Coping with complicated nonetheless life scenes and compositions could be daunting, but it surely doesn’t should be unattainable.
Glass could be troublesome to work with resulting from reflections and undesirable highlights, and a polarizing filter generally is a nice assist in coping with undesirable reflections. However one other nice methodology for eradicating numerous undesirable highlights and reflections is to solely work in weak or feathered gentle.
Behind the nonetheless life scene arrange
It is a shot from a latest photoshoot, taken on my cell phone. As you’ll be able to inform it’s fairly darkish within the studio. I’ve a Bowens strobe with a 95cm octobox arrange on half energy and aimed on the white ceiling.
The one gentle hitting the scene was the mushy feathered fringe of the strobe gentle and the sunshine mirrored off the ceiling. This diffuses and softens the sunshine, but in addition the highlights and reflections. The background can be matte black painted canvas, which displays nearly no gentle.
Transferring the octobox round to search out the very best place for eradicating as many reflections as attainable can take a short while, however is effectively definitely worth the effort. I’ve set my digital camera up on a tripod to not solely free my arms for styling, but in addition to have the ability to take an extended publicity if essential. I took the unique photograph with the strobe and had a setting of ISO 100, f/14 and 1/125s to accommodate the strobe gentle. Then, I needed to strive for longer publicity with out the strobe and didn’t need the digital camera to vary positions.
Composition
With the composition, I attempted to maintain so many alternative gadgets inside a triangle form — observe the peak of the bottle in addition to the width of the shot. I additionally positioned my digital camera on a slight downward angle of about 25 levels, permitting me to seize the cheese and grapes towards the again of the scene. If I used to be taking pictures straight on these particulars would have been misplaced. Taking pictures from the highest down (flat lay) would have labored for the cheese platter, however the label on the wine bottle would have been out of shot. I even have the sudden angle of a cheese fork off to the aspect. Usually, I like so as to add one thing sudden.
The sunshine leads the attention by the picture from left to proper — from the glasses to the bottle and over the cheeseboard and leads again to the bottle — actually making the wine the hero of the picture. It’s good to contemplate which merchandise is your hero and what gadgets add to the story or can probably distract from the story … if it doesn’t add to the story you are attempting to inform, take away it and see if that improves your composition.
Attempt grouping issues, even inside a extra complicated picture. The glass bottle and goblets make three glass gadgets the board and knife deal with make 5 picket gadgets. Then the cheese and crackers additionally make 5 yellow gadgets. For no matter purpose having issues grouped in odd numbers is extra pleasing to the attention than even numbers. Attempt it for your self! In fact, there’s all the time an exception to each rule.
Shade palette
I used a darkish, wealthy shade palette for this picture, conserving my tones on the hotter aspect. There’s a steadiness between the pink/browns and yellow/mustard, and naturally the moody blacks. A cooler shade palette and lighter background would have appeared nice and given a really completely different really feel to the entire picture. You may go from winter to summer time just by altering up the colour palette.
