Still life

Learning goal

You will be able to explain how an ordinary object sitting on a table can become the subject of a photograph, and learn to use the three supports of still life: light, arrangement and patience. You will see how a single light source brings out an apple's roundness; you will try deepening shadows with a black card and opening them with a white card; you will turn a few objects into an arrangement through their heights, their colors and the way they pass in front of one another; you will build, from the way objects sit side by side, an object narrative about a person or a moment; and when a hand enters the frame, you will learn to keep the detail of every skin in front of a dark background with light striking from the edge. This genre has no separate track; but the light and patience gained here form the foundation of product and food photography.

The question

After the dumplings are finished, an apple, a glass half full of water and a crumpled napkin are left on the table. The late-afternoon light from the window makes one side of the apple shine, passes through the glass and drops a trembling, bright patch on the table. You stop and look for a moment; then you take out your phone and shoot with the ceiling lamp on. On the screen three objects stand; but the silence and the light you saw in that moment aren't there, only a kitchen table.

Can an apple on a table be art? How do you get a photo that people will stop and look at from a few objects that don't move and have no story of their own, like a street or a landscape does? In this lesson we will talk about still life, turning ordinary objects into a photograph with light, arrangement and patience.

Context

Still life is a genre whose subject is inanimate objects, fruit, vessels, flowers, everyday things, placed by the photographer with their own hand. Painting has a long still-life tradition, and photography has carried this tradition on since its first years, because objects don't move, don't get tired, and allow you to study patiently how light behaves.

In street photography the photographer can control nothing; in still life, on the other hand, they control everything: which object will enter the frame, where it will stand, where the light will come from and how long they will work. This freedom brings a difficulty too: a bad still life has no excuse. This lesson introduces the basic approach of this quiet genre; the genre has no separate specialty track, but the habit of reading light that it builds carries over to many other genres.

Simple explanation

How does light shape an object?

A single light source is light that lights a scene from only one direction; in still life it is often a window. When the ceiling lamp and the window are on together, light coming from two directions mixes the shadows and the objects flatten. Turning off the ceiling lamp and working only with the window at the side forms, on an apple, a bright point of light on one side, a soft transition in the middle, a dark form shadow on the other side and a cast shadow stretching across the table; these shadows, which we saw in Lesson 5.7, make the apple look round and heavy.

You can fine-tune the light with two cards. A black card is a surface that deepens the shadows by stopping light from bouncing back off the walls and the table on the shadow side; it makes the object look more dramatic and sculptural. A white card does the opposite: it opens the shadows by reflecting light back onto the shadow side, and gives a softer look. By moving the two closer to and farther from the object, it is possible to adjust the light inch by inch, as if working with a paintbrush.

How are objects arranged?

Arrangement is the work of deciding the number, place and height of the objects in the frame and their relationship to each other. Starting with few objects makes the job easier: one or two objects clearly tell where the eye should look. Objects of different heights, for example a low fruit, a medium cup and a tall bottle, add a rhythm to the frame; objects passing slightly in front of one another give a sense of depth. Many photographers often try working with an odd number of objects, but this isn't a rule, just a suggestion for starting out.

The background and the surface are part of the arrangement too. A dark cloth, an old board or a smoothly plastered wall builds a plain stage that brings the objects forward; a patterned cloth, on the other hand, can distract attention. Building a relationship between colors helps too: a green leaf beside a red apple, or several objects in different values of the same tone. Enlarging and looking at the screen after every change shows how a finger's shift of one object changes the whole balance.

How do objects tell a story?

An object narrative is the way objects sitting side by side make the viewer think of a person, a moment or a feeling. A half-eaten apple, a glass of tea gone cold and a pair of glasses left open tell that someone has just got up from there, even though no one is there. A thimble, a spool of thread and a needle call up a tailor's table or a grandmother. The strength of still life often lies here, not in the objects it shows but in the person it makes you think of.

Sometimes that person enters the frame too: a hand holding an object, threading a needle. When working in front of a dark background, this hand, especially on dark skin, can merge with the background and disappear; on light skin, on the other hand, it can leap forward like a bright patch in the window light. An edge light striking the edge of the hand from behind or from the side separates it from the background; taking the metering from the hand's own middle tones keeps both the hand's texture and the objects' detail on every skin.

Visual evidence

The next late afternoon you open your grandmother's old sewing box: a brass thimble, a spool of red thread, a pair of glasses with a cracked frame. You turn off the ceiling lamp, move the table in front of the side window, and spread black velvet at the back. First you put down only the apple and look at the light; then you place the thimble, the thread and the glasses at different heights, with one passing slightly in front of another. The camera is on a tripod; after every small change you enlarge the screen and look.

When you put a black card on the shadow side, the apple appears like a sculpture in front of the dark velvet; the thimble's brass catches a small point of light. Your grandmother comes over out of curiosity; you ask her permission and tell her you want to bring her hand into the frame as she threads the needle. Her dark-skinned hand, its veins prominent, almost disappears in front of the black velvet in the first frame. You turn the table so the window falls a little more behind; now the light grazes the edge of her hand and the tops of her fingers and separates it from the background. In the frame where you take the metering from her hand, the wrinkles on her fingers, the thimble's glint and the red of the thread rest in the same silence.

Common mistakes

Summary

Still life is a genre in which the photographer places inanimate objects with their own hand and can control everything; a single light source gives an object volume with a bright point, a soft transition, a form shadow and a cast shadow, while black and white cards deepen and open the shadows. An arrangement that starts with few objects and is built through height, color and objects passing in front of each other guides the eye; the way objects sit side by side tells a story that makes you think of a person or a moment even when no one is there. When a hand enters the frame, edge light striking from the side in front of a dark background and an exposure built for the middle tones keep the texture of every skin together with the objects.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will build a still life from ordinary objects at home.

1. Photograph a single fruit or a cup on the table with the ceiling lamp on; then turn off the lamp and shoot again with only a side window.
2. Put first a black card, then a white card on the shadow side, and compare the two frames.
3. Choose three objects that make you think of a person or a moment; place them in front of a plain background at different heights, with one passing in front of another.
4. Add to the frame a hand dealing with one of the objects; change the direction of the light so the hand separates from the background.

Check yourself

• Does the object you shot with a single light source look rounder and heavier than in the two-light frame?
• Do the three objects you chose make you think of a person or a moment while no one is there?
• Can the hand entering the frame be made out with the color and texture of its own skin, without disappearing in front of the dark background?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the basic feature that separates still life from street photography?

• A) That it is always in color
• B) That the photographer controls the objects, the light and the time themselves
• C) That it is shot only outdoors
• D) That it requires a telephoto lens

2. What does a black card placed on the shadow side do?

• A) It opens the shadows
• B) It saturates the colors
• C) It deepens the shadows by stopping light from bouncing back
• D) It blurs the background

3. What will a half-eaten apple, a glass of tea gone cold and a pair of open glasses most likely make the viewer think?

• A) That someone has just got up from there
• B) Of a landscape
• C) Of a sports match
• D) Nothing

4. In front of black velvet, a dark-skinned hand merges with the background and disappears. What helps most?

• A) Framing the shot wider
• B) Removing the background is a must
• C) Taking the hand out of the frame
• D) Letting the light graze the edge of the hand and taking the metering from the hand

Answers

1. B — In still life the photographer places and controls everything themselves.
2. C — A black card cuts the bounce and darkens the shadows.
3. A — The way objects sit side by side tells of a person who isn't there.
4. D — Edge light separates the hand from the background; exposure for the middle tones keeps the texture.

Summary card

• Still life: you place the objects, you control everything.
• A single light source: bright point, transition, form shadow, cast shadow.
• A black card deepens, a white card opens.
• Few objects, different heights, overlaps, a plain background.
• Objects tell of a person; separate a hand entering the frame from the background with edge light.

Bridge to the next lesson

In still life the objects wait as long as you want; in the next genre, on the other hand, the subject doesn't stay still for even a second. As you put away the sewing box, the house cat leaps onto the table, rolls the thimble onto the floor with its paw, and when you raise the camera only a brown smudge is left in the frame. Why does my cat always come out blurry? The next lesson talks about pet photography, eye level, a fast shutter speed and patience.