TABLETOP MAGIC WORKSHOP: ASSIGNMENT ONE

 ASSIGNMENT ONE:

Found objects.

Shoot time: Two hours.
Goal: Use as many lighting styles as possible to discover the hidden beauty or interest in the objects.
Choose the look that works for you. We call this “sketching”.

Some examples:

Find some items around the house, or a thrift store, at the beach, in an alley, or just on a walk around your neighborhood.

The still life must be able to comfortably sit on the table you have constructed.

Before you begin to photograph the still life spend some time with the objects. Move them around on the table, Isolate them from each other. Make one the hero in your mind and assign to it hero status in the composition. Try a different hero.

When you feel ready, begin to organize the items in the manner you are most intrigued with. For a surface, keep it simple as we want these found objects to look even more ‘special’ on a clean and simple background.

Then begin to try different lighting on them.

Try your scrim: a large flat light.
Try your softbox for a more controlled use of the light.
Try the soft lights from the top, the side, and the back.
Try different angles; from surface level to straight down.
Try hard light, snooted light, and gridded light if you have it.
In fact, try as many lighting tools and styles as you can in a two-hour period.

Are you going to feature the edges? Or the texture? How about the shape… what is it that makes these items unique, what ties them together and how are you going to pull the most interesting and unique image from stuff you found in the alley?

What works? What gives you the most interesting image.?

PROFESSIONAL GRADE:
Photograph the setups for each attempt before moving on. That way you will have a perfect record of what light you used with each of the results. This an easy way to learn quickly what each of your lights can work on the type of surfaces you have found. This is for you.

Only upload one final image and one BTS. Keep the rest for your files. 

POSSIBILITIES:

Old/new fasteners like bolts and screws and nails.
Old/new tools.
Stuff found on the side of the road near a railroad track.
Rocks.
Building materials.
Dead flowers.
Disposed of tech parts.

There is really no end to the possibilities.

Remember, this is to be honest to goodness junk. A cool retro camera or a vase you were going to throw out is not necessarily junk or found objects.