November Still Life

[Rick Tardiff]

Ebony 4x5, 150mm lens, Fuji Instant B&W. My learning curve continues!

[cjbroadbent]

4x5 Ektachrome Gandolfi 135mm Sironar.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TNrHVjCuduI/AAAAAAAAFro/2Vmp0A5XS2s/s800/teaset.jpg

[cjbroadbent]

Worked over with Photomatix and converted to BN. Stronger?
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TNrJupLjHCI/AAAAAAAAFr8/HGpr-DjNjXk/s800/teasetB.jpg

[Jim Cole]

Worked over with Photomatix and converted to BN. Stronger?
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TNrJupLjHCI/AAAAAAAAFr8/HGpr-DjNjXk/s800/teasetB.jpg

Actually, as much as I like the B&W, I think in this case the soft muted colors work better for me, more suited for the subject.

Jim

[ustas]

[QUOTE=Christopher Broadbent;647764]4x5 Ektachrome Gandolfi 135mm Sironar.
Dear Christopher, always look at your pictures with admiration! Thanks for sharing!

[Ken Lee]

What is "BN" ?

[Richard Wasserman]

bianco nero Italian for black and white–I assume as I'm not Christopher.

[Ken Lee]

Thanks.

At the risk of offending, here's a version where the background and table get a saturation adjustment of -60%... ?

I think it's a beautiful image, just that the background and table were a bit too... pink.


http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/teaset.jpg

In toned monochrome, a tighter cropping (ouch) and sharpening only the shavings and the edge of the basket ? Again, I'll gladly delete these if I am stepping over the line.


http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/teasetB.jpg

[sly]

The pink didn't bother me - I kind of like it a smidge better. Definitely colour over BN.

[mdm]

Sorry Ken, but in your version it looks like it was taken in morgue, the only thing missing is a cadaver on the slab.

David

[mdm]

You have a point there.

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hi Ken its also a question of your monitor yours is also not bad, but for me the warmer works quiet well on my monitor.
As long as we not all have the same monitor same settings and calibration, we speak different languages, thats the f....ing problem!

Cheers Armin

[ustas]

"Still waiting for a cup"
(Graf-Variable wide open on sharp)
http://ipicture.ru/uploads/101111/10430/CFwbfJ7vVf.jpg (http://ipicture.ru/)

[cjbroadbent]

Ken, Lines - no lines anywhere - I'm honored.
Pink - because it's an illustration for Bride's Mag. Your tones look better. MDM was knocking my morgue slab (I can't do without a slab).
Crop - I never bother, empty space is for art director's copy.
BN - Richard is right. Bianco e Nero; I meant B&W.
I was asking about the more abstract B&W version because I am trying to convince myself to do the not quite legitimate thing and convert a lot of Ektachromes to B&W for a show and confuse them with regular B&W images. The answer seems to be No.

[ustas]

"just a mango"
http://ipicture.ru/s1.uploads/20101113/Zywm72HN.jpg (http://ipicture.ru/)

[cjbroadbent]

Showing off my backgrounds. Polenta or 'grits' on 5x7 Ektachrome. Shot, with 11 other Friulan recepies, on location in a corner of a fridge factory. One softbox, and a canvas background clamped to the table.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TN61k11X9EI/AAAAAAAAFxk/f-DNEZueGpc/s800/polenta.jpg

[Steve M Hostetter]

8x10" out-dated ektachrome 210mm super angulon

[Mark Sawyer]

I finally had a little time for myself yesterday, so I played with the wet plate stuff. With a 3-inch f/1.9 Darlot "Special Wide Diameter" Petzval on a 5x6 aluminum plate:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Owen21k/tumbler.jpg

[GSX4]

very nice plate Mark!

[GSX4]

Here's one I made today..... A deer head that I made a few wet plates with before it gets sent off to a place to be into a european mount. Shot with a kodak 2D and Wollensak Series A @ f8 for 20 seconds... Whole plate collodion on aluminum

[ustas]

[QUOTE=Mark Sawyer;649348]I finally had a little time for myself yesterday, so I played with the wet plate stuff. With a 3-inch f/1.9 Darlot "Special Wide Diameter" Petzval on a 5x6 aluminum plate:

Mark, great plate! Love the mood!
To follow your humour line I`d like to post my picture, named "please, take me seriously"
http://ipicture.ru/uploads/20101115/TTsIzV4S.jpg (http://ipicture.ru/)

[Mark Sawyer]

Having just finished up the election season here in the States...

Portrait of Sarah Palin
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Owen21k/11132010a.jpg
European half-plate (4.25" x 6.5") with a Williams Brown & Earle Petzval

[mdm]

HP5 and Pyrocat M

[cjbroadbent]

A more exaggerated version of the one I posted earlier. 4x5 Ektachrome and lots of strobe.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TOO_6hX9XtI/AAAAAAAAGEM/nduQ-B9gg04/s800/coffeeMistake.jpg

[Jimi]

Christopher, I really like your photos but why do I always get so hungry whenever I see your food photography? And secondly, why do I think of Barilla (pasta brand) every time? Questions, questions... :)

[cjbroadbent]

..why do I think of Barilla (pasta brand) every time? Questions, questions... :)
Thanks Jimi, I did Barilla's new-look in the nineties. That helped me concentrate on my new-look. Now it's old-look.

[Ken Lee]

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/img001w.jpg
Sinar P, 240mm Fujinon A
4x5 HP5+, Pyrocat HD

[ustas]

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/img001w.jpg
Sinar P, 240mm Fujinon A
4x5 HP5+, Pyrocat HD

simple and beautiful! I like the clear lines in your pictures.

[RoMFOTO]

Just a tomato:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/5191395707_4ed6913a71_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53923492@N07/5191395707/)
Tomato (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53923492@N07/5191395707/) by Mr.RJ-M (http://www.flickr.com/people/53923492@N07/), on Flickr

[gbogatko]

1st is a tricolor shot (3 b/w exposures thru 3 filters).
2nd is just an abstract -- practice with halftones etc. ( shot with an Imagon)

[jon.oman]

Great job on that tricolor!

[eddie]

Here's one I made today..... A deer head that I made a few wet plates with before it gets sent off to a place to be into a european mount. Shot with a kodak 2D and Wollensak Series A @ f8 for 20 seconds... Whole plate collodion on aluminum

har har har! i am not sure shooting that buck with the 2D is what took him down....:)

[gbogatko]

Great job on that tricolor!

Thanks! The flowers were dead, which it primarily why it worked. Live flowers turn toward the light so if you take too long between exposures the registration gets all messed up :eek:

forget people.....:cool:

[jon.oman]

Thanks! The flowers were dead, which it primarily why it worked. Live flowers turn toward the light so if you take too long between exposures the registration gets all messed up :eek:

forget people.....:cool:

I would never have thought of that!

[Ken Lee]

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/img003azaa.jpg
Linen Table Napkins
Sinar P, 150mm APO Nikkor
5x7 HP5+, Pyrocat HD

[Mark Sawyer]

Beautiful, Ken, simply beautiful. And something so few would have seen, let alone photograph.

[Mattk]

Pardon the dust. Needed a willing participant to test a 14" Bausch and Lomb triplet projection lens from a Balopticon projector. Its big at 4" across and I figure about f/4.
I've used the lower 7" petval from the same projector with success--this is a triplet that is easy to play around with due to its construcion (one can change the spacing of the cells quite easily). Baseball cap shutter and 12 sec exposure to account for the bellows extension. Delta 100 in HC-110.

[bobpin]

http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu222/bobpin/Garlic_chopper.jpg

Darlot 270mm Petzval lens on 8x10 Ebony SW810E, Ilford HP5+ dev in Jobo drum, 510-Pyro 1+400 for 20 min

[Hugo Zhang]

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/img003azaa.jpg
Linen Table Napkins
Sinar P, 150mm APO Nikkor
5x7 HP5+, Pyrocat HD

That is truly incredible! The texture!! I thought you could only do it with real prints, not on computer screen.

[drew.saunders]

I had some time Thanksgiving (US, 11/25) afternoon, so I found some interesting leaves outside, took the two mini pumpkins that I had bought for Halloween (that had started to decompose nicely) and the apples from last weeks farmer's market, set up the black felt background and made a few shots. I also tested the new-to-me 250/4.7 Fujinar that I just bought from Keh, and I think it's a keeper.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5165/5209131613_65ae05e5c7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drew_saunders/5209131613/)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5122/5209730614_6b30fb9ff5.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drew_saunders/5209730614/)

[cjbroadbent]

Spuds & onions on 8x10 Tmax in a Gandolfi w/240mm Sironar.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TO-K8x9J9dI/AAAAAAAAGFk/3VKby0NeJq4/s800/potatos.jpg

[Joe Smigiel]

Christopher, I so like so many of your images but this one has something even more riveting about it.

[Jim Cole]

Christopher, I so like so many of your images but this one has something even more riveting about it.

I agree!

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hi did a short test of my Fröhlich studio camera with the Telearton 270mm just to see how usefull the bokeh is at f 16 on TMX 100 in XTOL!
Only light was the sun and a reflector!
I think the bokeh looks fine its a firtree in my garden just 2 meter behind the scene!

Cheers Armin

[Armin Seeholzer]

The ultimate Stillife just how life is washing socks und underwear:p :D
Studio camera by Hans Fröhlich, Telearton 270mm at f8 against the light from a large window!

Cheers Armin

[Carl Schofield]

Shen Hao TFC69-A,Rodenstock APO-Sironar-S 100mm/5.6,Rollei ATP 1.1
EI 25 5s @ f/16 Developed in Rollei RLC 1:4 6 min. Warm neutral split tone applied in LR3.

http://www.pbase.com/scho/image/130532054/large.jpg

[billie williams]

christopher, i think the original color image works the best! beautiful work.

[cjbroadbent]

Thanks Joe, Jim and Billie. I never did the spuds in colour though.

[Ramiro Elena]

Guess I cannot edit my post... (image got lost)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5214997414_4f891aa9e3_z.jpg

[ustas]

Great pictures everyone!


http://ipicture.ru/uploads/20101129/Yj23OQ6R.jpg (http://ipicture.ru/)

"The dyeing beauty"
Voigtlander Portrait Euryscope
8x10 Ilford Delta 100

[Ramiro Elena]

I am a little embarrassed to post this but the heck. I decided to try Broadbent's tips and hints on still life. I'll comment on where I think I failed to share my experience.

Things I noticed:
- The most obvious one to me is the perspective. I should have lowered the angle of view to avoid so much table.

- Lately I've been prone to shoot wide open as I like the results. It doesn't really work with still lifes. I managed to get the mushrooms and wine focused with shift but the knife was a little off.

- The background also suffers from lack of DoF. It is so out of focus that it looses detail. The dark and light areas are harder to see and they become a big gray blur. (This take is at ƒ22, there's a ƒ5,6 take (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabato/5214436347/in/photostream/) on my flickr where this is more evident.)

- I tried the stocking trick here. I was totally out in the blind with this. I have no idea how it is supposed to work. Don't know if I chose the right material or if I stretched it enough. I used black.

-Finally, the knife should have picked up some reflection. It looks flat and boring like this.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5290/5214439917_54d5423fb5_b.jpg

[kev curry]

Your probably right about to much table but the stocking effect looks great. Very nice!

[cjbroadbent]

Ramiro, I can't teach beyond Photography 1. So what I say is not gospel.
That's the pretty strong picture. Great light and structure.
Perspective - you've shown the viewer where he is and you put him in just the right spot, 3/4 up and in touch. There's not really too much table, but the things could just have come a bit more towards the front edge.
Focus - matters only for the main argument of a photographic still-life. The background should be air anyway and is looking pretty good.
The stocking - is working as it should - unnoticed and removing micro-contrast in order to amalgamate the whole picture. You can do that when light and perspective accentuate the subject element.
The image structure is solid enough, so the vertical knife against the vertical board is overkill - it could have had a life of its own, or perhaps helped to to lead attention to the mushroom. Beware of hitchcock reflections on a blade, just a hint is ok.
Congrats.

[Ramiro Elena]

Ramiro, I can't teach beyond Photography 1. So what I say is not gospel.

Viewing your work is a great lesson in itself Christopher.

[cdholden]

Beware of hitchcock reflections on a blade, just a hint is ok.
Congrats.

What are hitchcock reflections? I could venture a guess, but thought I'd ask for context.
Thanks.
Chris

[cjbroadbent]

What are hitchcock reflections? I could venture a guess, but thought I'd ask for context.
Thanks.
Chris
Psycho

[cjbroadbent]

IAFYDSTATA = If at first you don't succeed....
First effort with the spuds, screwed up by an invisible knife and a stupid fork.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/TPUTVixlJ_I/AAAAAAAAGIQ/yE_1Dq9Q-AQ/s800/potato%26Celery.jpg

[Jim Cole]

Christopher!

I feel so much better now knowing that even the masters don't get it right on the first try. Looks like the knife was forgotten and the fork took a tumble.

[Denis Pleic]

I would like to extend my most humble thanks to the masters who post here on LFF.
I am grateful that I can watch and learn...

Several posts here on LFF lately have taught me more about large format photography (and photography in general) than many of the books I've read...

Special thanks and kudos to the great master, Sir Christopher!
Please, keep posting! I learn more from your mistakes than from some other masterpieces...

[Scott --]

Dunno why, but these troll dolls are haunting me of late...

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd359/smpsweeps/0103.jpg

4x5 Efke 25 in HC-110, Super Angulon 121/8 at f/22

[Jim Cole]

OK Scott,

I just started laughing out loud...

[cjbroadbent]

End of November.

[Scott --]

OK Scott,

I just started laughing out loud...

Thanks, Jim. Glad you liked it. :)

[jon.oman]

End of November.

Interesting choice of fingers!

[Jim Cole]

End of November.

I kinda want to know what the client's idea for this one.

[Iga]

Whole Plate FP4 contact print
Turner Reich 315mm convertible lens.

[Ken Kapinski]

Here is one from the other day.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nRtb8n1r1RM/TPkDwwfQoDI/AAAAAAAAAS8/wi17HSAGV2w/s1600/LC%2BSmith16.jpg

4x5, Nikon 300M, Arista EDU Ultra 100, HC110-H

[Iga]

Whole Plate FP4 contact print
Turner Reich 315mm convertible lens.

And here is sepia toned one