Milk and Egg Still Life

[reval8r]

I've had this ideal in my head for a couple of months and shot it today. It's a really simple milk and egg still life. I originally had planned on the concept being low key, but decided to shoot it low key and high key. After the shoot, I liked the high key better and have it posted here.

The setup like most of my images is pretty simple. With the milk bottle coming from the 1960’s, I wanted the image to have an antique feel. The main light is about 60 degrees camera left and about camera height. There’s an 8x10 inch white fill card to the right of the subjects. The background is thunder gray seamless paper; background light it’s 2 stops higher than then main. Even 2 stops was not enough to make the thunder gray white, but does give it a nice warm tone that helps with the antique feel to the image. The camera is the same level as the subject and shoot from about 20 feet away to keep the image looking 2 dimensional. A black piece of hose was stretched over the lens for a soft focus effect.

http://astonishingportraits.com/picts/milk%20and%20eggs%20web.jpg

[Pixie]

Oh i like it, where did you find the bottle?

I liked the high key better and have it posted here.
glad you said that because I dotn knwo the differance between the two.
can you post the othe rso we can see the differance please?

[reval8r]

Hi Pixie,
The difference is basically high key backgrounds are white or light colored and low key is black or dark colors. This image has the same thunder gray background, but there is no background light on the paper. The background light has been changed to light the back of the subjects to give them separation from the background.

http://astonishingportraits.com/picts/milk%20and%20eggs%20lowkey%20web.jpg

[coffee]

Stunning image Larry. Well done.

[reval8r]

Thanks Joseph, glad you like it.

Larry

[lisadaisy36]

GREAT JOB! I like! Makes me want some breakfast :)

[ladyups]

Great shots, Larry. I'm with you, I prefer the low key image. I'm a bit confused. You say you are using the same background paper for both but one is gray and the other is black. I'm not sure how the light shining on it or not can change the color. Could you explain that to a simpleton? :confused:

I don't believe you could have done a better job of showing low/high key photos. I have trouble with both of those concepts and you helped me understand that a bit better just by posting your images. It's the main reason I've been stumped on Lesson 7 so long.

[reval8r]

GREAT JOB! I like! Makes me want some breakfast :)

Thanks Lisa!

[reval8r]

Great shots, Larry. I'm with you, I prefer the low key image. I'm a bit confused. You say you are using the same background paper for both but one is gray and the other is black. I'm not sure how the light shining on it or not can change the color. Could you explain that to a simpleton? :confused:

I don't believe you could have done a better job of showing low/high key photos. I have trouble with both of those concepts and you helped me understand that a bit better just by posting your images. It's the main reason I've been stumped on Lesson 7 so long.


Hi Mary,
Thanks for the kind words. A gray background is very versatile allowing a range from white to black and tones of gray in-between.

The seamless paper was about 8 feet behind the subjects. I used a strobe that was 2 stops brighter on the background to give it an almost white appearance. My strobes were set for an aperture of F8 on the milk and eggs; the background light was set for F13. This gave me a white tone, but not pure white. For the low key, I turned off the background light and left the main light the same. This left my background at an F4.5 causing the background to go very dark. It’s not completely black, but dark enough to give a black appearance. If I would have the background and subjects the same, the background would have been a medium gray; by adjusting the light brighter or lower than the main it changes the shades of gray. I hope this explanation helps Mary.

Larry

[mzthang]

I absolutely L.O.V.E. it (them) but I agree with you - the high key is the 'better' one. Great Job. I want to shoot photos like that when my camera and I grow up lol

[ladyups]

Hi Mary,
Thanks for the kind words. A gray background is very versatile allowing a range from white to black and tones of gray in-between.

The seamless paper was about 8 feet behind the subjects. I used a strobe that was 2 stops brighter on the background to give it an almost white appearance. My strobes were set for an aperture of F8 on the milk and eggs; the background light was set for F13. This gave me a white tone, but not pure white. For the low key, I turned off the background light and left the main light the same. This left my background at an F4.5 causing the background to go very dark. It’s not completely black, but dark enough to give a black appearance. If I would have the background and subjects the same, the background would have been a medium gray; by adjusting the light brighter or lower than the main it changes the shades of gray. I hope this explanation helps Mary.

Larry

Thanks a bunch for the explanation, Larry. I think that makes sense to me and I'll have to give it a try sometime to see how it works. I only have one flash, so would have to borrow another one from my neighbor (she has the same camera as I do). Correct me if I'm wrong....you did change the tablecloth, right?

Ok....I was a bit confused...I thought you liked the low key one best but after re-reading...I realized that you liked the high key one. For some reason...I like the low key one best. I guess I just like that black and white combination better.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this all to me...it's funny, but I just got a newsletter from DPI that explained how to do this for impromptu shots. Between your explanation and theirs, I think I understand it now.

[littlepixel]

Excellent work Larry!

[reval8r]

I absolutely L.O.V.E. it (them) but I agree with you - the high key is the 'better' one. Great Job. I want to shoot photos like that when my camera and I grow up lol

Thanks. I was thinking I might want to be a photographer when I grow up, but that's years away and will probably change my mind by then. ;)

[reval8r]

Thanks a bunch for the explanation, Larry. I think that makes sense to me and I'll have to give it a try sometime to see how it works. I only have one flash, so would have to borrow another one from my neighbor (she has the same camera as I do). Correct me if I'm wrong....you did change the tablecloth, right?

Ok....I was a bit confused...I thought you liked the low key one best but after re-reading...I realized that you liked the high key one. For some reason...I like the low key one best. I guess I just like that black and white combination better.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this all to me...it's funny, but I just got a newsletter from DPI that explained how to do this for impromptu shots. Between your explanation and theirs, I think I understand it now.


I tried 3 different cloths Mary. The original ideal was to be low-key and used a brownish colored cloth. I didn't like it and moved to black velvet for the low key. I wanted the image to use diffusion, but the diffusion really was working on the low key. So I changed gears to high-key. The diffusion worked much better and I got a tonal range that really helped with the vintage style concept I wanted.

Now my mind is thinking about it needs some texture, maybe a lace tablecloth or backdrop and moving the main light to the other side to flat the tonal difference between the milk and eggs. This would bring the milk back to white and change the image to more of a commercial feel and away from vintage.

I think so will like the low-key background because the contrast makes the image pop more. Our eyes are naturally drawn to contrast, so everything stands out more.

Mary, I think one of the best ways to learn is by studying what others have done that you like. Try to figure out how they done it then do it yourself and add your own unique style. The basic ideal for this shot has been done thousands of times. I see people that aren't doing anything because they can't think of anything new. Once you start trying to recreate something you've seen and like, a world of possibility starts to open.

Do give it a try! Doing a low key, all you need is one light and a reflector. I would love to see what you come up with.

Larry