Still Life Editing Using Photoshop

Effects using Photoshop by editing my original still life photographs.

For this photograph I decided to experiment using filters to create effects that I found interesting.

For this photograph I used the 'liquify' and 'solarise' filter in Photoshop, I chose these effects because I think they are really effective towards the subject of the image.

Original image

Edited image

For this image I manipulated it by using layers. Firstly I duplicated the background layer and then used the blend mode 'difference' effect to give it an effective transparent look. I then moved this layer so that it created a double subject image.

Original image

Edited image

Editing Photography Examples

Still Life Group Photography

During the first session of photography we worked in groups experimenting with shutter speed using still life objects. Taking the photographs in the classroom and then experimenting further by taking the objects outside, this was effective because of natural light that made the images taken have more depth and the natural environment helped with the placing of the objects.

From the photographs we took, these are a few of my favorite photographs.

Drawing With Light (Photography)

 We had a 30 second shutter speed and added light effects with lighting tools (torches and camera flash).

Drawing with Light Research

Patrick Rochon

Patrick Rochon creates stunning images by moving light through various media and capturing the movement with photography and video. Patrick’s light painting is unique even among a field of very innovative artists, using lasers to illuminate his subjects in ways that create an eerie, otherworldly feel in the finished portraits. Patrick has also taken light painting to a whole new level by building costumes of lights and performing light painting on a giant screen to create a unique visual experience.

Ryan Warnberg and Michelle McSwain

Queens, NY light painters Ryan Warnberg and Michelle McSwain are collectively known as MRI, a group that creates light paintings for hire. MRI’s fun brand of light painting can be commissioned for parties, ad campaigns and special events, and they bring all of their own equipment. MRI creates “kaleidoscopic” images that invoke old portraits of religious figures, but with a decidedly modern twist.

Toby Keller

Toby Keller of Burn Blue Photography in Design has created a series of light painting images in which the free-flowing forms of light seem to have no rhyme or reason – and they don’t have to. Keller takes what would already be beautiful nature photography and makes it seem to crackle with kinetic energy as ribbons of glowing light swirl around groups of rocks by the sea.

Macro Photography

Macro photography is all about capturing things up close. There are special lenses designed specifically for this task, and they are very good at capturing the smallest of details on tiny objects.

Using a macro lens I captured these interesting photographs, which look very effective.

Macro Photography Research

Damon Clarke

Damon strives to capture the beauty, emotion and personality of his miniature subjects. As he reveals "I try to capture poignancy and gesture in my subjects. I want to connect people to the small world that is all around us and remind them of the smaller beauty that is so often missed. I try to bring happiness, awe or quiet contemplation into peoples lives." In his work, form, depth, colour and light interplay to create striking imagery of classical composition. Each piece is hand printed using modern and traditional museum grade materials and techniques. 

Still Life Photographer Research

These are two of my favorite still life photographers.

Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz discovered and demonstrated the special aesthetic of the small camera. These beautiful little machines seemed at first hardly serious enough for the typical professional, with his straightforward and factual approach to the subject, but Kertesz soon became a well known photographer. 

I find Andre Kertesz's work very intriguing as i like his use of subjects within his work, as i think they are uncomplicated, which makes Kertesz's techniques show very clearly and effectively.

Edward Weston

The creative life of Edward Weston spans over five decades, from his first contact with photography in 1902 until 1953, when, under his supervision, his son Brett printed 830 of his best negatives for the "Project Prints."  Weston began to photograph at the age of sixteen after receiving a Kodak Bull’s Eye #2 camera as a birthday present from his father. His first photographs captured the parks of Chicago where he lived at the time.

I personally think that Edward Weston's work is interesting as it is simple yet so detailed and i also like the use of monochrome in his photographs.