Project 4: Initial images

I began in the studio by setting up a traditional still life (without 2D materials) to get a feel for the direction I wanted to go in. I knew I wanted my final art pieces to be centered around kitschy breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert still lifes reminiscent of advertisements from the 1950s. I bought cheap faux flowers from the dollar store. Nearly all materials for this project were obtained from the dollar store, because I felt it shared similar qualities as the food and materials I'm referencing from 60 years ago (cheap, mass-produced, generic-looking). I photographed items both together and separately. 

Breakfast scene; items photographed together.

Photographed together from a different vantage point. I decided against this angle/setup early on, but looking back now, it's similar to the setup I ended up using in my final images.

Waffles photographed separately. I photographed these to have on hand in case I wanted to select from the texture of the waffle, or clone the entire stack into an image.

I started experimenting with construction paper to create objects that would typically be found in the scene; i.e. butter on waffles made using yellow construction paper. I wish I had expanded more on this idea, because I think it works particularly well here. If I had more time, I likely would have planned larger and more complex items created from 2D materials.

Another example of using construction paper. I attempted to create the illusion of water in a glass. The yellow construction paper is not essential to this image, only an attempt at making it easier to select the glass and blue paper later on in Photoshop.

The aforementioned photographs were all photographed with this lighting setup. My key light was a strobe with a 40º grid, and my kicker was a strobe with an octobox. Key light was set to a higher power than the kicker. No gels.

The final image from my initial shoot in the studio. I threw on a blue gel on the key light and a purple gel on a light behind the table that was bounced off the ceiling. It created a nice nighttime atmosphere. Initially, I hoped to set up lights in four different ways to convey the time of day with the corresponding meal, i.e. bright but soft light for the breakfast scene, harsher light for the lunch scene, softer, warmer light for the dinner scene, and cool, soft, dark light for the dessert scene. Including my arm with my phone flashlight was a last minute decision that I also wish I had more time to expand on. I'd love to do a whole series of still lifes set up in this manner and incorporate arms, hands, and phones.

The last few images (depicting nighttime) were shot with this lighting setup. The same 40º grid on my key light, bounced into a v-flat to create diffused light with a greater spread and softer shadows. The kicker light was bounced off the wall and ceiling to achieve the same effect. Blue gel placed on key light, purple gel placed on kicker.

Unfortunately, these initial images and elements within these images are not overly apparent in my final images. I think I started out too complex and realized I wouldn't have enough time to execute the visualization I had in mind when starting out. Maybe I'll revisit the concept in the future.