Fine Art Photography with Every Day Ordinary Subjects
Fine art still life photography is an art form that really allows me to get creative with my work. There is nothing as exciting as taking an ordinary, everyday item and using my photography to transform it into something extraordinary.
Reflections
On a recent Saturday afternoon I went into my wife’s arts and crafts room to get her a pair of scissors and a simple spool of thread sitting out on the shelf caught my eye. The spool was nothing special – plain black thread on a spool, but it was captivating. Shape, texture, color, so many possibilities.
I rummaged through the drawers and found a whole collection of spools, and an idea started to form in my mind. A simple photograph that captured the texture of the thread, the colors, and the repeating shapes.
My thought was to completely isolate the thread so that it was the only component of the photograph. I often think of my still life photography as starting off with a completely black canvas and then selectively adding light to reveal my subject, and that is the approach that I went with for this photograph.
I had a basic idea of the composition in my head, so I arranged the spools out on a 1’x2′ piece of black Plexiglas in a diagonal line. I knew I was going to be photographing in close and tight with a macro lens in order to isolate the thread as much as possible.
With all the setup out of the way it was time to start creating some photographs.I experimented with different perspectives and angles, and in the end the photograph above was my favorite. The way the spools of thread reflected off of the Plexiglas added an extra dimension to the image.
You don’t need an amazing subject to create interesting fine art still life photography. I often find that some of the most interesting photographs are of simple, ordinary objects depicted in a new and interesting way. It is not what you look at, but how you look at it. Try it yourself, it will open up a whole new world to explore.