SHOOTING STILL LIFE WITH INEXPENSIVE GEAR

SUMMER SCHOOL 2019, CLASS ONE

SUMMER SCHOOL 2019 CLASS ONE

SHOOTING STILL LIFE WITH INEXPENSIVE GEAR
Class by Barbara Sherman, Flagstaff, Arizona

 I don’t own much equipment and no studio so my images are often made by a window in the corner of my bedroom using white and black boards, pieces of reflective paper and anything I can put together for a background and sometimes a single speedlite.

I first set up my background board in front of the window so light was coming over the top and around the sides.(It’s an old fence section cut down to a small size and rubbed with chalk).

For this photo, I wanted to have “sparkly” water while lighting the fruit so added a speedlite bouncing off a white wall and back through a diffuser to the left side. A piece of black construction paper was clamped onto the diffuser to flag the light on the left side of the glass so the highlight would be the size I liked. To add some contrast and eliminate reflections on the right side of the glass, I placed a small black card on the right side of the water jug. Notice the jar is sitting on a large beer mug turned upside down so the spigot is at the right height  …Staying cheap here!

I shoot alone most of the time and have found a wireless remote set to a 3-second delay works great. Get in position, hit the remote count to 2 ½, start the action, move your hand quickly out of the way…..REPEAT.

Homemade backgrounds, limited equipment, found space and your imagination and you can shoot anything.

“I think that its a society that has totally lost its bearings on the terms of what its values are, and so its put all its value into celebrity. There is such a lack of spiritual self confidence perhaps that the achievers seem to have to be the kind of holy cows that people worship.”

— Editor, Vanity Fair, ca 1993

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Annie Leibovitz Documentary

by | Mar 25, 2015 |

"I think that its a society that has totally lost its bearings on the terms of what its values are, and so its put all its value into celebrity. There is such a lack of spiritual self confidence perhaps that the achievers seem to have to be the kind of holy cows that...

“The great thing about the job was that in the evenings when we weren’t doing these ads, we photographed Anjelica Huston and Julie Driscoll. Polly Mellon, the fashion editor was there – it must have been for Vogue. Julie Driscoll was a pop singer with Brian Auger and Trinity. Musically they were a very hot band at the time. At the end of the shoot, Dick (Avedon) gave her a kiss and she, being very, very English, said in her slightly Cockney accent, “Oh, I bet they’ll be awful,” which is a totally English way to say “Thank you.” He just froze. He sort of straightened, and said, “When I take pictures, they’re good.””

— Neil Selkirk on Richard Avedon

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Neil Selkirk with Elizabeth Avedon

by | Mar 25, 2015 |

"The great thing about the job was that in the evenings when we weren’t doing these ads, we photographed Anjelica Huston and Julie Driscoll. Polly Mellon, the fashion editor was there - it must have been for Vogue. Julie Driscoll was a pop singer with Brian Auger and...