Sunday, November 7, 2010

JRN 420: Still Life

Smoke
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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture 14

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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture 14

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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/160, Aperture 14

Smoke is very mysterious that you can hardly catch it or keep it although you can see it very often. It is concrete yet very abstract and its existence always gets neglected.

For this smoke series, I used a table light on the left and a strobe on the right. I used a table light because it allowed me to see the smoke in a completely dark situation. In my experiment on this shooting, the hardest part for me was to create the shape of the smoke that I wanted. Therefore, all I could do was to burn a paper stick and blew it slowly to make the smoke diffuse into a wider area. I also used a color gel to change the color of the smoke.

Water Drop
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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture 18

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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture 18

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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture 18

Water has its own unique temper. It can be very calm yet gets excited with even a very tiny disturbance. You can’t stop it from waving when you try hard but it stops by itself when you put it aside.

Similar to the smoke series, I put a table light on the left and strobe on the right. I used a reflector clamp to hold a cup right on the top of my bowl. Water should be added little by little so that it did not come out too fast. The strobe did not point directly to the bowl but pointed to a piece of white paper that I used as the background. By using a color gel on the strobe, I made the water in a different color.

Cigarettes and Lighters
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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/250, Aperture 20

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ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/250, Aperture 20

Lighters and cigarettes are a perfect match. They complement the existence of each other. Some people get addicted and can’t stop smoking even though they are aware and understand that smoking is harmful.
Other than creating the smoke and the water drops, I tried some photographs of solid subjects. During the period of World Cup 2010 in South Africa, a lighter of the England team was given out for every purchase of a certain amount of Carlsberg beer. I am very proud to own these lighters. So, lighters and cigarettes are really a good match to make a photograph.
Lighting Setup:
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6 comments:

Paige Calamari said...

Tze Lin! The third image of the smoke looks like a dragon!! It's awesome! The lighting is really complimentary to the theme too. Nice! I also like the water droplet. It's simple and interesting! Good job!

Ashley Miller said...

Tze Lin, I was going to say the same thing as Paige. The third image of the smoke looks just like a dragon! You did a really nice job. I also love the first water droplet photo. These two are definitely your strongest. My only suggestion would to be careful using hot lights or the lamps. You did great job taking advantage of the props you have, however!

Thunder said...

Dreamy effects with the smoke—you captured the effect very cleanly—it looks solitary in an eerie way. I'm wondering what another prop or color would have added to the composition. While I value the simplicity, perhaps an added prop for grounding a theme would have made the overall picture more compelling.

Ben W. said...

These are really cool, Tze Lin. I think I like the smoke ones the most, especially that third image. The shapes in that one I think are the most interesting. I also like that you created your own setup at home. I thought about doing the same thing but just opted for the studio.

Kathleen Krueger said...

The lighting on the smoke is very well done. I love the moments that you captured in both the water and the smoke. Beautifully done!

Ken Kadwell said...

Your smoke scenes are fantastic, I love the designs you captured and it looks like you used some gels to add some effect, very awesome! Your water drop is amazing, the color is fantastic, the lighting is also great! Amazing shots Tze Lin!!!