Lighting tips, posing tricks and camera skills for polished still life photos
CONSISTENT LIGHTING
When shooting still life photos in stages like this it’s crucial that the lighting stays consistent throughout. We made the mistake here of angling our rear flash to better light the watering cans to the left of the frame. It was only when we came to edit the photos we realized this had made the backdrop lighter, which took time to fix in Photoshop. So ideally once the lights are set up, don’t touch them at all, and be careful not to block the light with your body as you move around the frame.
01 CAMERA AND LENS
Prime lenses tend to be sharper than zooms (in the same price bracket), so they’re ideal for studio and product photography, where optimum sharpness and quality can make a huge difference. A nifty fifty like the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is ideal for studio work - a middle aperture value gives the sharpest results.
02 WATERING CANS
All sorts of objects could work for a creative still life. We had three red watering cans to work with, each suspended in the air with thin hanging wire and hooks. Gaffer tape also came in handy to attach the wires to parts where they could not be tied. The thinner the wire, the easier it is to remove later on in Photoshop.
03 POSITION THE OBJECTS
With all still-life work the key is in posing the objects in the most pleasing way. Here our positioning is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Each time we moved a can, we needed to ensure it’s position matched up with the previous arrangement. We moved two c
