sill life fruit bowls

alan72 · 29 Jul 2023

This isn't something I really do often but I have not been able to get out with the camer a much recently and after a while the creative itch needed a scratch. I've always been impressed with this type of art and I get too easily frustrated with my efforts but sharing here for constructive feedback and input.

I set this up on the kitchen table, strung up a dark blanket at the base material and background and tried some of the fruit in various combinations and angles. I think I like these best. Lighting is only natural light coming through the patio doors on the right side of the image. I've faffed about in photoshop with some curves and dodging and burning.

If I want to do more of this a couple of things immediately come to mind, I need a better background material and may go looking for some old rustic fabric somewhere, and some more props would be helpful.

Any constructive comments on these welcome.

fruit bowl 2 by Alan, on Flickr

fruit bowl 1 by Alan, on Flickr

BI4A0228-Edit by Alan, on Flickr

Gav. · 29 Jul 2023

I'd pick 1st and last for the fruit placements.

I don't mind a black BG, but for me, I think they need to be sat on something with a shadow to 'anchor' them down, they look a bit, lost in space

alan72 · 30 Jul 2023

Gav. said:
I'd pick 1st and last for the fruit placements.

I don't mind a black BG, but for me, I think they need to be sat on something with a shadow to 'anchor' them down, they look a bit, lost in space

Yes I agree, I set up the blanket to have light and shade over a corner but I think I have over done it in pp. It’s interesting how the contrast has changed from what I see in my monitor, to Flickr, to what appears here.

I’ll reprocess to keep the “foreground”.

TheBigYin · 30 Jul 2023

To be honest, while I love the idea that people are actually having a go at this style, in this case at the moment they're just a little "floating in a sea of darkness" - to me they need to be grounded in reality - so, something under them (table) and something behind them (wall, curtain).

Also, they just look a little "cold" to me - colour balance definitely to the colder end of the spectrum - this is a fruitbowl, therefore at least to me feels more natural giving the feeling of a more "harvest time" warmth.

if you have a look through this album of some of my old stuff, you'll see the progression I made into still life stuff - don't take too much from the earlier attempts - other than how much its possible to improve in the space of a month or so... https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_big_yin/albums/72157664824726733

alan72 · 30 Jul 2023

TheBigYin said:
To be honest, while I love the idea that people are actually having a go at this style, in this case at the moment they're just a little "floating in a sea of darkness" - to me they need to be grounded in reality - so, something under them (table) and something behind them (wall, curtain).

Also, they just look a little "cold" to me - colour balance definitely to the colder end of the spectrum - this is a fruitbowl, therefore at least to me feels more natural giving the feeling of a more "harvest time" warmth.

if you have a look through this album of some of my old stuff, you'll see the progression I made into still life stuff - don't take too much from the earlier attempts - other than how much its possible to improve in the space of a month or so... https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_big_yin/albums/72157664824726733

Thanks, yes I need to reprocess so they are not floating in space. I also need to invest in a better background. The white balance is entirely a deliberate choice, I desaturated and cooled a little but I can see that this really should be warmer for vibrant fruit. It's quite enjoyable, problem solving, I'd like to do more of this so will continue to dabble. I have some earlier efforts I may share.

TheBigYin · 30 Jul 2023

alan72 said:
It's quite enjoyable, problem solving, I'd like to do more of this so will continue to dabble.

it's a great style to get completely obsessive over...

I think that one particular shot in the album I shared earlier ended up consuming about 3 months of my free time - what with prop hunting, learning how to do "stucco rustico" plastering (the back wall in most of those shots is actually a half sheet of plasterboard, plastered on both sides - one with a "very" rustico attempt and one with a more polished plaster effect. Then factor in building the table, actually learning how to light this kind of stuff properly et soon added up. As I say - obsessive - it took me nearly 2 hours with a scalpel and enough failed attempts to produce lemon slices for about half a gallon of gin and tonics to get one I was happy with.

And then of course, there was the time spent training the Bluebottle.

alan72 · 30 Jul 2023

TheBigYin said:
it's a great style to get completely obsessive over...

I think that one particular shot in the album I shared earlier ended up consuming about 3 months of my free time - what with prop hunting, learning how to do "stucco rustico" plastering (the back wall in most of those shots is actually a half sheet of plasterboard, plastered on both sides - one with a "very" rustico attempt and one with a more polished plaster effect. Then factor in building the table, actually learning how to light this kind of stuff properly et soon added up. As I say - obsessive - it took me nearly 2 hours with a scalpel and enough failed attempts to produce lemon slices for about half a gallon of gin and tonics to get one I was happy with.

And then of course, there was the time spent training the Bluebottle.

With all that G&T it must have been fun regardless of the image!!!