Assignment 2.2...

The second part of this week's assignment was too shoot a still life.  Simple enough and probably one of the more boring aspects of photography.  Choose a portable subject and photograph it under different lighting conditions, using sunshine and reflectors/diffusers again.  UNFORTUNATELY, the sun was hiding behind the clouds the entire weekend and so I've been forced to leave it almost to the last moment.  The strawberries were my first I really like these strawberry photos, but it was very overcast and so the reflectors and diffusers served no purpose at all.  I also think they'd have looked nice wet, but I ate them, so I couldn't re-shoot.

I have a macro lens, which I really love, it lets me get in nice and close and pick up the tiniest details.

So, that was the strawberries.  Very pretty and colourful and I enjoyed taking the snaps outside on my old railway sleepers.

Sunday afternoon brought me a little sunshine, so I decided to try again with the only thing I could find at Marius's house - oranges (naartjies really) and lemons.  At the time, I wasn't quite clear on what was expected for the assignment, so would've done this differently if I'd known then what I know now.  The first is direct sunlight, which gives harder shadows along with the bright light...

I pulled the net curtain closed, it acted as a diffuser and softened both the light and shadows quite a lot...

Add in my white reflector to take away some more of the shadows...

And add in a gold reflector to warm the colours up a bit more...

I was happy with the results, but just felt like my pictures were boring.  I chatted to my lecturer briefly yesterday and was told that I needed to take pictures under different light conditions, using my reflectors and diffusers to best light my subject.

So, another subject was chosen and I headed out into the bright afternoon sun in my garden with my pretty orchid (thanks Marius).

This first picture is definitely my favourite.  The orchids were back lit by the sun and I used my reflector to shine light onto the front of the flowers too.  I also used my gold board, very slightly to just warm the light up a little.  I love the colours, especially against the grass...

Next, I tried side lighting and again added light with my reflector board and my gold sheet. I love how the colours in the center of the flower are now brighter and clearer...

This probably isn't my favourite and I think it's a little dark, but I want to submit something different

 This one too.  I think the green thing below the flower is a bit distracting, but just something different.  The first one is still my favourite...

 This last one was completely natural sunlight taken in my mom's garden... also one of my faves...

I also tried to re-shoot this photo yesterday...

But I didn't catch it at the same time of the day and so the light isn't as warm on the left.  This time I used my reflectors to add light to the right side of the picture.  I still really like the one above, but I think the one below is more what they're looking for...

 And this last one just melts my heart...

And that's it.  I'm printing far more than I need for tonight's class and I'll choose when I see them - 2 portraits and 4 still life's.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sue XXX