Critique Still Life

well, aside from the fact that the first two aren't exactly still life subjects (they're more "an event frozen in time via flash" than something more mannered, arranged and considered) and the third is more of a "product shot" than a traditional still life...

First one - nicely sharp - good definition between the "ball of water", the hand and Dart and the black background. Generally I like it, but while I appreciate you kind of "get what you're given" with the balloon as it bursts, it's a shame that there wasn't just a tad more of it visible - we're talking maybe with the hand 1/2" further back out of the balloon, which would also have helped in making clear what the "bursting utensil" was without having to look in your hand for the flights of the dart..

Second one - pretty well exposed, but looking at the full size image on flickr, you're plane of focus is just slightly in front of the glass rather than running through the centre of the glass - this means that the item dropped into the liquid is not as obvious as it could be - perhaps not a problem with this item, but, say if it'd have been the (typical, done to death) Strawberry or Raspberry, then getting sharpness and definition on the fruit, and showing all the little micro-bubbles on it's surface would have been key. So, a good attempt, and scope for a cracker on the re-shoot.

Third one - Well... you've gone for a high-key background obviously, but in doing so, you've over-exposed things a bit, and if I'm not mistaken, you've missed the plane of focus again slightly. For setups like this, sticking the camera on a tripod, and using live-view is definitely your friend... I've often shot "tethered" with the camera attached and controlled by my laptop, allowing me a nice 17" screen to play with to ensure that the image is perfectly composed with respect to the desired DOF and so forth. Sorry, but for me, this one pretty much misses the mark.
 
Hi Phil they're all good photos which have been technically executed well but if I'm honest none of them do a lot for me as finished images and they look more like tests.

Image 1 has been well caught is exposed well and looks sharp everywhere it needs to be. It's a photo I've seen a lot though now, not sure if you're manually firing the camera or using a trigger but if it was me I'd be trying to isoloate the subject of the image more. If you're intent is to capture the water I'd try to time it a bit later to get rid of the balloon and get a bit more movement in the water, consider adding die to the water or gels to the lights to add a bit of interest and use a tool to pop which can be cloned out easily a pin on a long thin stick works well. If the intent is to show more the gesture of the pop again just explore making it more interesting, use something cool to pop it like a knife, go a bit wider to capture the action and improve the background. It's good but looks unfinished.

Second image is kinda same for me looks like a test, you've captured the splash well and the photos seems well exposed and sharp but by using a coloured fruit and a carved glass you get the worst case for both scenarios if you'd captured the fruit in a plain glass you'd have seen it better if you'd used a clear or smaller object in the carved glass you wouldn't pull away from the design. Also the surface is wet in a way that makes it look you dropped a load of strawberries and didn't clean up rather than planned there to be water on the surface. Either be really pedantic cleaning up between shots or shoot a clean surface or deliberately styled wet surface with the same lighting before you start the splashes so you can composite it back in. The only technical crit would be there's a bit more movement in the splashes than ideal so a shorter flash duration would help, if it's speedlights try dropping power and using multiple lights or a higher iso to make up the difference, if it's studio lights it can be harder to get the needed duration.

Not to keen on the third looks over exposed and flat from largely backlighting the liquids I'm guessing its a fairly wide lens used as the verticals look curved there's been a few discussions on lighting glass and liquids recently so I won't rehash it all but @Garry Edwards had a couple of tutorials posted in recent threads, else look at robb grimm or karl taylors stuff on youtube.

There's nothing majorly wrong with any of them but they're the type of shots which lots of people try due to the abundance of table top tutorials around and ease of doing yourself so it's trying to plan out a way to make the final image pop a bit more.
 
Thanks for the comments and I will take them all on board

#1 I was trying to get some of the balloon in the shot as I wanted to show the point when it popped. I did fire the flash manually.
#2 Fully understand about the red object (its not fruit (y)) the curved glass and the water.
#3 This one I struggled with and in the end had to cut some card and make a blank on the back of the glass and bottle.

:ty:
 
re #1. This is a shot that has been done before, by me, several times.
I've always tried to keep my hand out of the shot.Just personal choice but just the dart seems, to me, to give a cleaner image. Of course that means you probably need a trigger of sorts, or a lot of balloons.

I've also done it with a sound trigger using an airpistol to burst the balloons. Hope you don't mind an image of mine...


Messing with Mike18 by Frank Yates2010, on Flickr

Whether it's better or not is open to discussion!

You can use an air pistol on the small drinks cans. Warm them up, give them a good shake and when the dart hits them they rip apart sending the contents everywhere...


Trying to stay dry....(1) by Frank Yates2010, on Flickr

You can have a really messy day doing this. Use the garage, not the kitchen!
There are some more on my flickr if you need inspiration.
Shout if you need guidance of how I set things up.
 
CraigDHD said:
Hi Phil they're all good photos which have been technically executed well but if I'm honest none of them do a lot for me as finished images and they look more like tests.
Click to expand...
I pretty much agree with everything...

The third image is suffering from too much backlight from the BG. And if you want to photograph clear glass on white you will probably need to use negative lighting (black panels) to hold the edges.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top