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Critique Sliced Squash Still Life
- Thread starter Idlefrog
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- David
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Nice colours... but why is it resting in a bed of dying fallen leaves? Other than setting a colour palette.. is there a reason for this?
Light falls off a little excessively in the top right corner, and the contrast is a bit harsh on the right hand side of the rightmost objects. Try a larger light source, further away from the set to reduce the fall off across the frame... and a small reflector right of the frame... but watch you don't go too far and reduce the contrast to make it look flat.
I'm not getting the setting though... is this meant to make the squash look attractive and appealing? It looks like it's been discarded and thrown out to me.
I can comment more when I understand your rationale for doing this.
Light falls off a little excessively in the top right corner, and the contrast is a bit harsh on the right hand side of the rightmost objects. Try a larger light source, further away from the set to reduce the fall off across the frame... and a small reflector right of the frame... but watch you don't go too far and reduce the contrast to make it look flat.
I'm not getting the setting though... is this meant to make the squash look attractive and appealing? It looks like it's been discarded and thrown out to me.
I can comment more when I understand your rationale for doing this.
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MWHCVT
In Memoriam
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Sorry but the autumnal leaves don't make any sense, you've got a squash that is clearly been sliced up suggesting domestication, but then you've got half the forest floor underneath it? I would much rather see a clear table than these leaves, they just as well as not making sense make the entire image far to busy
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Is Squash a fall season fruit? Maybe that's it... even so... it looks like it's been dropped on the forest floor. If you wanted a limited,autumnal colour palette, why not use a warm coloured wooden surface, and select other ingredients that compliment the colours well... perhaps the ingredient of an actual recipe... do some research on it.
...unless these are from a recipe.. minus the rotting leaves of course... I can't image those being part of any recipe
...unless these are from a recipe.. minus the rotting leaves of course... I can't image those being part of any recipe
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The colours look nice, yes... but the connotation of the leaves is it's lying outside, discarded.
OP
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Thanks for commenting. I wasn't really trying to make a photo that made sense, just one that had an autumnal feel to it and was visually appealing. There were a lot of leaves below my acer tree and I thought they would make a good background for a photo and I looked around for something to put on them. I thought a squash's colours would work well. I also had a the pomegranate & Chinese lantern flowers available and thought they would add interest.
I like the light fall off. I find it more interesting than being evenly lit. It has been made darker by the application of a vignette. I could have filled it in more with a reflector or moved the softbox further away if I wanted a more even light.
I have done some others using a cabbage, pine cones & mixed peppers which definitely make no sense gastronomically, but I like the colours & textures. You probably won't like those either.
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Well.. the colours do work well. I think we all agree on that... but it is confusing. You really need to think about the meanings of images. The setting's only possible connotation is they've been dropped on a forest floor. That's the first think I thought when I saw the image.
All images make sense though Andrew.. that's the problem. This one makes sense... perfect sense... this sliced squash has been thrown out and it's lying on the ground outside. The trick is to think about the meanings of the image you've taken, or are about to take, and work out if it's the best way to present the subject. Example: If I placed a well made up, sexily dressed model in a dark, grimy, urban back alley... it may seem like a cool thing to do (I see it all the time in many people's images) but think it through.... what's the first connotation of a sexily dressed woman in a grimy back alley? See where I'm going? Thinking it through... it may not be the best idea unless you planned to make your model look like a cheap prostitute.
The light fall off makes it pretty obvious it's a small set, that's all.. if this was a forest floor (again, something you've gotta try pretty hard to think past as there's not many other places you find discarded, rotting leaves) there's no visual clue as to why that right hand corner would be dark. If it was an internal domestic setting, then there would be a million things to explain it away, but it just tends to make it heavy in that corner. If the vignette was applied all the way around... and was a bit more subtle, I think that would be more effective to be honest.
It's a nicely lit shot generally. Colours are nice. Processing makes the best use of the colours. It's just confusing.
All images make sense though Andrew.. that's the problem. This one makes sense... perfect sense... this sliced squash has been thrown out and it's lying on the ground outside. The trick is to think about the meanings of the image you've taken, or are about to take, and work out if it's the best way to present the subject. Example: If I placed a well made up, sexily dressed model in a dark, grimy, urban back alley... it may seem like a cool thing to do (I see it all the time in many people's images) but think it through.... what's the first connotation of a sexily dressed woman in a grimy back alley? See where I'm going? Thinking it through... it may not be the best idea unless you planned to make your model look like a cheap prostitute.
The light fall off makes it pretty obvious it's a small set, that's all.. if this was a forest floor (again, something you've gotta try pretty hard to think past as there's not many other places you find discarded, rotting leaves) there's no visual clue as to why that right hand corner would be dark. If it was an internal domestic setting, then there would be a million things to explain it away, but it just tends to make it heavy in that corner. If the vignette was applied all the way around... and was a bit more subtle, I think that would be more effective to be honest.
It's a nicely lit shot generally. Colours are nice. Processing makes the best use of the colours. It's just confusing.
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