Weekly #449 - Still Life Competition

Thank you for taking the time and effort to submit your image for a comp. They are an excellent learning opportunity, particularly if you’ve taken a moment to read up on ‘still life’. Given its history from Pharaonic times through Matisse and Picasso, there’s no shortage of inspiration.

Thoughts in the c&c are again my own and thus entirely subjective. They apply solely to this image at this time.

As before, there are two sets of things I will be looking for: the first is whether the image meets the brief; and the second is a combination of content, lighting and composition. That’s a juggling act of course, but it’s fair to say that a weakness in one area may well be off-set by strength in another.

In order of appearance then:

1. Water Lily – Perspicador. It’s a very good subject for your purposes, let down a little by the blown highlights of the petals. A vignette to take the emphasis off the leaves may also have helped.

2. Two Roses – tyronet2000. Not four candles?? A lovely, classical composition with the background handled effectively, along with depth of field. The vase has a fairly intense tinge of blue that distracts from the flowers just a little, but a lovely image nonetheless.

3. Stones – JAK. This one begs the question: ‘What was the essence of the image I sought to capture?’ And – ‘How do I eliminate all but that essence?’ Here the background competes for attention with your subject matter, and almost succeeds. There’s a lot going on – coloured rocks, water, acres of blue sky, a point protruding into the sea… What to look at? A wider aperture may have helped to throw the background out of focus sufficiently for the stones to capture the attention you intended. If you had the opportunity to try this during the ‘Golden Hour’, the light may also have assisted you more.

4. The Sum of Human Knowledge – John Riley. Nicely composed. The specular highlights on the timber are coming from windows? If that’s borrowed light from outside, then well done. On that though, a warmer, softer light may have been more congruent with the subject matter?

5. Copper Pipe Fittings – GlynM. Great subject matter Glyn – glad you had time to enter! A very good example of how to use background effectively: It’s invisible. What else is there to look at except these Yorkshire fittings? DoF also well handled, of course.

6. …appeso.. – Riki63. An unusual, and striking object (to me). This is down to the background again – and what appears to be some CA on the left side of the wire at the lower curve. That’s a shame – this spoils what is otherwise an image with some potential.

7. What Every Cook Needs – JudithAnn. A lovely, rustic setting, perfectly suited to a still life image. This could just have easily been composed with similar materials a century ago. The lighting is well controlled too. Background is done nicely – just like Glyn’s! The crop on the base is perhaps a little on the tight side.

8. The Artist’s Tools – johnjbloomfield. It seems that this is a case of alternating shots in some respects. Again, the background intrudes heavily into a good idea. The subjects are lost in this image.

9. Gerbera – paulb531. A pleasant subject in this, but to my mind the composition is a little awkward. The crop is also a little tight on the sides, and the lighting doesn’t add impact to the image as it should.

10. Dun Rollin’ – drofmit. Ever the wit Tim! Do you seriously carry these around in your camera bag? Great props for the right opportunity no doubt. Well arranged and composed, and in this image the background adds rather than detracts. Good stuff, I like your lateral thinking Tim.

11. Spot the difference – Noelcmn. Glad you did shoot this for the comp then! I hope people take notice of what you’ve achieved here, as well as how you’ve done it. Lighting that falls off to the rear, geometry, patterns, lines, the vanishing point, and the placement of the pear all combine to make this shot. Superb. Well done.

12. Coloured* Straws – AGChristensen. Great choice of colours in your subjects. Good composition and perspective. My only criticism is the fall-off of the light towards the edges. If you've used a vignette to achieve that, it could have benefited from lighter touch. *Apologies - I prefer the Queen's English

13. Lock&clasp – Kree. Not sure if I should view this treatment of your image as a silhouette or as film noir? The idea is interesting, and the subject matter has potential.

14. Old Silver – Davidwozhere. Nicely composed. A different approach to lighting - is it UV? To my mind, its intensity competes with the subject, but not terminally so. The backdrop also suits the subject. I like your choice of depth of field too - quite effective.

Overall

All of the entries met the brief. A good deal of creativity was apparent through the field. What separated the entries was evident in the degree of execution and polish. This can be seen in the content, lighting and composition. Some objects with real potential have improvement opportunities (in my view) in the other two areas, and so on it goes.

Results

Squeak of the Week

Old Silver by Davidwozhere - for getting an entry in with a small handful of minutes to spare!

Commended

Two Roses – tyronet2000
What Every Cook Needs – JudithAnn.

Highly Commended

Copper Pipe Fittings – GlynM
Coloured Straws – AGChristensen.

Picture of the Week

Spot the difference – Noelcmn

I've enjoyed viewing these, as well as sharing my own views for what they're worth - many thanks for your indulgence.

Congrats to Noel for a fine image indeed - over to you.

Oh crumbs, more work! . Rather unexpected but very pleasant surprise. There are so many good images in this challenge, delighted to look through them all, and with everyone I kept saying "tis the one". Agree with our judge on highly commended choices, and thought GlynM had it in the bag. Until those horrible apples made an appearance . Thank you I-Berg, Appreciate that, and a great challenge, and as usual, a learning curve from all the c&c's. Congrats to the HC's, C's and the Squeaky . I'm off for my morning shower, to mull over something for the next challenge. Here's hoping it will not be all wet and dripping

Congratulations to the Winner and other places and thanks for the commendation. Thanks to i-Berg for the interesting subject the judging and the comprehensive comments.

Many thanks i-Berg for setting another great competition subject, your excellent reviews and judging.

Thanks of course for the HC

Congratulations to Noel for the well deserved winning image which I thought was brilliant. Congratulations to all the runners up and everyone else for another set of hi-class and well thought-out images.

I'm looking forward to the next challenge.

Glyn

Nice one Noel.... I had it 'twixt yours, JudithAnn's, the coloured straws and "Skull, book and mallet"... I could live with "Coloured Straws" on my studio wall and both yours and JudithAnn's would grace any kitchen.... I don't have a formal library, sorry John... but that is most certainly where yours would sit... on a dark wall, spotlit... or with a real picture light above it!
I see what our judge says, in his constructive comments, about the fall-off... it draws the eye across the picture, front to back!!
Mine seems a lot flatter... but as the guys are still in their nest of moss, I think I'll leave them there for the moment and experiment with different light sources and angles.
This was one of the most enjoyable comps for a long time... as a person who very rarely takes a still life, I decided I needed to shoot for the comp!!
So I now have a lot of unused still lives!!
Yes, iberg, the "stones" do travel in my bag... they are resin and quite light! Light enough for me to have to work them into that moss... and they have had lots of adventures!! [but mainly shot with my old Fuji... here, tho', they can do a Pentax based tour of the Chateaux de la Loire!!]
Yes, thank you, I do think laterally...
think straight and go straight ahead...
think laterally and you are ready to appreciate, and perhaps take advantage of....
the forks that appear on the road of life.
Four candles .... wish I'd have thought of that...
I've been cleaning ours ready for the next lot of gardening ....
would've made quite a good still life!!

Hey I didn't think of that either Tim - that's clearly courtesy of the 2 Ronnies - bless 'em...

Well done Noel - great idea well executed. Many thanks to I-Berg for the competition and feedback.

Regards

Paul

Where did he find a tray that perfectly fitted those apples (and a pear)? Worthy winner and no mistake. This competition made everyone work to get it right even though mine turned out a bit odd due to man-made velvet instead of cotton - learning point - use quality materials !

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the judge.
Regarding my 'stones' - if you weren't still, they'd have collapsed in a heap! So still life was essential.

Thank you Judge for your adjudication, and a congrats to the winner....Hey Tim, I really enjoyed your comments!

Nice comp, great subject.

Regards;

JAS