Help?

I'm doing the Project 52 over at Lighting Essentials for Photographers.

Week three's assignment is a still life. I'm not any good at abstract assignments. Tell me go photograph this and that, I can do. Tell me to create this xx photograph I can do. Tell me to make a stil life that represents calm and relaxed, I'm lost. To me calm and relaxed would be at the target range shooting a firearm, or messing with the computer but to others they would be far from it. If I had my bike Id super clamp the camera on and shoot me going down a two lane road in the desert. Next best thing for me to take a shot of me driving the same road in my truck.

As you can tell I relax differently than most. Here are the two ideas that I came up with so far. Since it said gather your props and make the image.

1). Take a beautiful photo of a new Mexico sunrise and put it on my iPad shot on a white background that is blown out.

2). Take my Bible turn it to a certain verse and shoot it either on a black bg or a white one that is blown out.

Do either of these work for you if not suggest something simple that I might have laying around. I don't do flowers.

Hey, Blackey!

My impression of still-life is that it could be a photo about a person who does not necessarily appear in the photo. So, what strikes me as being about you would be an interesting composition of your weapon(s) and associated tools after the range. You know, maybe your pistol leaning up against box that you store it in, slide locked back, with your cleaning supplies out (brush, swabs, etc). I can smell the hoppe's number 9 in the air just thinking about it.

If it was me, I'd do a close-up of those items with a short depth of field with maybe your target a little out of focus in the background. What do you think?

In college (photo major) I had an assignment to do a still life that told something about me. At the time I was heavily into hiking and music (and photography). My stereo was, of course, in my darkroom. I arranged my boots and backpack up against my stereo stand to look as if I had just kicked the shoes off and put down my pack and maybe I was listening to a little music.

Does that give you any ideas?

Dwain

Thanks, I'm going to do the shooting tomorrow I'm working on the story boards in the StoryBoards app. I have three or four ideas in the work. The two listed, plus several variations of my mc gear and the same of my shooting gear but I was going to use my cowboy guns a 73 copy, hammered SxsS coach gun and my two USFA SAAs and my leather with my uniform as the bg the uniform is the indian war era and my leather is a loose fit ie black heavy duty saber belt with a cap pouch, bullet box and two black holsters and a dear antler handle knife. I could also sub my pair or Ruger Old Army C&Bs or my vaqueros.

How about combining the two ideas? Take your bible out into a remote area, set it in place as a foreground subject, and get the NM sunrise (or sunset) in the background. Let the colors of the golden hour dictate the shot. If you want to enhance the subject a little, maybe drop the ambient a stop and shoot a softened flash at one stop over that. Or do some light painting if that's your bag.

i like that idea Sagray