Simple Still life & Reflection Photography

Still Life & Reflection Photography

How to Photograph Simple Still life & Reflections at Home

Mick White LBAPA, LRPS

Spring 2020

Introduction

 I am writing this at an anxious time for everyone in our society who enjoys     

photography and who are looking for ideas to continue with their hobby. 

However self isolation doesn’t have to mean that the enjoyment that is gained from your hobby has to be completely lost, if you have a garden or not I aim here to show you that with a little imagination and by taking a few simple steps that the enjoyment can still continue from the comfort of your own home. 

If you enjoy photography then your garden can provide you with plenty of opportunity to photograph your garden wildlife by taking a few simple steps to help you achieve successful images. If you are not lucky enough to have a garden to go into and photograph in then your home with a little imagination can provide you with some interesting images to photograph as well.

Here I will show you on the following pages using examples taken using my own setup on how to to achieve successful results using some simple methods.

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Equipment Requirements

Camera

Lens 50mm - 100mm

Single point light source

Background material

Subjects

The Setup

The first thing to do is to gather together some items that you think might have some photographic potential that you could use, these can be items like cutlery, ornaments, pegs, flowers etc to name just a few.  

In the examples above I have shown an ornament and an artificial flower arrangement being used. 

The next step is to decide on your background which needs to complement your chosen subject, in the examples above I have used a simple large piece of paper large enough to stand the subjects on and then to extend up past the chosen   object when viewed through the camera viewfinder. 

Having completed your setup you now need to light it to show it off, I should stress at this point that this does not need to be any special photographic lighting unit and can be a simple angle poise lamp with a standard light bulb in or any single point source of light such as a simple torch, however you will need to remember to adjust the White balance in the camera if using this to achieve the correct final colour in the image unless the camera white balance is set to Auto. 

Here in my examples I have used an LED light bank that I have and placed it at 30 degrees to my subject so as to light the subject but not the background.     Notice with the flower image that the background is a grey colour ? This is because all camera metering systems will expose for a mid grey tone and not white.  

Getting Creative

Having now captured your basic image using the setup previously described you can now let your imagination run free trying different backgrounds or any suitable bases that you may have in your home. You can also experiment using different subjects, and in my examples below I have used some coloured pegs, shells, Flowers, and a Fork which I have placed on a sheet of clear perspex which has then been placed on the original black paper. The lighting has been kept the same as previously described except for the height of the light which I have raised up slightly to create the reflections.

   

  

                 

     Although I have used a piece of clear perspex here in my examples from an old picture frame, you could also use a glossy tile or a piece of glass, mirror, foil or anything that is reflective just let your creativity flow. Try mixing a little washing up liquid and spray it on a piece of glass and then light it from underneath and shoot from above for some interesting bubble effects and patterns.

Camera Settings

When photographing subjects in this way I will normally shoot using a tripod and have the camera in aperture priority and set an aperture of f11 so the shutter speed will set itself dependent on the amount of light being omitted.

However if you are hand holding the camera then it is a good Idea to work in Shutter priority and set a shutter speed which matches the focal length of the lens as a minimum so as to avoid any risk of camera shake and the likelihood of soft images.

For example using the set up that I have described and using a 50mm lens then the minimum shutter speed would be 1/60th sec.

Summary

I hope that this simple guide will be of use to you and will encourage you to try some of the setups and methods detailed here for yourselves and to enjoy your photography whilst isolating at home and staying safe.

Once you start photographing reflections you will find that all sorts of subjects will lend themselves to this type of photography and will keep your mind active and provide you with hours of fun.

Stay Safe