Still Life 3 - Tea (s)Pot

[Manfred M]

These are two pieces that we inherited from my mother; a tea pot and a cup.

Continuing my theme of "small imperfections", I put a few drops of tea in the bottom of the cup and used a hair dryer to evapourate the water to leave a small area of tea residue.

I'm not loving the patchiness of the gold on the tea pot handle (mostly from the lighting), so I may have to attack that some more.

[Urbanflyer]

How great to set yourself a project like this. I like the theme and the imperfection idea. I am somewhat bothered by the white background which makes it harder to create separation between the objects and the background. Don't quite know what you might otherwise consider, especially as you are wanting to make the series consistent in this element. A darker shadow? some small texture?

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Manfred M]

How great to set yourself a project like this. I like the theme and the imperfection idea. I am somewhat bothered by the white background which makes it harder to create separation between the objects and the background. Don't quite know what you might otherwise consider, especially as you are wanting to make the series consistent in this element. A darker shadow? some small texture?

Judith - this is a high key image (modern view of high key), light subject on a light background with relatively few shadows. Not the easiest genre to shoot effectively; it took me about 3 hours to get this far (2 hours shooting and one hour post processing) and I'm not done yet. I think I am going to try to get a bit more definition of the top edge of the tea pot.

The whole process has been an interesting learning experience. I like creating images that challenge me behind the camera and in post.

[mugge]

I really like this image. Ordinarily I do not like 'stylised' images but your little 'imperfections' as you call them has certainly helped this image, Manfred.

I am not happy with the patches on the teapot handle either but I would not eliminate them entirely either.
Cheers Ole

[ST1]

Very creative Manfred, I’m not too concerned about the issues on the handle of the teapot but I understand you wanting to improve that area. It must have been difficult to light this whilst shooting from above the subject.
I notice a strange area/shadow/colour at the base of the lid handle that would cause me more concern than that on the handle. It makes it look (to my eyes) as thought the teapot is tilted upwards towards the spout IYSWIM. Though I suspect it is something to do with the lens/camera position. Was the off centre teapot lid a deliberate positioning as part of your set up?

I shall look forward to seeing any additional variations you create with this image.

[Wavelength]

Wonderful image...Yet I am not sure about including a used cup with residue... I would prefer steaming tea instead

[Manfred M]

Wonderful image...Yet I am not sure about including a used cup with residue... I would prefer steaming tea instead

The residue does two things in the image. If defines the bottom of the cup as without it, there is mostly an uninteresting and shiny reflection from the bottom. The other thing that it does is that it follows the theme of this project (small imperfections); things that we tend to remove from still-life images to make them look "perfect".

As for steam rising from the cup, that is challenging to do with a white background. To be able to see it, it has to be be back-lit and has to have enough contrast to show up against the white background. I can't figure out how that can be done. Had I been working against a black background, it would have been easy.

[Manfred M]

I notice a strange area/shadow/colour at the base of the lid handle that would cause me more concern than that on the handle. It makes it look (to my eyes) as thought the teapot is tilted upwards towards the spout IYSWIM. Though I suspect it is something to do with the lens/camera position. Was the off centre teapot lid a deliberate positioning as part of your set up?

Those issues are caused by lens distortion / focal length. The shots are taken with a 40mm focal length, so a bit wide with a subject that more or less fills the frame.

In this shot, the cup is sitting in the middle of the saucer. but the lens distortion cause significant stretching of the left hand side of the cup. The reflection of the bottom of the cup lines up perfectly with the middle of the saucer, but in the shot, the cup looks a bit distorted.





I find the effect interesting and I'm not sure I want to fix it.

The teapot lid handle is brought about much the same way. There is a gold ring all the way around, but the lens position and distortion only show the part closest to the lens and hides the part on the right hand side behind the handle.