Assignment #8 Still Life
Dissection: Family – Where We Come From, Where We Are, Where We Are Going.
"Family journey" - 1/40s f11 ISO 320 15-November-2020_5 Lovett_Beverly MA_photo by Jayscott Crosley
Assignment #8 Still Life
REFLECTION: Approaching this assignment, I thought of what is most important to me, and that of course is my family. My definition of family is not only biological but the one I have chosen, with this image I wanted to convey the coming together of three individuals to make one family, my husband Brian, my best friend Jeffrey, and myself. Individuals though are formed from their past. I wanted to represent our individual pasts, or mutual pasts and mutual future.
The second time around with this "studio" set up was a little bit easier. There was still some frustration with the precariousness of the setup, especially the backdrop. I was happy with my reflector solutions and the overall setup time was not as long. I've added some photos of my behind the scenes insanity.
Shooting this scene I tried to implement solutions to the previous assignment's problems. I used warm light reflectors gold and copper to go with the diffused light coming through the window to create a more even color temperature. The motion blur was mitigated by first tethering to my computer, which then decided to upgrade software and I had to find another way. I settled on using the timer and going into the next room before the shutter clicked. This helped with movement on the hardwood floors, and also allowed me to set the snow globe in motion and blow out the candle.
Going forward I would attempt another still life shoot, or high or low key shots as we did in Assignment 7, but I would invest in some support structures for the background and lighting. That led to a great deal of frustration trying to adjust items only to have the backdrop fall down or the yardstick going through the legs of the furniture which was, in turn, holding the black foam core move just enough to bring it tumbling down. Sheldon was also not very happy with the smoke alarm going off every time I blew out a match to reset the candle because I wanted to blow that out to capture the smoke.
The second time around with this "studio" set up was a little bit easier. There was still some frustration with the precariousness of the setup, especially the backdrop. I was happy with my reflector solutions and the overall setup time was not as long. I've added some photos of my behind the scenes insanity.
Shooting this scene I tried to implement solutions to the previous assignment's problems. I used warm light reflectors gold and copper to go with the diffused light coming through the window to create a more even color temperature. The motion blur was mitigated by first tethering to my computer, which then decided to upgrade software and I had to find another way. I settled on using the timer and going into the next room before the shutter clicked. This helped with movement on the hardwood floors, and also allowed me to set the snow globe in motion and blow out the candle.
Going forward I would attempt another still life shoot, or high or low key shots as we did in Assignment 7, but I would invest in some support structures for the background and lighting. That led to a great deal of frustration trying to adjust items only to have the backdrop fall down or the yardstick going through the legs of the furniture which was, in turn, holding the black foam core move just enough to bring it tumbling down. Sheldon was also not very happy with the smoke alarm going off every time I blew out a match to reset the candle because I wanted to blow that out to capture the smoke.
The set up
