#Official photoartist manual#
I would need exposures long enough that I could use a spare dark slide as a manual shutter. I wanted that longer duration from the light because the Voigtlander, being from 1863, has no shutter. I like my lighting simple and dramatic so I used a single 1000w fresnel. I set up my little outdoor studio with some quick still lifes using Coke bottles. I got the mounted flange back from the machinists shop this week, so yesterday I got a chance to put the big Voigtlander on my 8×10 and shoot it. Of course, I get fancier, but you don’t have to! I’ll show you how still life isn’t just bowls of fruit or flowers, and how it can be every bit as exciting and dramatic a story-telling genre as street photography, plus you can do it in your home with minimal space and equipment (all you really need is a camera, a table and a window!).
We’ll look at the history of still life and have weekly shooting assignments.
The camera’s eye view.Ĭoming in March, I’ll be teaching a still life photography class online through Glen Echo Photoworks (check their website later for details on schedule and sign-up). While not a requirement for doing still life (you can shoot still life with ANY camera – a point & shoot or a pinhole will work just as well as a DSLR or a view camera, if you understand the operating parameters of the camera), I love using a view camera because it lets me place my plane of focus and depth of field exactly where I want them, and I can have a razor thin zone of focus or I can have it be total, and I can control the shape of the image.
Starting today off with some chrome/stainless steel, then moving to glass.