Still Life Photography

Arguably my favorite time of year to photograph anything, family portraits, nature, still life, is in the fall. I mean if you are a lover of intense color and moody lighting, then this is the time of year, especially in Oregon to take photographs.

Currently, I'm on Skillshare.com looking at improving my still life photography and was playing around with the idea of setting up a still life in my kitchen. I personally drool over all of the photographs in food magazines and on pinterest. So naturally, I wanted to take a few pictures of my own. It was super easy!

First of all, you need a window. Check.

You need some props that look pretty together. I had lemons, a creamer, and a sugar bowl. I also grabbed some gorgeous kitchen towels from Williams Sonoma (on sale of course because they have insane prices).

I put all of the props on my kitchen counter by the window. Now, take note: Do NOT photograph in full sun. It creates the worst shadows. Luckily today was a cloudy day and I shot in the morning so I had nice diffused light.

Essentially the biggest rule to follow is to have an odd number of items in you picture. Its just a rule that I learned in my art classes. It looks better and I cannot remember the "science" behind it. Just take my word for it.

I shot the images, put them in photoshop, made sure I liked the contrast and brightness and any other edits, and voila:

I HIGHLY recommend Skillshare.com. I'm doing the trial for ten days and its free. After that, I believe it's $9.99 a month which I think is worth it. I'm always trying to learn new things I can teach my students and use on my own.

You would think I was drinking tea, but I actually was getting ready to make my morning coffee: