1 Lighting & the ‘Still Life’

2 The Still Life 1.A representation chiefly of inanimate objects, for example, a painting of a bowl of fruit. 2. The category of subject matter in which inanimate objects are represented, as in painting or photography.

3 Dutch Still Lifes Rachel Ruysch, Flowers, 1706 Dutch, 17 th century When we look at still-life images like these today we might be impressed by the skill of the painter, but they do not usually carry any ‘deep meaning’ for us - they are just pretty flowers or a collection of objects represented in paint.

4 Dutch Still Lifes Rachel Ruysch, Flowers, 1706 In the 17 th century images like these carried a strong moral message: Fruit, food, flowers and human bones were often used as momento mori – reminders that we will all die at some time - life is fleeting (it soon passes).

5 Paul Cezanne, ( ) These objects might look at if they are just randomly placed, but Cezanne often spent a long time moving the objects until he had just the ‘right’ arrangement and composition.

6 Photographic Still Life Sometimes the objects photographed can be very simple, as in these images of crockery. Note the way the dark or out-of-focus background does not distract, so that our eye is drawn towards the main subject(s)

7 Some photographic still life images are more complex; this image is intended to emulate (copy) the style of the Dutch genre (type or category)

8 Still Life photographs are often used to illustrate magazine articles – What is the theme or subject of this still life?

9 Hard light gives crisp strong shadows and an image with high contrast. Hard light comes from small light sources such as the sun on a cloudless day.

Soft light gives soft gentle shadows and an image with less contrast. Soft light is made by large light sources (e.g. a white cloudy sky). 10

11 Which of these still-life photographs uses soft light? Which uses a harder light?

12 Some things to consider when creating a still life: Consider several arrangements of the objects to find the most pleasing or appropriate composition. Consider how you want to light the composition (hard or soft light, direction of light, even or uneven lighting, contrast etc) Consider how you want the background to appear (plain, fussy, dark, light, in focus, out of focus etc). Experiment with different camera angles, heights and distances from the subject.