Still Life Photography

In my studio 1 class we recently worked on our still life photos.  I had an idea in mind that I felt wasn't too over done; my daughter has recently decided she enjoys baking, and even more so, decorating cookies.  I thought I would do a still life photo of some of her cookies and the implements she uses to create those yummies.  But as the date for this project neared, I kept coming back to another idea that I had in mind: flowers.

I wanted to create these images in a low-key format that allowed for the flower to be the center of attention, and not to be overrun with harsh lights.  As my team and I worked on this session, I could see exactly how I wanted these images to turn out.  To create the low-key format, I pulled my flowers further from the wall so that the lights would fall off behind the subject and create a darkened background.  

Leaving the flowers the center of attention we played with several lighting and arrangement options, including reflecting the flower off a mirror.  

In the end, I chose the an arrangement with three of the gerbera daisies and a bit of the contrasting vase because it's what I felt was the right image.  This was probably one of my easiest, and quickest, photo shoots yet.  I really like how the dew on two of the bottom petals is reflecting the stems.