Monthly challenge #31 - Still Life on a Kitchen Table Competition
| Title | Monthly challenge #31 - Still Life on a Kitchen Table |
|---|---|
| Judge | drofmit | Closing Date | 31/01/2015 | Opting Out | If you'd like to enter but not keen on creating and judging the following competition you have the option to opt out. If you're selected as the winning photo simply create a report saying that you'd like Admin to take over and we'll do the rest. |
| Description | |
It is grey, wet and miserable here today... so I have decided on an indoor topic... "Still Life on a Kitchen Table"... but to make it more of a challenge... you are to include three or more items from the following list: bell book candle tablecloth or other fabric keys orange or other citrus fruit non-citrus fruit biscuits kitchen cutlery kitchen crockery a well known cooking implement obvious cooking ingredients [which can include un-plucked game!] a wine or beer bottle and glass [you can fill it...] you are not restricted to what is listed above... but you must include a minimum of three of them... and three of one item counts as one item! But the end result must be clearly kitchen focused... and as some people won't have a kitchen table... I will allow "worktop" to act as table. Lighting and framing... no restrictions. B&W, monotone or full colour... your choice... all I have done above... is what you would find in a still life art classroom... And I don't mind if you want to recreate any famous oil paintings... or draw inspiration from them... so, take over the kitchen as your studio and get composing! Forum topic created here... Usual rules about Pentax or Ricoh cameras apply... your entry must be taken in January 2015... and the competition closes at Midnight GMT.... on the 31st January 2015 I won't be posting the result until late on the 2nd of February as we are otherwise occupied that w/e. And the winner will need to set, judge and post results and comments on their competition for February. |
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Winning Photograph
Competition Entries
Photographs uploaded to the Monthly challenge #31 - Still Life on a Kitchen Table competition.
Posted 02/02/2015 - 07:42
Link
And so to the comments this frrrosty Frrr-ebruary morning...
Only five entries...
shame... still life lets you experiment with the camera in a controlled way...
methinks Pentaxians prefer to be out and about...
free souls that we are!
Still, what's here is good...
DIY Pizza Kit.... GlynM
A wonderful start....
not so much a composition...
more of a melange!
Absolutely everything in except...
the kitchen sink...
and I didn't mention that!!
You had to use a very wide-angle lens to get everything in...
so you have compensated for the wide-angle distortion...
by arranging everything on the table in an arc...
I like it!
I also like the way you've grouped the various ingredients...
dough items centre to back... topping right, through to centre...
and the table setting of cutlery, glasses, tablecloth and wine on the left...
not forgetting the plates warming in the oven.
And created some triangles... to keep the eye in the frame...
and groups of colour...
viz: the reds on the right...
It could have been a...
"reet mess!"
But time has been taken to shape the contents of the frame and create...
for me... an interesting whole!
Simple Pleasures.... Wildwood512
A very simple subject...
bread dough rising...
and a nice choice of cloth...
the only thing that knocks it back...
[I don't excuse the pun!]...
is the very shallow depth of field...
1/60th of a second at f4.5...
f8 would have been better..
and at 35mm you could have gained those two stops...
and still hand-held the camera at around 1/40th...
go to 400ASA and you could have gained two more and remained at 1/60th.
With digital" film", 400ASA is still streets ahead of the quality of 400ASA "analogue" film...
so, with good glass attached to the camera, don't be afraid to wind up the filmspeed a couple of notches.
Or stay on 200ASA and use a tripod, bean bag, etc. and a remote...
or if you haven't got one, a shot taken using the self-timer works just as well.
Any of the above would have made the items in the composition sharper...
bringing the timer into the picture...
and the front of the dough!!
then three of your objects from the list would have clicked...
the fourth... the baking sheet... just doesn't show enough...
it could be the table top...
the rounded edge leads into the white..
and the cornmeal is a bit too scattered!
Taking a pastry brush to clean up the edge...
and create a ring of the meal...
would have revealed more of the baking sheet for what it is!
But, hey, film is free these days...
when you have a still life situation, play with it...
take it as a chance to run a set of shots at different dof's...
or with different light sources...
etc.
Way back, I used to go through a roll or two of B&W when I felt flush...
just learning camera, light and lens combos...
Now I do it far more regularly...
Breakfast in reverse.... davidwozhere
Very nice idea...
but spoilt, unfortunately, by the framing.
Had you rotated the picture a tad anticlockwise...
and pulled back enough to see the whole frame...
you could have cropped closer to the mirror.
That would make the in-focus subject much more the subject!!
As it stands, it only occupies around one-third of the picture.
Also, turning the camera 90 degrees would have had the same effect!!
There is some wonderful stuff in your gallery...
but in the four pages I looked at, there were only two in portrait...
but at least one per page that would have been good...
shot in portrait, or processed as such...
Remember to think portrait...
it isn't just for smartphones...
we got there first!!
Because you were looking slightly "down" on the breakfast scene..
via the mirror...
a bit of cork tucked behind the bottom of its frame...
would have got rid of the parallax problem!
The subject matter is spot-on....
but the naked early morning sunlight a bit too strong...
my eye keeps getting drawn to the blank page of the book...
a white sheet hung across the window would have diffused the light....
and reduced the contrast somewhat...
revealed some text there...
and created a more balanced look.
See "The Finer Things..... johnriley" below.
Waiting for my steak!.... Noelcmn
Nicely composed still life...
enough items from the list...
a book might have helped with the candle and bell.
Possibly, even, a hunk of broken bread???
Cropping in from left and right...
to the toothpick holder and the wonderful Coca-Cola bottle condiment set...
would have focused more on the seat, plate and cutlery.
Main criticism, tho'...
you either used a fill in flash....
which has left a shadow of the seat back...on the curtain!
A hard-edged shadow.... that needs to be taken out...
OR...
the seat has a square upright supporting the ladderback...
which is partially burnt out... and needs to be darkened...
to make it clear what it is!
As it stands at the moment it is a distraction...
keeps pulling my eyes away from the centre!
But, it seems to me, overall...
a dining room still life more than a kitchen still life.
The Finer Things..... johnriley
Du pain, du vin, du Boursin!
But, where is the bread?
Nice, balanced composition....
the makers of Boursin would like it, I'm sure....
especially if you repeated it with a chunk of baguette instead of the bananas!
Simple, too... you chose just four items and chose to go close-up...
but, in contrast with "Breakfast in reverse" above...
you have a much more balanced light here...
and that shows up the detail on the bottle...
no over-dark shadow behind the cheese...
and the embossed print on "Prestige de" on the bottle label stands out.
The grapes look ready to be picked off the screen.
Only the bananas look out of place...
but that is just personal...
I like my bananas mashed on fresh baked bread...
or baked with Mars Bars!
So, a winner...
DIY Pizza Kit.... GlynM...
not because it has everything on the list in it...
but because of the careful way it was all put together...
I didn't for one moment expect anyone to use the list verbatim...
but Glyn did... and it worked!
Second to the podium...
Mr Riley's "De la banane, du vin, du Boursin"
and HC:
Noelcmn with "Waiting for my steak!"
But for sheer excellence...
and for what I was looking to see...
look at velimir's picture...
originally posted in the discussion thread...
apologies velimir, if I confused the issue...
but it couldn't be judged anyway, as it wasn't shot this January...
but that is a classic still life... in the style of the "old masters"...
if it had qualified for this monthly competition, it would have won!
By miles!!
Only five entries...
shame... still life lets you experiment with the camera in a controlled way...
methinks Pentaxians prefer to be out and about...
free souls that we are!
Still, what's here is good...
DIY Pizza Kit.... GlynM
A wonderful start....
not so much a composition...
more of a melange!
Absolutely everything in except...
the kitchen sink...
and I didn't mention that!!
You had to use a very wide-angle lens to get everything in...
so you have compensated for the wide-angle distortion...
by arranging everything on the table in an arc...
I like it!
I also like the way you've grouped the various ingredients...
dough items centre to back... topping right, through to centre...
and the table setting of cutlery, glasses, tablecloth and wine on the left...
not forgetting the plates warming in the oven.
And created some triangles... to keep the eye in the frame...
and groups of colour...
viz: the reds on the right...
It could have been a...
"reet mess!"
But time has been taken to shape the contents of the frame and create...
for me... an interesting whole!
Simple Pleasures.... Wildwood512
A very simple subject...
bread dough rising...
and a nice choice of cloth...
the only thing that knocks it back...
[I don't excuse the pun!]...
is the very shallow depth of field...
1/60th of a second at f4.5...
f8 would have been better..
and at 35mm you could have gained those two stops...
and still hand-held the camera at around 1/40th...
go to 400ASA and you could have gained two more and remained at 1/60th.
With digital" film", 400ASA is still streets ahead of the quality of 400ASA "analogue" film...
so, with good glass attached to the camera, don't be afraid to wind up the filmspeed a couple of notches.
Or stay on 200ASA and use a tripod, bean bag, etc. and a remote...
or if you haven't got one, a shot taken using the self-timer works just as well.
Any of the above would have made the items in the composition sharper...
bringing the timer into the picture...
and the front of the dough!!
then three of your objects from the list would have clicked...
the fourth... the baking sheet... just doesn't show enough...
it could be the table top...
the rounded edge leads into the white..
and the cornmeal is a bit too scattered!
Taking a pastry brush to clean up the edge...
and create a ring of the meal...
would have revealed more of the baking sheet for what it is!
But, hey, film is free these days...
when you have a still life situation, play with it...
take it as a chance to run a set of shots at different dof's...
or with different light sources...
etc.
Way back, I used to go through a roll or two of B&W when I felt flush...
just learning camera, light and lens combos...
Now I do it far more regularly...
Breakfast in reverse.... davidwozhere
Very nice idea...
but spoilt, unfortunately, by the framing.
Had you rotated the picture a tad anticlockwise...
and pulled back enough to see the whole frame...
you could have cropped closer to the mirror.
That would make the in-focus subject much more the subject!!
As it stands, it only occupies around one-third of the picture.
Also, turning the camera 90 degrees would have had the same effect!!
There is some wonderful stuff in your gallery...
but in the four pages I looked at, there were only two in portrait...
but at least one per page that would have been good...
shot in portrait, or processed as such...
Remember to think portrait...
it isn't just for smartphones...
we got there first!!
Because you were looking slightly "down" on the breakfast scene..
via the mirror...
a bit of cork tucked behind the bottom of its frame...
would have got rid of the parallax problem!
The subject matter is spot-on....
but the naked early morning sunlight a bit too strong...
my eye keeps getting drawn to the blank page of the book...
a white sheet hung across the window would have diffused the light....
and reduced the contrast somewhat...
revealed some text there...
and created a more balanced look.
See "The Finer Things..... johnriley" below.
Waiting for my steak!.... Noelcmn
Nicely composed still life...
enough items from the list...
a book might have helped with the candle and bell.
Possibly, even, a hunk of broken bread???
Cropping in from left and right...
to the toothpick holder and the wonderful Coca-Cola bottle condiment set...
would have focused more on the seat, plate and cutlery.
Main criticism, tho'...
you either used a fill in flash....
which has left a shadow of the seat back...on the curtain!
A hard-edged shadow.... that needs to be taken out...
OR...
the seat has a square upright supporting the ladderback...
which is partially burnt out... and needs to be darkened...
to make it clear what it is!
As it stands at the moment it is a distraction...
keeps pulling my eyes away from the centre!
But, it seems to me, overall...
a dining room still life more than a kitchen still life.
The Finer Things..... johnriley
Du pain, du vin, du Boursin!
But, where is the bread?
Nice, balanced composition....
the makers of Boursin would like it, I'm sure....
especially if you repeated it with a chunk of baguette instead of the bananas!
Simple, too... you chose just four items and chose to go close-up...
but, in contrast with "Breakfast in reverse" above...
you have a much more balanced light here...
and that shows up the detail on the bottle...
no over-dark shadow behind the cheese...
and the embossed print on "Prestige de" on the bottle label stands out.
The grapes look ready to be picked off the screen.
Only the bananas look out of place...
but that is just personal...
I like my bananas mashed on fresh baked bread...
or baked with Mars Bars!
So, a winner...
DIY Pizza Kit.... GlynM...
not because it has everything on the list in it...
but because of the careful way it was all put together...
I didn't for one moment expect anyone to use the list verbatim...
but Glyn did... and it worked!
Second to the podium...
Mr Riley's "De la banane, du vin, du Boursin"
and HC:
Noelcmn with "Waiting for my steak!"
But for sheer excellence...
and for what I was looking to see...
look at velimir's picture...
originally posted in the discussion thread...
apologies velimir, if I confused the issue...
but it couldn't be judged anyway, as it wasn't shot this January...
but that is a classic still life... in the style of the "old masters"...
if it had qualified for this monthly competition, it would have won!
By miles!!
Never be afraid to talk about your techniques...
"Give a thousand photographers...
the same camera, lens and scene...
and you'll always get a thousand different takes!!"
Anon.
"Give a thousand photographers...
the same camera, lens and scene...
and you'll always get a thousand different takes!!"
Anon.
Posted 02/02/2015 - 08:55
Link
Wow! As a very early, first entry I was not expecting to win.
Many thanks Tim for setting what I thought was a really good and original subject idea. So it was a little disappointing to see the low number of entries. However I guess this provided an opportunity for the unprecedented scale and depth of your excellent reviews.
Thanks also, of course, for the win .
Congratulations to everyone else, all four of you, for what I thought were exceptionally good and well crafted images all of which I felt could have won.
I will have a think about a new subject and post something up shortly.
Glyn
Many thanks Tim for setting what I thought was a really good and original subject idea. So it was a little disappointing to see the low number of entries. However I guess this provided an opportunity for the unprecedented scale and depth of your excellent reviews.
Thanks also, of course, for the win .
Congratulations to everyone else, all four of you, for what I thought were exceptionally good and well crafted images all of which I felt could have won.
I will have a think about a new subject and post something up shortly.
Glyn
Posted 02/02/2015 - 12:10
Link
Drofmit, you are a poet! What a splendid way to review the images. Yes, it's a pity there were so few, but..c'est la vie!
Best regards, John
Posted 02/02/2015 - 19:03
Link
John...
you wrote...
" Yes, it's a pity there were so few, but..c'est la vie! "
I'll uncork a bottle to that!
Mainly to go with Pancake Day Number One!
Today is "Chandeleur"... Candlemass...
and the French have pancakes/crepes...
so us Brits can have two Pancake Days per year!!
Vunderbar!
you wrote...
" Yes, it's a pity there were so few, but..c'est la vie! "
I'll uncork a bottle to that!
Mainly to go with Pancake Day Number One!
Today is "Chandeleur"... Candlemass...
and the French have pancakes/crepes...
so us Brits can have two Pancake Days per year!!
Vunderbar!
Never be afraid to talk about your techniques...
"Give a thousand photographers...
the same camera, lens and scene...
and you'll always get a thousand different takes!!"
Anon.
"Give a thousand photographers...
the same camera, lens and scene...
and you'll always get a thousand different takes!!"
Anon.
Posted 05/02/2015 - 01:51
Link
CONGRATS GlynM!!!!! I was amazed at the time you took to lay out your still life! Hats off to you!!!😄
Cheers...Donna 😊
Posted 05/02/2015 - 02:02
Link
drofmit, thank you for the in depth still life critiques. Your observances will go a long way to help us improve our photography skills.
Best to you,
Donna 😄
Best to you,
Donna 😄
Cheers...Donna 😊
Posted 09/02/2015 - 01:41
Link
I've only just got back to here - sorry for the delay.
Thanks for the critique(s) which, as Donna says, have been exceptionally helpful. I hadn't even realised my lack of portrait formats! I'm working on that (and the other comments.
And belated congratulations to Glyn.
Thanks for the critique(s) which, as Donna says, have been exceptionally helpful. I hadn't even realised my lack of portrait formats! I'm working on that (and the other comments.
And belated congratulations to Glyn.
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61 posts
17 years
Touraine du Sud,
[Indre-et-Loire],
France
comments tommorow...
"Give a thousand photographers...
the same camera, lens and scene...
and you'll always get a thousand different takes!!"
Anon.