Ch. 43 Pear shaped curves

snapapple

I didn't get much feedback on my first thread, so I decided to start a new one. Pathfinder offered some comments for a good start. He said it had nice lighting and good curves.
My daughter, an artist and television lighting tech and camera operator, offered a helpful critique. She pointed out the "dead" area in the background, the conflicting stem directions, and the need for "flow".
I already knew I needed to do something about the deep shadows on the undersides of the pears, and improve the DOF.
My first attempt at a pear still life:


The pear in the back is slightly oof and the shadows on the undersides are too dark. The detail is still there, but the shape fades to black.

The background is dead on the right - no interest.

The stems going in different directions are not harmonious, does not carry my eye through the image. Needs better flow.

The warm light is good. The background light in the center is good.
I was using window light only with the pears on black fabric on a table.

#2


All the stems going in the same direction is harmonious.
The slight folds in the fabric on the right are an attempt to bring the eye around and back, but not strong enough.
The light on the fabric in the background is good, adds interest.
Shadows on the pears undersides are still too dark.

#3


Lighting on the pears is improved by aluminum foil as reflector placed on the left. No deep shadows. More detail in the undersides.

Lighting on the background is subtle and adds interest, no dead spots.

Better DOF. All pears are in focus. Background is softly blurred. I accomplished this by moving my background drape farther back from my table and getting farther away from the subject and using the zoom at 140mm.

Fabric folds on the table lead the eye in on the left, two curved stems carry the eye to the right, fabric folds on the right bring the eye around and back to the front, pear in the center (on it's side) brings the eye back to complete the circle.
The two curved stems are an element of repitition of curves.
The three pears are three bold curves, and a repitition of "three".

This took me four shooting sessions over three days. It got late and I lost the light on one day. I experimented with various f stops and different lenses. I changed the setup many times. Most importantly, I learned a lot about my camera, depth of field, and lighting. The composition stuff, I already knew, but had to remember to apply.

Sandy

Nice work, I like your pears, the last one is much improved.

ginger_55

Snappy, I, uh, like the first ones, or the second ones. The lighting is like my grandmother's paintings. Also, I like the pear standing up better. I do like the material arrangement in the last one, but the colors, on my monitor are kind of "wild".

I, uh, think I should go dig a hole and crawl into it.

Maybe everyone else will tell me to be quiet and that I am wrong?

ginger (It is the second ones that I like better, because of the lighting, it is softer, I think.)

snapapple

ginger_55 wrote:

Snappy, I, uh, like the first ones, or the second ones. The lighting is like my grandmother's paintings. Also, I like the pear standing up better. I do like the material arrangement in the last one, but the colors, on my monitor are kind of "wild".

I, uh, think I should go dig a hole and crawl into it.

Maybe everyone else will tell me to be quiet and that I am wrong?

ginger (It is the second ones that I like better, because of the lighting, it is
softer, I think.)

Thanks Sandy and Ginger,
I appreciate your input.

Ginger, I do like the lighting in #2. It's very natural. But, I like the pear laying down. To me, it just feels more balanced. This is just one of those subjective things.

You may be right about the colors. They are very strong. I did that on purpose. I like the fact that orange and purple are opposites. I increased the reds a little bit to emphasize that. I wanted it to be very bold. I could decrease the reds. But I'm not sure that I want to. I'd have to study it for a while. Maybe get some more opinions.

snapapple

OK Ginger, here's the version in plain black. Do you prefer this? If anyone has a preference, please let me know. Any other critiques?
Thanks

Higgmeister

Hi Snappy,
I actually like the colors in #3. It almost gives them a translucent look as though lighted from behind. For #3, the cloth behind is also in focus and distracted me from the curves. Easy enough to blur if you are so inclined. I'm a bit mixed on the stems. They are nice and they also curve, but they take away from the curves for me. The pears are the curves and the stems break that. I like your OOF background with the highlights, adds interest without distracting. I fully sympathize with you on the marathon shoots, thank goodness for digital:D. I like the idea and your implementation.

Just another .02 worth,
Chris

snapapple

Higgmeister wrote:

I actually like the colors in #3. It almost gives them a translucent look as though lighted from behind. For #3, the cloth behind is also in focus and distracted me from the curves. Easy enough to blur if you are so inclined. I'm a bit mixed on the stems. They are nice and they also curve, but they take away from the curves for me. The pears are the curves and the stems break that. I like your OOF background with the highlights, adds interest without distracting. I fully sympathize with you on the marathon shoots, thank goodness for digital:D. I like the idea and your implementation.

Just another .02 worth,
Chris

Thanks for your critique, Higgmeister. You like the bright colors, heh? Well, that's one for, one against. You say the cloth behind is also in focus, do you mean the cloth on the table? Just the little bit in the middle or the whole drape? Clarify please.
The black one is bit darker and the folds of the cloth are not quite as bright. Is this less distracting?

Dee

Laid back pear
Composition wise, I think the pear laying down and pointing to the left side of the frame is dis-harmonious, I kind of like them all standing up, and I like the darker lighting and darker background. I might try to soften the light or the post processing just a little because I'm not sure if I'm looking at an orange or pears : : : :

I like the richness of the previous lighting a lot, but I'd watch the highlights and try to give a little more light to the shadow without losing the "quarter moon" effect.

I've been working on product photography this past week, and it is a LOT of work! Like you I'm learning a lot about my camera and lights. And what looks good on the LCD doesn't look the same on my monitor! I've never worked so hard in my life! And any little defect or flaw in the fruit or product shows right up!

As of for fill you could try a piece of white paper or even light gray paper, the aluminum may be too harsh. I liked the direction, lighting wise you were going in the first shots, but agree with the composition comments.

But now I don't like the pear laying down in the direction it is... just my 2 cents and I can't pinpoint what it is exactly that I don't like about it.

This is the curves challenge, right? Why not arrange the pears all standing up in a curve, it might be interesting???

ginger_55

It is amazing how sensual a pear can be.

g

Higgmeister

Hi Snappy,

snapapple wrote:

Thanks for your critique, Higgmeister. You like the bright colors, heh? Well, that's one for, one against. You say the cloth behind is also in focus, do you mean the cloth on the table? Just the little bit in the middle or the whole drape? Clarify please.
The black one is bit darker and the folds of the cloth are not quite as bright. Is this less distracting?

The cloth on the table just left and right of the pears. It's a small thing but I can make out the texture in the cloth. I would prefer only to see the texture in the pear. I do think the plain black one is better, I also like the play of light on the dark background folds.
As for the lighting, it's a difficult thing. For a still life, there is always the traditional lighting that we all know works (read working inside the box). Then there is the road less traveled and experiment with different or extreme lighting (colored, mixed types, highkey, lowkey, backlight, 5million candlepower from behind:uhoh) (read, outside the box) where there is always the chance of not having it accepted. I liked the effect of the pears being somewhat translucent, but that doesn't match the current background setting. Experimentation, to me, is always fun, but in the end it's what I like that counts. If it pleases others, it's a bonus.
And just food for thought, have you considered putting the middle pear upside down between the other two pairs to create contrast? Doesn't sound like a popular move . Or how about cutting open a pear and putting a lightbulb inside of it? This is all sounding way to fun so I better go now.

Good Luck and hope I was able to answer your original questions,
Chris

Angelo

Snappy - these are really pretty. I prefer #3 because the background seems mor intentional. Very nice!

snapapple

Higgmeister wrote:

The cloth on the table just left and right of the pears. It's a small thing but I can make out the texture in the cloth. I would prefer only to see the texture in the pear. I do think the plain black one is better, I also like the play of light on the dark background folds.
As for the lighting, it's a difficult thing. For a still life, there is always the traditional lighting that we all know works (read working inside the box). Then there is the road less traveled and experiment with different or extreme lighting (colored, mixed types, highkey, lowkey, backlight, 5million candlepower from behind:uhoh) (read, outside the box) where there is always the chance of not having it accepted. I liked the effect of the pears being somewhat translucent, but that doesn't match the current background setting. Experimentation, to me, is always fun, but in the end it's what I like that counts. If it pleases others, it's a bonus.
And just food for thought, have you considered putting the middle pear upside down between the other two pairs to create contrast? Doesn't sound like a popular move . Or how about cutting open a pear and putting a lightbulb inside of it? This is all sounding way to fun so I better go now.

Good Luck and hope I was able to answer your original questions,
Chris

Chris,
Thanks for your clarification, AND the "food for thought". Boy, you are really starting to think outside the box. Some real good ideas. I'll see how much time I can steal for this in the next few days.
Thanks a bunch. :D

snapapple

Angelo wrote:

Snappy - these are really pretty. I prefer #3 because the background seems mor intentional. Very nice!

Thanks Angelo. I appreciate the input. Hmmm, need to be deliberate. Need to be original. Need to think outside the box. scratch

Thanks for your help. I'm not done yet.