2014 Challenge, Week 50: STILL LIFE - GROUPS - The 2022 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge

2014 has been an awesome year for PhotoChallenge.org. I’ve enjoyed putting together the Still Life challenges and seeing your shots. The collective creativity of this community is amazing. Thanks for making it a great year!

This will be your last Still Life assignment for the year, and to honor the idea of community and groups, the theme is GROUP. Find a group of objects that relate to each other and compose a shot.

“Saatchi Still Life 2013” by Misha Dontsov

Fruits and vegetables are classic still life subjects. You can group a bunch one kind of fruit, like the shot below, or create a group using other creative staging techniques like the cut subjects above.

“still life” by Judy van der Velden

Finding a bunch of the same type of object might be easy, but staging them could be the challenge. How you arrange your group matters. And pay attention to the lighting. The brushes below have a straight forward presentation with even lighting that allows you to see the individuals that make up the group.

“still life with brushes” by Jos van Wunnik

Or you can group based on color. The shot below uses the color red to connect a lot of otherwise disconnected objects. Note the arrangement, angle of the shot, and depth of field – contrast that with the shot of the brushes above. Similar arrangements, but different photographic techniques.

“everyday reds” by FraserElliot

Taking common subjects, isolating them, and playing with the depth of field is a common still life strategy, but one that works well. The leaves below are nothing special, the photographer turned them into a still life. You see sharp focus and detail, but it’s limited by the depth of field. The lighting also creates contrast. To me that is the essence of still life – the technique of the photographer makes the shot compelling, regardless of the subject.

“Walnuts” by – Guigui-Lille –

Take a close look around, find a group, and compose a creative shot. Thanks again for the great year! I can’t wait for 2015.

The rules are pretty simple:

Post one original (Your Image) shot each week per theme posted on this blog to Google+, Facebook, or Flickr (or all three). Tag the photo #photochallenge.org. or #photochallenge2014.
The shot should be a new shot you took for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2014 Photo Challenge is fun and easy.