Visit MPB Visit MPB Visit MPB

Weekly #552 - Still life with bottles Competition

Competition Details
Closing Date: 11/02/2018
Judge: drofmit

Strictly as it reads... a still life with glass bottles [plural] in it... yes, you can have other things there that enhance, or give meaning to the bottles. But the dominant objects must be the bottles.
The bottles must occupy 60%'ish minimum of the picture.
They can be empty, full or partway full.... they can be new, old, kiln-melted... even broken.... but recognisable... collet won't gain points or be accepted as a bottle.... but would make a nice substrate or background!

The lighting and arrangement of the objects in the picture, the background material or lack of, the accessories to the picture will all be scrutinised.
Are you going to "paint" an old master... or create something unique... will it demand colour... or will B&W bring out the subject.

Usual rules apply... Pentax and recognised clones... no date restrictions as it is the weekly.
Competition Entries
drofmit
Posted 07/02/2018 - 07:32 Link
ATTENTION!!!
We are three nice photos in...
BUT.....
not...
one
....
is a true...
"still life"....
as aked for in the rubric.

For an example, albeit a glass of wine, look at Stan / Tyronet's entry of last week "Rosé".....
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.
Edited by drofmit: 07/02/2018 - 11:52
Nigelk
Posted 07/02/2018 - 08:25 Link
drofmit wrote:
ATTENTION!!!
We are three nice photos in...
BUT.....
not...
one
....
is a true...
"still life"....
as aked for in the rubric.

I for one don't understand. Please explain fully so others do not make our mistakes.
Mag07
Posted 07/02/2018 - 16:20 Link
Nigelk wrote:
I for one don't understand. Please explain fully so others do not make our mistakes.

I second that. To me only no 2 would not fit the description perfectly. Confused.
'Photography...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten....' (Aaron Siskind)
drofmit
Posted 07/02/2018 - 18:45 Link
Nigelk wrote:

I for one don't understand.
Please explain fully so others do not make our mistakes.

Sorry, Nigel... I will start a discussion topic...
I automatically assumed that "still life" was one of the basics.
Oddly enough , ePhotozine have an article on the subject in January's newsletter.
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.
drofmit
Posted 07/02/2018 - 20:13 Link
Discussion topic started in the competition section...
same title as for the competition:
Weekly #552 - "Still life with bottles" Competition
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.
drofmit
Posted 12/02/2018 - 09:16 Link
Hmmm.... sincere apologies to the people I upset earlier this week.
I had no desire to upset anyone....
but I am still amazed that proper still life photography seems to have gone out of the window....
I just don't comprehend the absence of that knowledge...
it is basic City and Guilds Level 1...
At school I started by drawing still life pictures...
then we progressed to painting them....
then, aged 14, I was given my first SLR...
and discovered that I could photograph them from all sorts of angles...
in B&W as that was all I could afford the way of chemicals!

A still life is an arrangement of objects...
either set up by a tutor or the artist themselves....
to be photographed, painted or drawn as the whole arrangement.
That means whole objects, stationary [still]...
the absolute classics are usually food related....
this is where I started my photographic training....
it is where I have started others off.

It allows you to play with lighting and shapes...
with colours.... with depth of field.... with position....
all with the same set of objects so that your results can be compared.
I chose glass bottles [plural] as the subject because glass is wonderful when lit...
you can overlap the bottles and get transition effects through the multiple layers...
or you can bring liquid into play and completely alter the same set of effects.

I included broken glass bottles for the same reason... overlays of transparence....
but with a sharpness that would give sparkle!
I take still life photographs every time I get a new lens...
it helps me learn the lens itself. It also helps me learn a camera and lens combo...
John K asked why the bottles have to be glass... simply because I specified glass.
Of course there are stone bottles... I have some beauties here somewhere... old ginger beer bottles...
along with far more interesting old glass marble-stopper bottles.

Still thats the reason I chose the subject...
it takes very little time to set one up if you haven't got them in the archives.

Right, warble over... judging time...


A cocktail sure to make you spin by NigelK

All the makings of a still life... apart from the spinning glass!!
Which meant that it wasn't a still-life.
Had you had it standing there with some cold tea in it..
as if you had actually poured those three into the same glass... god forbid!
Gin and Cointreau woild probaby work... but with a single malt... yerk!
I like the two background lines... the one at the bottom brings the bottles forward...
and the curved line at the top joins the bottles.
There is a bit too much reflection from the Adnams Gin bottle...
this is where still life is so good... you can play with the lights without moving the subject.


Drink Anyone? by johnriley

This is not a still life at all... it is a nicely framed shot of the Pimms jugs....
with presumably a welcoming punch ready to be poured into the glasses with the fruit.
The bottles which should be the subject of the still life are off to one side in the background.


These reached the parts other beers cannot reach by davidwozhere

Still, has bottle tops, but not the whole bottle...
they don't look over-sharpened, but you have a halo effect at the top left??
It is the nearest so far....
but not the complete picture, so to speak.
Don't people remember starting on still-life photography??

First three pictures and not one still life...


Cocktails by paulb531

An imaginative still life... B&W with the Clementines colour-popped...
the pale towel makes a nice soft background to the hardness of the glass.
Unfortunately, the towel is showing part of the edge at the bottom of the picture...
cropping upward from the bottom would remove this.
Also the positioning of your light source... which looks to be on camera flash...
would be better above and slightly to the side of the composition...
so that the reflections came off the upper side of the bottles....
and not dead centre of the clementines!


Tasting and After by Aitch53

I like this composition of emptied miniatures...
"tasting and after"... no wonder the "after" aspect...
that's one-third of a whisky bottle!!
This is also particularly nice in that your arrangement also tells a story.
Excess and the result... headache.... need for coffee and quiet!!
{Had to go and pour myself a small one of the middle bottle}
The compositions is also bordered nicely... no distractions to take your eye away from the subject.


I don't like tea. by tyronet2000

Good job I just poured myself a wee dram.... there is too much temptation here...
Shot against black here, some more light on the bottles might not go amiss... and again, not the whole bottle.... you've cropped the tops of the single malts.
Again, the light source is direct from the front!! But not too distracting and the iris has given a nice starburst effect [except on the shoulder of the whisky from Tain, which must be rougher just there... or smeared with something that is spreading the light.]


Red rules OK! by noelcmn

As per davidwozhere's photo... you've only shot the top of the bottles... so not a full still life.
If you'd stepped back and captured the whole bottles it would have stood a good chance...
and if I was there, those bottles wouldn't have stayed in the shop...
they'd've been bought by me to go in my vast bottle collection.


It's 5 o'clock somewhere by johnjm

Yes, there are three out of focus, part-bottles...
and a watch indicating either a long evening, or a lunchtime session...
probably the former I feel as it fits better with the title...
starting at lunchtime and not beer-o-clock!

Not, however, what I would call a still life...
especially as the watchstrap also vanishes off at the sides.



So, results time... I can only award two positions...
the winner is
Tasting and After by Aitch53... which is a wonderful classic still life that tells a story
and runner up is....
Cocktails by paulb531... showing that imagination can work wonders!
Only just pipped by the story that Aitch53 is telling.

So over to the winner to set and judge this weeks competition.
Edited by drofmit: 12/02/2018 - 09:22
tyronet2000
Posted 12/02/2018 - 09:26 Link
Congratulations to the Winner. Thanks to drofmit for the interesting subject the judging and the comprehensive comments.
Regards
Stan

PPG
Noelcmn
Posted 12/02/2018 - 09:41 Link
Well, that was an interesting exercise in knowledge and and education, all of which I appreciate. Will make more comments on the created thread, for now Congratulations are due to Aitch53 and Paulb531. Thanks Dromfit, for what is really an interesting challenge, despite the misunderstanding.
Aitch53
Posted 12/02/2018 - 09:53 Link
Thank you.

I didn't expect to win, so I'm slightly unprepared. I'll try and come up with a new subject by lunchtime.
SteveH!

Some people call me 'strange'.
I prefer 'unconventional'.
But I'm willing to compromise and accept 'eccentric'.
JudithAnn
Posted 12/02/2018 - 11:42 Link
No mater all the conflict I do want to say thank you to the judge for all his laboured work. That was the most educational lesson on still life I had to date. I just want to add, that I withdrew my photo once I read all the threads, not because I was upset... but because I felt my photo had not met the criteria. When I am judging a contest, I have eliminated a photo, stating to the photographer that the photo did not meet the chosen topic.... I am open to creative interpretation, but sometimes your creativity can just be too off. It is a chance the photographer takes..... let's say the competition is "Green" and someone put in a photo of something blue and yellow stating that these two colours make green. Creative? Sure! However I am the judge, and I wanted green...so I simply say...Sorry your photo did not meet my criteria, as there is no green in this photo.

The fault was mine in entering a single bottle, for starters, and because the judge was expressing his likes and dislikes about the other photos before judgement time, I also realized....or so I thought.....that the flame on the candle in my photo could be consider movement..... he explained that movement was a no, no....hummm. After reading his pre judged thoughts, I realized that I had entered a photo off topic...and I withdrew it. Honestly, I said, no reason for him to ajudacate and comment ...it is only extra work, for not!

However, our Tim, took the time to judge it anyway, which was kind.... and guess what, flames are allowed as is smoke...I am not sure why they are not considered movement...but they are not.!

I do want tell Tim, that the pre judging is very unfair. In truth, if I Had not used an archive photo and after seeing the errors of my fellow competitors, hearing the judge clarify more specific what he wanted, and I had of shot a stunning photo to meet all that, it would have been very unfair to everyone, including myself, I would have had a huge advantage. I do feel once you have set the tone, if the photographers fail to deliver, tell them at the end of the contest....enlighten us as to why and what we did wrong. It is great to learn. I can remember the harsh criticism I received when I first started entering comps on this sight.... this is distracting.... this photo is blown out.....the picture is not sharp...on and on...but hey, did I ever learn a ton....and I wanted to win one....I really did....finally one week, I did! My photography started improve, and i have gone from snapshots, to being published, to winning international competitions.

I do think it is very important to hold your judgements until the contest is done...them let them have it...both good and bad. The judge can learn too. Next time you set up a competition, and are looking for a very definite subject, take lots of time to direct and explain. If most of the photographers do not feel any appeal toward your topic....then they will not enter...,had that happen when I chose" small flames"..... and I once had over 30 entries when I chose "mystery photo" ...macro of an object, while other had to guess what it was...but the contestant had to message me what it was.... it is a gamble...for sure. However, pre judging and puplicly sharing it is against any contest rules. Of course you judge them as you receive...but it must remain private until the big reveal.

Oh, and congrats to the winners.....we all know you are very deserving of this win!!


That's all

JA
paulb531
Posted 12/02/2018 - 18:15 Link
Congratulations to Steve - great work. Thanks to Tim for the judging and comprehensive comments. Thanks for my second place. I try to take pictures in the week if possible just for the competition - rather than old stuff which might be better. Winning isn't that important to me, but improving is and good feedback is part of that.

Paul

Add Comment

To leave a comment - Log in to Pentax User or create a new account.