Travel Photography group posting on GLOBOsapiens

Still lifes --- Whats your opinion?

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mortimer Premium account Joined: Jun 04 Points: 15075 Posts: 528 Posted: 2004-10-25 13:48:00    Hi GLOBO's Apart from the obvious travel pictures, scenery, panorama, sights, buildings, people ... there are also still life pictures here on GLOBOsapiens... i tried to find some of them and found out that sometimes they get 2 stars others are up to 5 stars... Look here: http://www.globosapiens.net/dansan/picture-canoes-on-clearwater-lake-7059.html http://www.globosapiens.net/undedd/picture-come-on-in-the-waters-warm-144.html http://www.globosapiens.net/schoelink/picture-camel-sunset-261.html http://www.globosapiens.net/mortimer/picture-lazy-day-at-the-beach...-12966.html http://www.globosapiens.net/mortimer/picture-morning-in-the-okovango-delta-13110.html http://www.globosapiens.net/spaceout/picture-chance-harbour-new-brunswick-4265.html http://www.globosapiens.net/cycleboy/picture-grass-in-the-desert-3838.html http://www.globosapiens.net/britman/picture-monets-boats-10268.html http://www.globosapiens.net/inzaghi/picture-amsterdam-7864.html http://www.globosapiens.net/whereisliz/picture-mediterranean-moonlight-finale-ligure-5656.html http://www.globosapiens.net/whereisliz/picture-say-formaggio-5649.html I for instance love still lives, especially when they tell a story or provoke a feeling in you. They really need to caputure the true emotion felt by the photographer when taking this picture. Most of them could have been taken at several places, they don't show unique sights but they are beautiful nevertheless. What do you think about this kind of pictures? What does a picture really need to get your love and attention? Martin --- Today is the first day of the rest of your life, enjoy it! Reply    Reply with quote    Contact mortimer   bear495 Joined: May 03 Points: 8634 Posts: 177 Posted: 2004-10-25 16:20:00    Martin, When a person posts a still-life picture, I believe that the rating depends upon how a person feels about the subject, the quality of the photo, and the other nuances seen as peripherals in the photo. For example, the phot titled "Amsterdam" is basically a photo of cheeses on a storage rack. Amsterdam is noted for its cheeses. However, there is nothing else in the photo to give context or meaning. The photo titled "Come on in, the water's warm" is different. There is a nice dhow, placed in a setting with a beautiful ocean and two scenic islands. This photo makes me want to travel to the location where this was taken. Quite a contrast! Of course, Marianne's "Mediterranean Moonlight" has been highly rated for a long period of time. The aspects of this photo are romantic and intriguing. One of the types of still-life that really causes me discomfort, though, is seeing photographs of someone's plate of food. To me, that could be left off of this website. Russ --- "Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag." Alexander Solzhenitsyn Reply    Reply with quote    Contact bear495   rangutan Premium account Joined: Aug 04 Points: 34752 Posts: 1044 Posted: 2004-10-29 01:28:00    I thought Still Life are those images taken of a static objects in a studio. I looked up just a few sights like that of Steve-K at http://www.stevekphoto.com to find that travel and still-life are quite different topics. I suppose only the the amsterdam-cheese above is still-life and could have been taken anywhere on the globe. Other Still Life Photography Examples: http://photo.artnam.com/---69---.htm http://www.pbase.com/pjbailey/still_life http://www.abnormalfocus.com/stilllife.htm I find, though, most the pics listed above brilliant; boats, morning-okavango, lazy-day and formaggio are somewhat an invitation to the viewer to climb into the picture! --- Rudolf "Rangutan" Graspointner Reply    Reply with quote    Contact rangutan   mortimer Premium account Joined: Jun 04 Points: 15075 Posts: 528 Posted: 2004-10-29 08:10:00    Hi Rudi I agree with you that these pictures are not really traditional still lifes. I just found that these picture's image setting and composing got the quality of still lifes. These pictures are not the obvious travel images but got this special element. I'm sure one or the other photographer has arranged the picture. (I for instance have put the lone teak chair next to the palm tree and composed this picture.) That's really the point I mean with these pictures, they are or could be arranged. That's why I found them to be still lifes because they are arranged to. Photography has got it's basics in painting. Still lifes always have been a great topic for painters. A photographer is also a painter, he always constructs an image. But he is not using paint and brush but his camera to paint his image. A photographer paints his image by looking through his camera and chosing which detail and perspective he wants to show. He is also deciding what to leave out of the picture. Like that I thought we could talk about this painter subject too.... If you want to improve your photographic skills you can begin with studying image composition. You can learn about that by looking at painted images in museums (classic painting). This can give you ideas what to look out for when taking your pictures. Perhaps at one point you will not longer be taking pictures but creating images.... Martin<p>[ This Message was edited by: mortimer on 2004-10-29 08:12 ] [ This Message was edited by: mortimer on 2004-10-29 08:13 ] --- Today is the first day of the rest of your life, enjoy it! Reply    Reply with quote    Contact mortimer   rangutan Premium account Joined: Aug 04 Points: 34752 Posts: 1044 Posted: 2004-10-29 14:02:00    Yes, I like that thought, like the world as stage and a vast open studio. I wish id had more patience in taking pics in the past, even got embarassed sometimes taking pictures at all. Thinking of it, the best photos are those where a bit of patience and thought about the object itself (and the purpose of the shot) was considered! --- Rudolf "Rangutan" Graspointner Reply    Reply with quote    Contact rangutan