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Medium format objects
- Thread starter cunim
- Start date
cunim
Well-known member
What's any thread without a cat picture?
I am editing this to add a bit of explanation of my process. I enjoy seeing that from others so I should do it myself.
I wanted an urban night prowler, under moonlight. That meant misty shadows in the glass, and some harder shadows to imply structures The background was the challenge here. The cat lit up just fine. Three continuous lights: 2' x 2' panel above; light bar below, projector to create a focused beam on the kitty. Lateral white reflectors for making cat shadows on the inner glass surface, and black to create the side structures. Three image composite. Not really product photography because it is not the actual bowl. It's an interpretation.
I am editing this to add a bit of explanation of my process. I enjoy seeing that from others so I should do it myself.
I wanted an urban night prowler, under moonlight. That meant misty shadows in the glass, and some harder shadows to imply structures The background was the challenge here. The cat lit up just fine. Three continuous lights: 2' x 2' panel above; light bar below, projector to create a focused beam on the kitty. Lateral white reflectors for making cat shadows on the inner glass surface, and black to create the side structures. Three image composite. Not really product photography because it is not the actual bowl. It's an interpretation.
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Water against the light
A few years ago I started to work with water in backlight and created a small series.
In general, I would always photograph liquids in backlight unless they contain turbidity. Water behaves a bit like jewellery or reflecting metallic objects where you basically photograph the space around the actual object, with the difference that water has no immediately visible structure. So you have to shape the space around the water, reflect it and give it a structure. The latter can be done, among other things, by moving the water.
I photographed the water in a special tank that I had built a few years ago. I mirrored the water completely black with a camera position that gives a very slight view of the water line. The slight top view is important to get a nice gradient from dark (black) to light (white) in the backlight and to minimise the reflection of the camera in the image itself. The gradient itself creates a wonderful dimension in the water structure.
Greetings Gerd
A few years ago I started to work with water in backlight and created a small series.
In general, I would always photograph liquids in backlight unless they contain turbidity. Water behaves a bit like jewellery or reflecting metallic objects where you basically photograph the space around the actual object, with the difference that water has no immediately visible structure. So you have to shape the space around the water, reflect it and give it a structure. The latter can be done, among other things, by moving the water.
I photographed the water in a special tank that I had built a few years ago. I mirrored the water completely black with a camera position that gives a very slight view of the water line. The slight top view is important to get a nice gradient from dark (black) to light (white) in the backlight and to minimise the reflection of the camera in the image itself. The gradient itself creates a wonderful dimension in the water structure.
Greetings Gerd
cunim
Well-known member
Eater. These heavy glass Swedish vases were a thing in the 1990's and, I believe, thousands were made. Now, well.... tastes change I guess. In contrast, everyone loves strawberries, then and now.
Three lights (projection, above, below) with a bit of help from a Lightstream #3 mirror on the strawberry. I have pretty much abandoned strobes for my static subjects, using the IQ4's ES and LED lights instead. I am particularly fond of the Lightstream mirror system, for use with the specular subjects I tend to shoot.
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Three lights (projection, above, below) with a bit of help from a Lightstream #3 mirror on the strawberry. I have pretty much abandoned strobes for my static subjects, using the IQ4's ES and LED lights instead. I am particularly fond of the Lightstream mirror system, for use with the specular subjects I tend to shoot.
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lookbook
Well-known member
... quite an amazing series Gerd!
I will call it a graphic in its wild form. Black and white with a little gray.
Refreshing the element that has been photographed here - refreshing in the way it has been photographed.
Stimulating and soothing to contemplate.
Great!!!
cunim
Well-known member
Discards on Satsuma. The plate here is a common thing, but pretty. The chess set is a bit special, with the white pieces in mammoth and the blacks in wood.
Fair bit of tilt, Rodenstock macro 120 at f11, some stacking for the plate level but tops of pieces left to blur for depth.
Fair bit of tilt, Rodenstock macro 120 at f11, some stacking for the plate level but tops of pieces left to blur for depth.
cunim
Well-known member
Do stone owls dream of fossil fish? Top image is a visual pun about this. Bottom image is more documentary. Owl is by Inuit artist Manasie Akapaliapik. Fish is a Jurassic fossil of lycoptera from China.
Playing about with a new lens on the monolith. Top image: tilted, swung, no stacks, f8. Lightstream mirrors at front right and upper front left. Minor contribution from panel above. Bottom image with additional mirror, no panel, f7.1, a dozen images stacked around the beak..
Playing about with a new lens on the monolith. Top image: tilted, swung, no stacks, f8. Lightstream mirrors at front right and upper front left. Minor contribution from panel above. Bottom image with additional mirror, no panel, f7.1, a dozen images stacked around the beak..
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cunim
Well-known member
Legal's mate. Sometimes the whole world really is against you.
Chess folks will wonder why the queen is male. The theme is Roman emperors of the Antonine period. The big guy staring at the knight is Antoninus Pius and his queen is Marcus Aurelius - examples of competent rule in a long period of decline. The bishops are Claudius. I guess the reviews are mixed about him.
IQ4 150, Rodenstock, swung. Note, this is not the original posted image. I changed the crop to 5:7 and the aperture to f6.5. The original post was at 1:1 and f11.
Chess folks will wonder why the queen is male. The theme is Roman emperors of the Antonine period. The big guy staring at the knight is Antoninus Pius and his queen is Marcus Aurelius - examples of competent rule in a long period of decline. The bishops are Claudius. I guess the reviews are mixed about him.
IQ4 150, Rodenstock, swung. Note, this is not the original posted image. I changed the crop to 5:7 and the aperture to f6.5. The original post was at 1:1 and f11.
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cunim
Well-known member
In the middle to late 19th century, microscopes represented the cutting edge of technology and advancements were rapid. Many people owned a microscope, not because they were interested in science but as a tool to help see the world around them. In these ways, the old scopes were like the personal computers of today. However, unlike PCs, these brass and glass objects were beautiful. This large binocular was made by Ross, in London, about 1890.
IQ180, stacked, can't remember the lens
IQ180, stacked, can't remember the lens
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cunim
Well-known member
And now for something completely different. The local mountain bikers put this thing together on a grassy area. I think it is called a "pump track" and is used to train kids to enjoy dipsy doodles. Woops, the bikers call it "crushing the humps". Showing my age. Not sure why I put this here except the trees seem sublimely indifferent to the hump crushers. I mean no offence to any mountain bikers here. Used to do road bikes myself. IQ4, 40HR
cunim
Well-known member
This thread has gotten lost so here's a bump. I think that most objects are more interesting if we know something of the stories behind them. For example, if you saw a photo from an unknown source it would be less involving than if you knew it were made by Weston. The story helps. So here are some perfectly ordinary things, with the little stories that make them more visually interesting.
The baby microscope is post-Victorian, and is the sort of thing a curious teenager would receive as a gift to encourage an interest in science. The body and the leg spindles pack into the brass tube. This instrument was the property of a young lady, and I like to think she benefited from its use. Perhaps she became a pharmacist.
The wind up automaton is mid-late 20th century, though this young lady is dressed and posed at about the same period as the microscope. She is a Spanish pharmacist and she does a little dance shaking her bottles.
IQ4, Rodesntock 138
The baby microscope is post-Victorian, and is the sort of thing a curious teenager would receive as a gift to encourage an interest in science. The body and the leg spindles pack into the brass tube. This instrument was the property of a young lady, and I like to think she benefited from its use. Perhaps she became a pharmacist.
The wind up automaton is mid-late 20th century, though this young lady is dressed and posed at about the same period as the microscope. She is a Spanish pharmacist and she does a little dance shaking her bottles.
IQ4, Rodesntock 138
Small objects from everyday life I like to look at in detail. I look for shapes, colors, materials and interesting angles in connection with light. Very often I then see details in a completely different context.
In factual photography, objects must be described photographically factual well. In product photography there is a little more freedom, in particular I can include other things in the picture that support the main character. In still life, practically everything is allowed, I do not even have to depict the actual object in its entirety to put it in my picture in a big way. So then happened with a small coffee cup that I found on the street.
Real steam or smoke from liquids is very problematic because it contains water and "always" looks dirty when backlit. Therefore, it is a good idea to create it differently.
This kind of smoke knows everyone unconsciously. It arises exactly at the moment when a candle goes out and a plume rises from the wick. So it must not burn but only glow. In the past, we simply took some tobacco for something like that. But that was a start-stop-pity action as I had to find out. Tobacco seems to have additives today (just like cigarettes) so that it goes out if you don't pull on it. I then experimented for a while with different materials - the best were my paper tear-off rolls from the gastro area. With it a small bead twisted and brought to glow, went in the direction of my ideas.
Due to the position of the cup, the cup itself achieves a certain dynamic and what is even more important - the smoke can rise in the right place. In the cup itself you need a small chimney (eg a small twisted aluminum paper roll) which is then attached with adhesive paste in the cup.
...and of course I like (as always) very graphic images.
Gruß Gerd
In factual photography, objects must be described photographically factual well. In product photography there is a little more freedom, in particular I can include other things in the picture that support the main character. In still life, practically everything is allowed, I do not even have to depict the actual object in its entirety to put it in my picture in a big way. So then happened with a small coffee cup that I found on the street.
Real steam or smoke from liquids is very problematic because it contains water and "always" looks dirty when backlit. Therefore, it is a good idea to create it differently.
This kind of smoke knows everyone unconsciously. It arises exactly at the moment when a candle goes out and a plume rises from the wick. So it must not burn but only glow. In the past, we simply took some tobacco for something like that. But that was a start-stop-pity action as I had to find out. Tobacco seems to have additives today (just like cigarettes) so that it goes out if you don't pull on it. I then experimented for a while with different materials - the best were my paper tear-off rolls from the gastro area. With it a small bead twisted and brought to glow, went in the direction of my ideas.
Due to the position of the cup, the cup itself achieves a certain dynamic and what is even more important - the smoke can rise in the right place. In the cup itself you need a small chimney (eg a small twisted aluminum paper roll) which is then attached with adhesive paste in the cup.
...and of course I like (as always) very graphic images.
Gruß Gerd
cunim
Well-known member
@Gerd this is very special. The weakness of photos such as my post above is that they are static. They rely on composition to create interest and that works to some extent. However, it is not enough. Something must happen or move if we are to feel really involved with a photograph. Your photo is all about transient motion - and the simplicity accentuates.that motion. As I said, special.
cunim
Well-known member
Here's an old watch that I've had for decades. No way it will clean up well enough to be presentable as a watch photo, but as a generic object it's fine.
IQ4. Rodenstock 120 macro, fair deal of tilt, bit of swing, no stacking. This is an exercise in whether we want a commercial style of product photo with every molecule in sharp focus, or a more interpretive style with focus varying with depth (as here). Both styles have merit.
IQ4. Rodenstock 120 macro, fair deal of tilt, bit of swing, no stacking. This is an exercise in whether we want a commercial style of product photo with every molecule in sharp focus, or a more interpretive style with focus varying with depth (as here). Both styles have merit.
cunim
Well-known member
A little proverbial wisdom which politicians, in particular, would do well to heed. Mass foolishness has ended empires.
I have shown this little Wahl Doric pen before. It's a model I can't find in any of the 1930's Wahl literature so it might be a Frankenpen with a replacement cap and nib.
IQ4, !38HR, tilted, swung and (minimally) stacked.
I have shown this little Wahl Doric pen before. It's a model I can't find in any of the 1930's Wahl literature so it might be a Frankenpen with a replacement cap and nib.
IQ4, !38HR, tilted, swung and (minimally) stacked.
