The Art Of Still Life Photography
Still life art and photography isn’t necessarily the most exciting style, but it takes a lot of skill to convey a message in such a simple way. The bottom line is that, with a little finesse and imagination, you can still create something beautiful out of something commonplace or ordinary. Come along with me on an adventure today as I frame and edit my way to the perfect still life picture with the BeFunky Photo Editor!
Finding Your Subject:
A Still Life photo can have many kinds of subject depending on how you want your pictures to look. For my photo, I wanted to throw it back to the classic still life subject of a lovely bowl of fruit:
This automatically gives my photo an old school artistic feel and opens it to tons of editing opportunities.
Framing The Shot:
With Still Life, I encourage you to try many angles and lighting tricks to experiment with how you want your photos to look. For me, I decided to shoot my subject from a slightly heightened, overhead angle (top-down photography is always a great idea) to add some extra dimension, though shooting it straight-on would have also given that classic look. For example:
While the framing of this photo would, too, lend itself to some wonderful edits, my goal is to show dimension with my photo, which is why I chose the image taken slightly from above.
In order to bring out the colors in my subject, I utilized natural sunlight to get the subtle lighting that will lend itself perfectly to an array of different editing techniques and choice of photo effects.
Editing:
I love minimalist edits for my photos, so I use BeFunky's editing tools on nearly every photo I post or share. To liven up my Still Life fruit bowl image, I first go to Beautify and apply it at 50% to add warmth to my photo and bring out the gorgeous natural colors of my fruit:
Then, I go to the Exposure section and use Fill Light at 25% to brighten the photo and amp up the shadows to 10% to add a bit of dimension and drama:
Lastly, I add the Sharpen tool at 15% just to add a little definition to my subject and make the image sharper to the eye.
Now, I have a beautiful minimalist image of something ordinary (and, let's be honest, kind of boring) to showcase the subtle natural beauty of my subject.
Effects:
Now, I really want to pay homage to the classical style of Still Life art, so I go over the the Artsy effects, find the Watercolor filters, and apply the Watercolor 1 filter to my photo at 100%:
I'm loving the way my photo looks with this filter! The muted colors and soft edges are reminiscent of a gorgeous painting, and make my photo look exactly how I image a Still Life painting would look.
Next, I want a filter that's a little more modern in color, so I go to the Chromatic filters in the Effects section and apply the Chromatic 2 filter at 75% to keep the natural colors detectable:
I like this filter because it brings out the vibrancy of the colors of my fruit as well as the wall behind it, and gives this classic artistic subject a cool, modern spin.
It's time to get out there and make those ordinary Still Life photos extraordinary!
