White Vase + White Pencils

[Manfred M]

I bought the pencils for another project I haven't worked on yet, but thought they might look interesting when placed in a short, white porcelain vase. Each pencil was turned so that the writing could not be seen by the camera. Single small 20" square softbox on the camera right side and a silver reflector on the camera left side. A touch of cleanup in post.

It might make for a fun print.

[rpcrowe]

IMO white subject(s) on a white background are difficult to pull off, As always, you did a great job.

[billtils]

More please! Love it.

[Rita]

I am really liking this image. My only critique would be that it looks like the bottom left of the vase needs a bit of fixing. I only noticed it when I enlarged the image.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comments Richard, Bill and Rita - it looks like this concept is worth pursuing.

I will often post some preliminary work on concepts I am looking at here to see what people think. This is one of those and it looks like this idea is worth refining.

Rita - what you are seeing are artifacts from the rough post-processing I did. I trick I learned from some pros is that they will shoot tethered (i.e. the camera is connected to a computer) and they will have their assistant (a.k.a digital technician) doing some really quick edits to see what the final image could look like. In my case the This is essentially the workflow that I have adapted and the image posted here is a quick, rough edit, as I am my own "digital tech". The final retouch will be much cleaner.

Where will I take this shot? I am going to change my lighting to make it more frontal and will likely add fill light from the front, rather than from the side. I might add a different arrangement of the pencil crayons too - there are one or two ideas I might try here.

I am preparing some work (three prints) for a fall show at the Gallery that I plan to have ready to go to the framer in late August so that I get the prints back in mid-September. Submission of digital information for the show is in late September and the show starts in the 2nd week of October, so the prints have to be delivered to the gallery during the 1st week of October.

I am planning to print on 17" x 22" / 432mm x 559mm paper and the final framed print size will be around 23" x 28" / 584mm x 711mm.

[Chataignier]

Yes, needs tidying bottom left, but the hard part, white on white, is looking really good.

[Manfred M]

I wasn't completely happy with my first attempt on the vase with white pencil crayons, so I have spent a few hours today trying some new ideas.

I went for front lighting with my small (50cm / 20 in) softbox that I used an egg crate grid on to better direct the light. I flagged the light at the top to reduce the brightness of the upper part of the background to have the white pencils stand out some more.

The whole vase looked a bit too boring, so I composited one of my ant creations (made from items found in my toolbox) to pull the viewer's eye in some more. I also reduced the number of pencils to give me a little more control on how they were positioned in the vase.

[billtils]

Manfred - totally agree with the reduction in the number of pencils but not too sure about the ant - you have brought out the texture in the vase a bit more in this version, could you push it further?

[Manfred M]

With the front lighting I used in this version, raising the texture does not work well. There was something "missing" to capture the viewer's attention, hence the "ant".

[mugge]

This is not working for me. There is no contrast to speak of. It lacks punch.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

This is not working for me. There is no contrast to speak of. It lacks punch.

That is the goal of the high key lighting that was used here.

High key produces very soft, often virtually unnoticeable shadows. This technique came out in the 1950s, in television studios as the television camera capture tubes had a very low dynamic range. Going with a white subject shot on a white background enhances this effect (normal low key can include a full range of colours).

The important thing in this type of lighting is to ensure proper exposure (no highlight clipping) and proper rendering of darks.

[Round Tuit]

This is a really nice image Manfred. I agree that the ant draws the eye but to me it is more of a distraction than an enhancement. I would also tone down the very small dark shadow between the right edge of the opening and the rightmost pencil.

[mugge]

That is the goal of the high key lighting that was used here.

High key produces very soft, often virtually unnoticeable shadows. This technique came out in the 1950s, in television studios as the television camera capture tubes had a very low dynamic range. Going with a white subject shot on a white background enhances this effect (normal low key can include a full range of colours).

The important thing in this type of lighting is to ensure proper exposure (no highlight clipping) and proper rendering of darks.

I am not into high key lighting because I think it is best in a proper studio with all the settings, but I do like the genre and have seen quite a few examples. They invariably are black and white and have quite strong contrasting elements in the image.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

This is a really nice image Manfred. I agree that the ant draws the eye but to me it is more of a distraction than an enhancement. I would also tone down the very small dark shadow between the right edge of the opening and the rightmost pencil.

I'm currently working on the third iteration of this subject. Here is a shot I did during the first run where I rotated the pencils so that the printed data was visible. I find this far too busy and it has the look of advertising for Prismacolor. Even a single pencil gets too much attention.

I tried the ant in a number of different places and this version works best (so far).

[Manfred M]

I think it is best in a proper studio with all the settings

Virtually all my still life work is shot in a "proper studio", including this one.

They invariably are black and white and have quite strong contrasting elements in the image.

Definitely not true. They are only B&W if handled that way. High key is a lighting design and has no particular connection to B&W photography (or colour photography. If you look at Irving Penn's 1947 "Salad Ingredients", a very early colour photo, you can see he used high key lighting as there are very soft shadows here too.

[Manfred M]

Its look cool but can you try this with the solid grey, black and yellow background? I think, by using these backgrounds, the objects become more visible and elegant.

I certainly could have, but this is an exercise of shooting a predominantly white subject on a white / light background. The other shots are easy to pull off, this technique is not. That's why I am doing it this way.

[mugge]

Virtually all my still life work is shot in a "proper studio", including this one.




Definitely not true. They are only B&W if handled that way. High key is a lighting design and has no particular connection to B&W photography (or colour photography. If you look at Irving Penn's 1947 "Salad Ingredients", a very early colour photo, you can see he used high key lighting as there are very soft shadows here too.

I cannot do this kind of photography because I do not have the equipment.

[Manfred M]

I cannot do this kind of photography because I do not have the equipment.

Photography is an "equipment sport".

I do have this type of equipment and the space to use it, as well as the knowledge on how to use it. If need be I have access to a couple of studios in town, if I need more space. That being said, my home setup is better set up than these studios because I have smaller equipment that works well in the still life genre.