"Dutchy" Still-Life

[Frank Schmidt]

f/20, 52 second exposure on tri-pod. ISO 160, Canon 60D, 50mm lens.

I claim you can't do this with natural light or with flash photography. Who wants to take a picture like this anyway?

If you want to shoot a photo like this you have to do it in a dark room and apply light from different angles using a flashlight or spot light or lamp from the side. NO flash.

Maybe you are smarter than I am (lots of people are), then shoot it your way and show how you did it. I'd love to learn from others.

3 seconds on the candle wick flame then blew it out. 10 seconds using a light bulb camera right then turned it off. Then applied spot light from different angles for the remainder.


See more photos at: FrankSchmidt | RedBubble

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[OsmosisStudios]

Would be considerably better without that candle. It draws the eye and is a huge distraction. As for shooting this with flash: low power, underexposed exposure levels, bright source from the one side. There isnt any detail on the left side that cant be created with a large, wrapping soft light

[Frank Schmidt]

I like my little candle light.

Adam is ” hugely distracted”.

What do other people think? Opinions?

“As for shooting this with flash: …..” Adam Montpetit would like to do this picture with flash and gives us his IMAGINARY “How I took it” explanation with his imaginary flash.

But that is really not helpful.

See all his still life work here: OS-AM.COM -- Adam Montpetit || Still Life.

How about you shoot a real photo for comparison Adam? Post it here. And then explain “How I Took It”. So we can learn from your work……That’s what this DPS forum is all about; real photos with you telling us how you did it.

I (we) would like to learn from your methods… We’re waiting……

See more of my photos at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/frankschmidt---
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[Tiberius]

Actually, I think you could shoot that with the right lights.

After all, a low powered torch over a few seconds is going to put out a similar amount of light that a flash will in a fraction of a second. So what you did in that photo (it really does look very nice!) with a torch is basically a slow motion, one-light-at-a-time version of what you could do with several flashes.

Just imagine if you had all the torches going at once, and that would be your lighting set up.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Frank Schmidt

I like my little candle light.

Adam is ” hugely distracted”.

What do other people think? Opinions?

“As for shooting this with flash: …..” Adam Montpetit would like to do this picture with flash and gives us his IMAGINARY “How I took it” explanation with his imaginary flash.

But that is really not helpful.

See all his still life work here: OS-AM.COM -- Adam Montpetit || Still Life.

How about you shoot a real photo for comparison Adam? Post it here. And then explain “How I Took It”. So we can learn from your work……That’s what this DPS forum is all about; real photos with you telling us how you did it.

I (we) would like to learn from your methods… We’re waiting……

See more of my photos at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/frankschmidt---
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So we're going for personal attacks then?

For the record: My "imaginary" description of how to use flash wasn't supposed to be a complete explanation; It was designed to indicate what techniques COULD be used. If I'd wanted to actually show you how wrong you are, I'd have gone and done it.

As for MY work: all the "still-life" work you see there is natural light: no torches, no flashes, no garish white balance issues. I don't tend to use flashes for that kind of thing, though I have been lately simply out of necessity. My flash use is primarily for portrait work, like this, this, and this.

That said, if you had bothered to look even the slightest bit further, you'd see that I do, in fact, have some still-life work with flashes. See my (admittedly not very artistic) product shots and an experiment I did with staples.

Of course, if you'd actually LOOKED at my website with any kind of attention, you'd notice that the images use as backgrounds on the site are my own as well, all taken with flashes.

Lastly, if you're going to go on some sort of vehement, zealot-like crusade against flash photography, or if you're going to purport your long-exposure, diffraction-laden style as BETTER, it would help to at least have a working knowledge of the very thing your criticizing. You've shown the only thing you know how to do is this long-exposure stuff and, when confronted with anything else, you're in the weeds almost immediately. Oh, and that you cant take any criticism (from anyone), but that's another issue altogether.

I know my work is good; I dont need to go showing it off to others, trying to convince them that my way is better; you throwing my work back at me is just ridiculous. If I was afraid of someone throwing my work back at me, I wouldn't put it up. It's good work, and the fact that you've immediately stooped down to this level of childishness just shows me how jealous you are of others, especially when they provide you with CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.

Frankly, if you can't take the little ember that is this candle flame of constructive criticism (see what I did there?), then I dont see how you'd take an HONEST review by people who really know what they're doing in long-exposure work.

[Frank Schmidt]

Sorry for offending some people, I'll try to do better.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Frank Schmidt

Sorry for offending some people, I'll try to do better.

It's not offending, Frank. It's just block-headed. People give their opinions, when you ask for them, and you get all huffy and childish about it, calling names, TRYING to call people out on their work, and failing at it.

It's also not, as you've said in your other new threads, your TECHNIQUE that would be offensive; it's your attitude towards constructive criticism and ideas that aren't exactly in line with your own.

If you like your work, so be it, it's your work; but don't get all huffy when you ask for opinions and others give you theirs. We're not attacking you (as you've done just above in this very thread), we're just offering suggestions for making what WE think would be better images.

[metric_photography]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

It's not offending, Frank. It's just block-headed. People give their opinions, when you ask for them, and you get all huffy and childish about it, calling names, TRYING to call people out on their work, and failing at it.

It's also not, as you've said in your other new threads, your TECHNIQUE that would be offensive; it's your attitude towards constructive criticism and ideas that aren't exactly in line with your own.

If you like your work, so be it, it's your work; but don't get all huffy when you ask for opinions and others give you theirs. We're not attacking you (as you've done just above in this very thread), we're just offering suggestions for making what WE think would be better images.

Well said, Osmosis! Wow-- interesting couple of threads between you two!