Institute of Photographic StudiesMonday, June 16th, 2008
Your mission: Create emotional impact while shooting still-life through your camera's lens.
Your equipment: reflectors, camera, and a speedlight flash.
Your subjects: medieval playmobil figures, ancient pirate coins, and a patriotic puzzle.
Your inspiration: sane imagination and the lovingly persistent nudges of your faithful instructors.
Instantly, the first set of assignments of the week posed a bit of a stretch for those of us (all right, little blonde me) who are somewhat challenged with all the factors included in composing a breathtaking image before entering the editing world. Not only did I have to be conscious of composition, exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and emotional impact, but this fresh batch of cookie dough had another behemoth component added to the mix that needed to be perfectly rebalanced: the use of external flash to shoot still life.
At first, the challenge seemed intimidating, yet as the familiarity of this dynamic tool increased, so did the quality of images and the realization that, with practice, all the seemingly challenging composition factors necessary for a captivating image will soon transform into second nature.
—PWP2 Student Alicia Easling