Still life photography

Still life is a composition of several lifeless objects brought together by a certain theme. Shooting still life photography is a great training for the practicing of composition and lighting techniques. Still life should clearly express a certain idea. It may be made up of objects put together according to their practical function or of things that may appear different from their destination point of view, and in this case they should be united by a clearly and distinctly expressed idea.

Still life is often an integrant part of portraits. Things that surround a human being in a photo play a very important role by emphasizing the truthfulness of the portrait and by suggesting the psychological profile of the subject.

Still life reportage is very interesting in nowadays photography; it describes the world of the contemporary human being.

In order to produce a still life artistic creation you should master the photography technique perfectly. First you should learn how to render the objects’ shapes and structure. Highest image clarity is required.

In order to obtain a large depth-of-field you should take photos using a very small aperture that consequently requires the use of a stand.

Still life requires a reduced composition of the frame; its surface should be limited in order to guide the viewer’s attention towards the objects, an idealistic touch being found within each and every object. The background should be peaceful, homogeneous, rarely with a hue from light to dark. The lit objects are sometimes better perceived on a dark background and the other way round, the dark ones on a lit background. The background is usually a little blurred. As background you can use a plain wall, a cardboard or a special ornament like a thick curved drawing paper. In certain situations such an ornament may be covered with a similar cloth.

Certain artistic problems specific to still life as: tonality, image luminosity and compositional balance may be solved with the help of light. Sources of artificial light are usually used for the still life lighting. Still life can also be photographed during daytime with natural light. In such cases, the necessary tonality, the lighting of dark areas and the placing of lit areas are obtained by means of several reflecting screens made of white paper, cloth, aluminum foil or mirror.

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