Polished apples

[Chataignier]

I like doing a few still life shots, especially in autumn when garden produce provides such rich colours.

[ST1]

I do like the way you've chosen to display the apples on pieces of timber, I would have like to see all of the apple that is behind the one at the bottom right side.


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Regarding the apple placement, I thought the apple on top would be better placed a tab to the right so as not to line up with the one below it. I'm sure you can get a lot of opinions regarding their arrangement, but in the end, it looks great.
A while back, I watched a photographer on Utube. He spoke about a designing exercise he learned in school that was very helpful to him as a photographer. You get a black piece of construction paper, then cut shapes out of white paper. Place them on the black paper and move them around. This, I imagine, helps one to see things in relationship to one another. I thought it was interesting.

[Manfred M]

Regarding the apple placement, I thought the apple on top would be better placed a tab to the right so as not to line up with the one below it. I'm sure you can get a lot of opinions regarding their arrangement, but in the end, it looks great.
A while back, I watched a photographer on Utube. He spoke about a designing exercise he learned in school that was very helpful to him as a photographer. You get a black piece of construction paper, then cut shapes out of white paper. Place them on the black paper and move them around. This, I imagine, helps one to see things in relationship to one another. I thought it was interesting.

Daniel - There are a lot of good videos on YouTube and even more bad ones. Trying to visualize a three-dimensional setup using the approach suggested is not going to work well. My approach is to use the actual materials and start placing the objects in the scene and build it up (both the physical setup as well as the lighting design). I shoot tethered. As long as your camera has a USB output and you have a computer running Capture One or Lightroom and a long enough USB cable , trial and error with test shots works very well.

The two photographers that I studied still life under worked that way (although we did not tether in class).

The only time I use prints is when trying to sequence images for a show or a book and in that case it makes sense as we are working in a two-dimensional space.

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Daniel - There are a lot of good videos on YouTube and even more bad ones. Trying to visualize a three-dimensional setup using the approach suggested is not going to work well.

It's an exercise for designers to experiment with symmetry, asymmetry, and scale. Very useful for photographers.

With this image, I would be inclined to take a series of photos starting with one apple and adding others just to experiment. I think the arrangement of the wood planks and lighting is excellent.

[Manfred M]

It's an exercise for designers to experiment with symmetry, asymmetry, and scale. Very useful for photographers.

Daniel - have you actually tried using this technique?

Let me comment as someone who knows that it very well. I spent decades leading and working on design teams. This approach works very well for certain types of layouts and planning.

Designers use this approach to do designs of offices, factories, rooms and other spaces. We generally need a 2-D view of these types of spaces.

It is not particularly applicable in developing still life layouts as this technique does not account for the nuances of depth, which is critical in pieces like the one David has posted on this thread. The other missing factor is the impact of light on the setting; there are modeling programs like set.a.light 3D that do this quite well, but this is primarily aimed at the portrait, not the still life photographer.

I have not seen the video you have written about, so cannot comment on any specifics. If you would care to post the link I would like to watch it.

[Digital]

David, very nice photograph.


Bruce

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Daniel - have you actually tried using this technique?

I use it often. For example, when I view your glass images, I view them as shapes and placement. Again it's an exercise in an aspect of Design Theory.

What is design theory?
"Design theory is a system that helps graphic designers better understand how they can communicate a message to audiences through visuals. It involves identifying the different elements in an image and explaining why they're important."

Link on Basic Design Theory - https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/design-theory#:~:text=What%20is%20design%20theory%3F,expl aining%20why%20they're%20important.

I wouldn't know where to begin in finding that video that introduced me to the exercise. I did google graphic design exercises and watched a video of 10 graphic design exercises. The one I described was the first one shown.

[Manfred M]

I use it often. For example, when I view your glass images, I view them as shapes and placement. Again it's an exercise in an aspect of Design Theory.

What is design theory?
"Design theory is a system that helps graphic designers better understand how they can communicate a message to audiences through visuals. It involves identifying the different elements in an image and explaining why they're important."

Link on Basic Design Theory - https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/design-theory#:~:text=What%20is%20design%20theory%3F,expl aining%20why%20they're%20important.

I wouldn't know where to begin in finding that video that introduced me to the exercise. I did google graphic design exercises and watched a video of 10 graphic design exercises. The one I described was the first one shown.

I understand design theory quite well, I have spent many years in the classroom at a local college and at a local photographic school studying it. Design theory has nothing to do with the approach that you described in #3.

Let me leave you with a thought by Edward Weston: "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk."

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Well, Manfred, that's lovely. Maybe you should start a thread on Design Theory.

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Another thing I like about Davids's image is that the apples are on different planes. It adds a lot of visual interest.

[pschlute]

Lovely image, a real painterly feel.