Month 9, September, Anything goes
Title: Still Life with Knife
Pentax MX with winder, Tamron 70-210 semi-macro zoom, Portra 160, 4 or 5 shots focus stacked with Helicon Focus
Judge's points: 28, position: 12th, competition points: 5
Two judge comments:
My thoughts: I did have a clear idea that I wanted a still life with wide depth of field, colours and textures. I had been successful with focus stacking the previous year, so I thought it worth trying again. I made 2 compositions with decorative objects, and 4 with vegetables and pots, gradually tightening the compositions until the one submitted. One problem was that the table I was using was a bit small, and the edge of the table appeared top right in most of the frames, so that bit had to be cloned in. That went well, although I didn't notice until later that the focus stacking had introduced an artefact in the table slats bottom left.
The idea of the image was vegetables gathered for cooking. Some compositions included a fly that was intended to symbolise decay, but it didn't really work. I didn't notice until after submission that there was a whole heap of Freudian symbolism in the image; I don't think the judges spotted that, either!
By the way, for me, the knife IS dominant. Amongst all those colours and textures this sharp, cool steel blade pointing towards the viewer.
I don't think this composition would have worked at table level, unless perhaps a specially constructed table as
@TheBigYin has told us about.
Finally: shallow depth of field as a compositional device... it can be brilliant, specially when there really is a narrow part of the frame that the viewer's eye is to be drawn to. But if this had been a painting, that device would not have been available, and other compositional approaches are needed. I think in this case those other compositional approaches are right, even if I may not have used them all that well.
I realise this is a slightly belligerent response; I should say, thanks to the judges for the points and the comments, and I was absolutely delighted to get off the starting grid this month!
Ah, a "still life"...
First of all, well done for having a go at it - it's one of the simplest looking kinds of photography, but in its own way it can be immensely challenging - for the very reason that YOU are MAKING the picture, so you've got total and utter control over every aspect of the shot.
I like the approach you had of taking a collection of items and arranging then re-arranging and re-arranging until you got the composition you wanted. I also like the fact that you went for an approach of keeping everything in focus - IMO while using a reduced DOF to pick out specific items is a valid technique, with something like this I actually WANT to see the whole thing.
As it's half "still life" half "food porn" shot, it also gets me, as a pretty keen cook myself, wondering about "the recipe"... initially I thought "ratatouille",then thought "nope, no aubergines or peppers, and sage instead of basil"... "ok then, it's "Courgette and Squash soup... Hmm... Maybe... Or "Stuffed Butternut Squash with Courgette and Tomato's... Yeah - now that'd definitely work."
Which, brings me to the things I'm not sure DO work with the shot...
This, I'll admit, is a purely personal thing, but with still life images, I think that everything that is in the shot HAS to have a reason to be there... in this case, the reason is "the recipe for the dish" So, had I been composing this shot, I'd probably have started with the same thing as you did - half the veg tray and a couple of kitchen utensils...
But then I'd have come up with a recipe - probably the Stuffed Squash one, and said... "ok what do I need to cook that..." so it'd have been probably a saute pan rather than the saucepan, there'd definitely have had to been a bottle of oilve oil somewhere, probably a red Chilli and a red pepper (my all-time favourite soup is Roasted Butternut Squash & Red Pepper, so i'm biased there - but Red Peppers are also fascinating shapes to photograph in their own right...)
And, the most notable change would have had to be, a proper work-surface rather than what looks like a slatted garden furniture table... Even if you WERE preparing a meal "al fresco" and working on that kind of table, you'd NEED a cutting board. So there's a need for an extra prop right there.
So, to the composition...
Again, it's a personal thing, but with these type of shots, I like to see the shot as being from the "chefs viewpoint" - i.e. as if shot with a camera that's facing out of the chef's midriff - maybe a foot above the worktop... almost as if the chef's put his knife down mid-prep and gone to fetch something from the pantry and the photographer has just sneaked in and grabbed a shot (even though we KNOW that these things are FAR FAR removed from a "grab shot") And here to me is one thing why the composition with the knife as it is located doesn't work for me... I'm right handed, and I know I'd never put my knife down on the board behind the squash pointing in the direction it was... Just stand in front of a table and try the action you'd need to make with your right hand to position it there... it's un-natural to the point of feeling slightly painful for me - reaching up and over the squash with my wrist angled back towards my body...
The other thing I'm slightly at issue with is this... none of the veg have been prepared in any way. Personally i'd have had one of the squashes at the top right hand of frame, a saute pan (preferably something posh/poncey like a copper one!) at the top left of frame (running out of shot as they're quite big and frankly would dominate the whole thing if left in whole) with the herbs/parsley hanging over the edge, a cutting board on the table with half of the other squash on the board, the other out of frame, and maybe one of the courgettes sliced in a pile on the side, the other ingredients added around frame to balance the arrangement, but with the knife on the board pointing at roughly 10-o'clock, probably towards the next "victim" to be chopped up...
As it stands, it looks almost like you were under orders "not to play with your dinner"... I think i'd have volunteered to make dinner, but in the process, also made my picture...
Also, you mention in you're description the slightly "freudian" aspect of the shot... again, I think this may well have been something I'd have been tempted to exaggerate and play up to... the curves of the squash for example.
But on the whole, I still think that this shot was far and away your best shot so far - mainly, I'm assuming because it was a "dedicated shoot" rather than a shot taken while out with other non-photographer friends/relatives... and despite what may well seem a little negative comments - I did actually really like it. If only you'd have posted this on Saturday, i'd have probably have had a go at something similar on Sunday morning to illustrate my feedback, but... well... the Butternut squash was cut up and some of it raosted to go with the sunday dinner...
