Photography: Art Direction
(University, Photography Assignment 2)
'Still Life'

 

  
As you may have come to realise, I have not used an traditional/original labelled soup can that Warhol used to create his piece. I have done this deliberately because I feel that in using a can that is up to date will allow me differentiate my masterpiece and Still Life on a large scale, thus making it my own. Rather than doing a shoot of the same thing twice I feel that it allows you to see the difference between old and new, the photos I have taken bring a classic to life, in this decade.  

Within my piece I have aimed to look at composition greatly. How white space works, if it doesn't and how it could be fixed. Each of my photos showcases a different composition, and in doing this it made for a more interesting outcome within each photograph. 

For example, looking at the second photo (top right), I set the soup can just off centre and in doing this it obviously made the photo heavy on the left side, with adding the Tin Opener in such a way, it took the heaviness of the can away and created a balance, this in tern allowed my photo to flow and be successful. As with all of the photographs I captured for the Still Life assignment, I took each layout/composition seriously, meaning that I aimed to steer clear from the "same product composition, different camera angle" which can sometimes be fallen into with taking photos of this sort.

Creative Direction

The challenge set within this brief was to effectively compose a series of photographs that present 'Still Life' in three sorts of manners, realistic, stylistic or abstract. The idea behind this brief in particular as a whole was to focus on the props situated within a masterpiece that was set to be re-created in another brief I had been given, that being Andy Warhol's 32 Campbell's Soup. In my case however, I was limited to a white background and a can of soup and so I took the opportunity add a Tin Opener, this adds a sense of stylisation to my photos. 

This shot would be straightforward and demonstrate the prop(s) with a look and feel that best suits the subject at hand. Though at the same time, to create a sense of focus and difference.

This shot in particular is set to demonstrate an ability to create an outcome that has a feel and reflection that most suits the original Masterpiece Remake or even the style in which the we intended to interpret our masterpiece.

Finally this shot involved an outcome requiring high productuon values, in a high abstract manner.
This final option of the brief was to open our own interpretations of the original Masterpiece given to us in another part of the Assignment and was open to our 'complete creative freedom' within the shoot.
 

Simple lighting allowed me to catch some truly detailed shots of the Campbells Soup can and Opener, using two spot lights with soft box to take out the hardness of the lights themselves. As you can see in my Photographs the lighting changes slightly in each. I did this to accentuate the can of soup in various ways, to gain depth.

 
Camera
Canon EOS 500D 
Set with a shutter speed of 1/13th
Aperture set to f11

Action 
This shoot in particular took no more than 40 minutes, including light set up and test shots to determine the look and feel of the photos I was about to shoot. With careful thought of composition and lighting I took 57 shots in total. When it came to uploading the best ones, having 57 shots in total all differently composed made it easier to see which ones were the better ones to present.