To assume imaginative command over the surface, you need to think about the item and the lighting. Recollect that delicate light coming from the front will straighten a surface. If you have any desire to feature it, utilize a harder light that comes from the side. Regardless of whether shooting relaxed pictures, you want unlimited authority over the lighting to acquire shocking still life photography. All things considered, food photography wouldn't be the hit it is without getting the lighting right - regardless of whether utilizing direct daylight.

Any total manual for photography tips will order that photography is a work of art that is tied in with narrating. Your photography portfolio ought to peruse like an image book brimming with motivation and craftsmanship - regardless of the remarkable type you work with. Still life photography is the same - it's an amazing classification for recounting stories through still life pictures highlighting lifeless or regular articles. At the point when your picture recounts to a story, the watcher is promptly engaged with it and gets contributed. Cause your still life photography to convey something to the watcher to have staggering still life shots. You can get as inventive as you need and track down motivation from the regular world to make still life workmanship.

Still life photography thoughts exist wherever we look. Similar as traditional life compositions, transform the everyday into craftsmanship with your own extraordinary style. Perhaps you need to recount your granddad's story by making a still existence of the family legacies or the narrative of a culture for certain conventional items.

As I referenced previously, it's in every case great to design your still life picture. Envision how you believe it should look and draw a sketch that will direct the last picture. Nonetheless, one of the most mind-blowing photography tips I can share is that once you have that shot, don't stop there. Still life photography requests that you change the lighting arrangement, revise the articles, change your camera settings and perspective. Still life photography is tied in with fostering your most memorable thought and getting to work catching unequivocally what you imagined. Then, at that point, whenever you've nailed those still life shots, switch things up - you just may think of a far superior thought or still life photography creation all the while.

Another fundamental tip is to be ready to shoot various different still life photography pieces simultaneously. On the off chance that you've gone to the difficulty to set up your lighting, camera stuff, and work area, you should shoot various different still life photography creations. To assemble an imaginative still life photograph, you don't need to contemplate the actual item. You can have a go at utilizing conceptual ideas and set up the items that address them - for instance, pre-winter or love. To begin with calculated still life photography, you can peruse some photography and workmanship books. Painters have involved this procedure for a really long time, and you can get extraordinary motivation from them and their speciality. Photography is the same, and you ought to investigate various reasonable photography books or even an internet based arrangement of a calculated photographic artist.

Not all still life is developed by the picture taker in a studio climate with high quality items or painted material. Some of the time, it's simply an issue of keeping your eyes open for those little fortunes that you can transform into the ideal picture. Workmanship is all over the place, and it calls the watcher's consideration in loads of various ways. Numerous photography sorts, like road and scene photography, are tied in with seeing the magnificence and craftsmanship that as of now normally exists. 'Found' still life is as quite a bit of a craftsmanship as still life that is made. To stroll around and perceive something that would make a delightful photograph is a great expertise.

So get out there with your DSLR, cell phone, or mirrorless cameras, eyes totally open, and begin shooting still life photography. Post-handling is a significant piece of still life photography. Frequently it's simply a little change like tweaking the openness or rectifying the white equilibrium on your still life's. Practically all photography, even that shot with a full-outline camera, benefits from a little altering. All master picture takers work with post-handling or altering work process - a similar applies for still life's. Different times it's more complicated, for instance, mending bits of residue or defects that you didn't understand when you were shooting.

A photographic artist might try and eliminate undesirable items vital for creation, for example, the strings that hold 'drifting' objects. You can likewise do some inventive post-handling. For instance, make a photograph composite, or add an impact to make your still life photograph seem to be an artistic work painting. In aggregate, adding after creation to your work process opens up a universe of chances to improve and enhance your still life pictures.

There are instances of still life surrounding you, so get an article and take photographs. There are made still lifes, where you deliberately organize a bunch of items for your photo; tracked down still life, when you coincidentally find a pleasant scene or put in a position to photo. A still life is a plan of ordinary items without a human subject. The articles can be normal like foods grown from the ground, or human-made, like books or adornments.

An effective photo begins with the subject; you really want to pick the right ones and orchestrate them appropriately. Then, utilize visual strategies to recount the story you need - think about the lighting, the organization, and so forth. Fruitful still lifes appear as craftsmanship and make a response in the watcher. An extraordinary all-around focal point is a 50mm prime. Notwithstanding, on the off chance that you can bear to have multiple, short zooming focal points with large scale capacities make an incredible expansion to your sack.

Still life - both photography and painting - is so named on the grounds that its subjects don't move; they're lifeless things. The term gets from the Dutch word 'still even' in light of the fact that it was in the Netherlands, where it was first perceived as a craftsmanship kind. Business clients frequently request still life photography to exhibit their items and use them for publicizing or article purposes. Additionally, still life photographic artists frequently sell their photos on stock photography sites.

Capturing still lifes doesn't need to be the sole sort of artistic work picture takers. With a touch of readiness, motivation, and a great deal of training, you can make staggering still lifes deserving of any workmanship exhibition in the country. What have been your encounters with any of the still life photography kinds we've canvassed in this aide? Do you adore food photography, or is item photography more your thing? Remember to share your accounts, remarks, and inquiries here to turn out to be essential for the discussion.