Still Life Photography - a Lá Dutch Master Style

f / 3.8 , 1/125´s., ISO 4000 Spot metering

We were to get some inspiration from the Great Dutch Master Painters for the assingsment in the week 4 of Frugal Still Life Photography. I had still some of the gorgeous images on my mind from the Flower and World Views-exhibition in the Danish National Gallery, I visited with my husband last fall. Among the works were some spectacular Still Life paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. I had no fresh flowers, but I used some other items I spotted, as props for this prompt. - The fruit vase is from my husbands grandmother. My husbad tells that the vase was always filled with oranges - and when visiting his grandmom, he was allowed to pick an orange and share it with his sister. - The tin can is from my grandmother and grandfather. Right after my grandfather came home from the Winter War in 1940, he got married with my grandmom - and they received this tin vase as a wedding present. A year after the wedding, my uncle, the big brother to my mom, was born.- The book is from my grandmother ... It is a Finnish translation of Elizabeth Goudges Green Dolphin Country.- To create a light spot, I placed 3 candles to a Fair Play-cup, our younger son received two years ago. Experimenting with meter modes and adjusting the available light was challenging. To start with, I realized that I had to set 3 layers of sheets in front of the window in order to block the daylight out. I then changed the meter mode from matrix metering to center wieghted metering, and finally to spot metering. Spot metering gave the best results, so I decided to stick with it.

I did adjust the contrast and diminished the exposure of the original image. The light from the window does reflect on the right side of the can, so I removed it by cropping it away. In order to add warmth and to create a painterly-like effect, I added textures Texvol3_01 and Texvol2_03 with the courtesy of Cheryl McCain. Week 5 The assignments in week 5 of the Frugal Still Life Photography include using a single light source, and thereby capturing natural shadows. Cheryl McCain encourages us also to use complementary color in orden to bring about balance and to make certain objects pop. This is my first image:

f / 3.8 , 1/125 s. , ISO 4500 Spot metering

The light from the candles does enlighten the foreground of the image. I like the way the candlelight softens the bowl, and how it creates a shadow to the mandarin. Complementary color of green would be red, yet I had difficulties in finding something red, so I used orange - the orange mandarin does pop out in a vivid way.

I edited the photo as follows: I dimished the exposure and used the burn-function to fade the prints from the backdrop curtain. I straightened the image and cropped it, and added the satururation of the red color with +6. I added the two, pretty textures from Cheryl, using soft light blending mode, and brushing the texture from the flames.

f/ 3.8, 1/125 s. ISO 3600 Spot metering

This is my second image with the orange ... It reminds me of Alice in the Wonderland. Placing the mandarin on the top of the can, changes the balance of the photo, compared to the one before. The mandaring reflects on the bowl - creating a little but delightful twist.  I've enjoyed greatly trying to create Still Life Photography in style with the Great Dutch Masters. Cherishing the frugal principles - using items from your home - has brought me down the memory lane ... Going through the moments with the loved ones, that no longer are among us. I'm not quite fresh yet after the flu, so photographing inside is just enough activity, in between the daily naps. I might as well grabb the Greeb Dolphin Country and read it anew ... With the next pot of tea.
... Until next time, Nina  Sharing with
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