Christmas 2018 Still Life
It is time for another Christmas still life; it is something I have done for about ten years now, and it is always a challenging and fun bit of work for me. This year it is not about my usual classic still life work containing several props, but a simple, close up affair of just one object. The reason for this choice is that firstly, my mind has been way too busy with all sorts of things to think up a complex composition, and secondly, I have decided to start creating more book cover-ish still life images which entails simplicity and often even minimalistic approach.
This year I am very pleased to have ended up with two festive photos, one of which is the merit of my partner G.
I love Christmas lights; for me they are the most important part of decorations; anything that lights up will catch my eye, and so did this glass globe at the Home Bargains store where I work. I knew straight away I wanted to use it as the subject of a Christmas still life image and what exactly I wanted to do with it. I placed it on one of my window sills and photographed it during the blue hour, which is roughly between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the moment, in increments of ten minutes. I chose the image with good blue tones which was also light enough to have retained a fair amount of sharpness. I then enhanced the blue tones of the dusk light and added a snow action from Jessica Drossin's Endless Winter pack in postprocessing.
I asked G if he would like me to get him a Santa hat to wear at work driving his bus, and he said yes, although not very convincingly. When I handed him the hat he briefly admired it with a wry smile and then popped it on top of our antique granddaughter clock. And that's how an idea for my second Christmas still life was born. The image had just a quick basic edit in the Lightroom and a grunge texture overlay added in the Photoshop.
This year I am very pleased to have ended up with two festive photos, one of which is the merit of my partner G.
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| f/5.3 1/40 sec. ISO-6400 112mm |
I love Christmas lights; for me they are the most important part of decorations; anything that lights up will catch my eye, and so did this glass globe at the Home Bargains store where I work. I knew straight away I wanted to use it as the subject of a Christmas still life image and what exactly I wanted to do with it. I placed it on one of my window sills and photographed it during the blue hour, which is roughly between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the moment, in increments of ten minutes. I chose the image with good blue tones which was also light enough to have retained a fair amount of sharpness. I then enhanced the blue tones of the dusk light and added a snow action from Jessica Drossin's Endless Winter pack in postprocessing.
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| f/4.8 1/100 sec. ISO-3200 55mm |
I asked G if he would like me to get him a Santa hat to wear at work driving his bus, and he said yes, although not very convincingly. When I handed him the hat he briefly admired it with a wry smile and then popped it on top of our antique granddaughter clock. And that's how an idea for my second Christmas still life was born. The image had just a quick basic edit in the Lightroom and a grunge texture overlay added in the Photoshop.
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