'Christmas Still Life' Photo Series
This post is about a series of photos featuring Chrsitmas decortions, How I shot them and some of what I learned while doing it.
It's one of the few
times I though the process of setting up a full shoot with lights &
backdrop etc. for items from around the house.
This series started last February 1st, as I was putting away my Christmas decorations. I was late putting them away and part of me wasn't too enthusiastic even then. As I was getting out the boxes and taking things down it occurred to me "this stuff would make good photos to post next year around Christmas".
So, I decided to get some photos as I put away the last of the Christmas decoration. Initially the plan was to snap a quick shot of a few items and put everything in a green totes. It soon turned into a a case of "If somethings worth doing it's worth doing right".
Before I knew it I had a backdrop, key light, a few fill lights, and a host of modifyers along with all the gear to get them in position all set up & ready to go. Along with that where a couple of prime lenses, a set of macro tubes along with camra & tripod. To complete the arrangement there was a pile of decorations on one side & a group of boxes on the other to put away the decorations after they'd been shot.
Still life & studio lighting are things I don't get to do too often. So, I was excited to get started and get more experience with type of shoot. I started with the brand new set of macro rings that Santa had dropped off at Chrsitmas. After a few test shots the macro tubes went back in the box and became a project for another day. I wasn't getting what I wanted/expected and I realized needed to do a bit of research to get what I wanted from from them.
At this point I realized a few things simultaneously 1) it's 11 pm 2) I have to work in the morning 3) I have a a bunch of stuff set up that has to come down before I go to bed (I'm in a pretty tight space) 4) I'm about to teardown thsi setup with out getting and good shots and haven't put away a single Christmas decoration.
It became clear that when I restarted this process tomorrow it wouldn't be as quick or as easy as I first thought. As it turned out that it would last another three evenings, but it did end with all of the decorations put away for next Christmas and a few hundred images on my hard drive, also awaiting next Chrsitmas.
Over the 3 evenings I learned a lot and jsut as important I got some practice. It's one thing to know how things should be done. It's something else to be able to set things up quickly and in the right order with out having to take two steps back before taking one forward. recreating almost the same setup 4 nights in a row went a long way towards my aquiring that ability. I'm still not a professional light tech, not by a long shot. But, I have felt better about doing a basic light setup since then.
What Else Did I Learn?
I learned a little bit about ligthing faces.
How to accentuate things by hiding other things in shadow. Leaving empty space (AKA negative space) and using techniques in post to further change or enhance the viewers perception.
How hard it is to fill in all the shadows and how unneccisarry/boring it can be when you finally achieve it. Some times shadows are your friend (see above) and sometimes they're not (below -left)
I was repeatedly reminded once again that "good enogh" rarely is and that if you say "I'll fix it in post" while shooting you usually curse yourself in post & rarely end up with what you where hoping for. As an example, use tripod or some other camera support system. Camera support systems aren't just to get more gear out on the floor. They really can give you more options and better results.
When when "sharp focus" and "blurry mess" are seperated by fractions of a centimetre hand held might not be the best option. It can create some happy accidents, but mostly, it creates stuff that 's frustrating in post & often wholely unusable.
I'll save the joys and advantages of Hand Held photography (of which there are many) for another post.
I'll wrap up todays post with a link to my
FLICKR ALBUM where the photos from this shoot are being posted from November 15 right into the New Year.
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To the best of my knowledge all the Christmas Gift Givers have come and gone for another year. 
The anticipation is nice, the celebration is great, but wrapping up Christmas and putting it away is also satisfying. To me putting away all of the things that go with Christmas is comforting. It's a sort of a pat on the back that says "we did it again, we had a good Christmas" and it's sort of the first small steps in preparing for the next Christmas.
