Optics II - Air, Glass & Water

[Manfred M]

It was suggested that I might want to try to simplify my staged settings, so I spent most of the day in the studio shooting. Simple, it seems, is a lot harder to do than complex.

This is the first of my "new" direction of simplification. In addition to the studio time, there are several hours of post-processing work here as well.

There is a glass of water, a rectangular vase with water, a glass sphere and a glass hemisphere. They are sitting on a piece of black Plexiglas. There is a piece of white, translucent Plexiglas behind them. Two gelled studio lights are positioned behind the Plexiglas.

[Donald]

I'd just repeat the message on Facebook re this image:- Beautiful. The 'simpler' composition is actually more complex in that it emphasises the shapes, angles and relationship of one object to the others. I really like this.' I would add that there is a harmony in this composition.

[billtils]

What Donald said.

[DanK]

I agree


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[Manfred M]

Thanks Donald, Bill and Dan - I had thought that my images were starting to become too complex. That is something I never particularly enjoyed with some of the classic still life images.

I have tried a few simpler sets, but to be quite frank, these are a lot more challenging to do than the more complex ones. Traditionally still life includes multiple objects that are grouped, so I am trying to figure out where the "sweet spot" is.

I expect to be working on this approach for some time to figure it out. The influence of Giorgio Morandi is stronger than the Dutch Golden Age Masters.

The other issue I am wrestling with are the colours. The gelled lighting looks great on the screen, but the colours are out of gamut when it comes to printing, even on glossier papers.

[Jim A]

I much prefer the earlier one, the one that I have just seen.