The Basket on the Fifth Shelf Photo

Photographer’s Note

Stills are my without doubt my favourite sort of sceneries. They are patient and not time critical and thus giving me the chance to divide a composition in lines and sections seeking for startpoints, symbols, contrasting motives or appealing elements.

This picture is taken in the open-air museum at Bunge in northern Gotland, and caught my eye because of two items, the basket on the staircase and the tree legged object. Up to this day I can only guess about this tripod's actual function... Feel free if you think you have any leads :-)

Back to the composition, for me the tripod in lower left corner works as a startpoint to the other objects. Where the human eyes easily adapt to the dark light conditions here it was quite a challenge to find the correct exposure for my film. I actually partly succeeded because to include the basket in the background I had to overexpose somewhat the foreground.

Tech-details:
Used Photoshop to crop and downsize, ran through NeatImage to reduce the grain in the background and within Photoshop I used Color Range selection to select the brightest areas in the frame and toned down them with Level adjustments.

archanabhimasen has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

olli (2091) 2003-11-17 4:36

As in your previous shot: You have a great eye and technique for shots like this. Your "taken in museum" shots are just great – there are great atmosphere, light and tones in them. And they all are very well framed.

manny (21378) 2003-11-17 5:03

So it's you Edwin. Your reaching-out picture was my "inspiration" for my last shot (Alms for the Innocent Child). No pulling of leg here but it's true.

Anyway, this picture, as with your other pictures, is very professionally executed. The composition, lighting, angle, wow... superb. Great one!

avigur_11 (21273) 2003-11-17 5:19

I like the atmosphere here, created by the special lighting. I lke the end of the ladder the disapear in the darkness, and thr interestic shadow of the three legs. I like the framing, too.
Well done.

martin (1242) 2003-11-17 5:24

A beautiful image, Edwin The various objects work well together. Your notes are very helpful.

Porteplume (3255) 2003-11-17 5:48

Amazing, beautiful image!
That's what they call "Clair-Obscur" in Art.
And you succeeded in "painting in clair-obscur" that photograph...
Great work Edwin!

From Web: clair-obscur
[Italiaans: chiaroscuro, Frans: clair-obscur] is een manier van beeldend werken, met name in de grafische kunst, waarbij primair de sterke tegenstellingen tussen licht en donker de compositie en de werking van het beeld bestemmen. Andere technieken van beeldvorming, zoals het benadrukken van de contouren of het gebruik van specifieke kleurvlakken, worden hierdoor minder belangrijk. Het clair-obscur wordt voornamelijk ingezet om een sterkere dramatiek in het beeld te brengen.
Leonardo da Vinci maakte in zijn sfumato hier al op een virtuoze wijze gebruik van. Het werd verder ontwikkeld door Correggio en (especially) Caravaggio en op zeer geconcentreerde wijze ingezet door Rembrandt.

jrj (34779) 2003-11-17 5:56

Well composed in a top light and colour setting. also nice details of the wood structure.

padam (186) 2003-11-17 6:05

The soft colors as well as the smooth lines are very pleasant for the eyes. You mastered the lightning effects, thank you for the informative notes.

aferrao (1074) 2003-11-17 7:05

What a splendid light!!
I like the composition too, but the light is what I like the most!
Very good!

spyros60 (5548) 2003-11-17 8:19

I'll give my smile too.
Nic photo and the frame too.

maciekda (19587) 2003-11-17 9:30

very nice picture, very well composed, the light and colours are special, really good

sarastro (587) 2003-11-17 18:05

Your museum shots are all fantastic Edwin, but this one is possibly the best of them. It really does look like an old painting. Fantastic.

joseelias (367) 2003-11-17 19:08

You're a real master when it comes to compose this kind of photos, and also the way you manage light and colors. To me the best on TE.

This one is no exception. The overall warm tones combine very well with the darker and a bit mysterious background and textures are superb.

About the tripod my guess is that it's probably a bench to milk the cows or goats... My grand father had one more or less similar, but then again he was a few thousand kilometers of distance from there...

zto (292) 2003-11-18 13:21

Your photos makes me wanna go to the museum Edwin. They ought to pay you for the advertising ;).
Very nice and warm colours and good structure. i like how the bucket almost disapears in to the back ground. You will have to guess what is back there.

great shot.

femkevdh (2633) 2003-11-20 10:53

Just beautiful! Looks like a Rembrandt painting almost.
Love the scenery and your choise of angle & framing.
well done!

cdewet (0) 2003-11-22 7:24

Moody admosphere created here! The tripod can be to place in the fire as a potholder - but I do not kow your culture, so this is a guess. This type of scene fools the camera meter. It wants to overexpose, so you must dial minus 1/3 to -1.5 stops less into the camera to get more out of the scene - and bracket. But I just love the mood and suggestions here - tantalising picture!.

touristdidi (8561) 2003-11-26 11:04

I like the colors and the textures..... Indian women at a pongal festival, made a tripod of three broken bricks to cook rice, fire under the pot.... I might assume as others do, that this is the tripod function here.

allotfy (1525) 2003-11-29 16:31

very worm shot i like the way of your shoting the composition, lighting and angle of the shot,very well framed.

ianmcall (1213) 2004-02-29 7:28

I'm a big fan of natural textures done in natural light; wood, stone and sand. the light here is superb.

DigiSpy (214) 2004-12-10 18:25

One of the best I've seen until now.
The composition has some very nice details. Also the soft glow on the wall at the left gives some body to the whole composition. The object on the bucket fades very nicely in the dark. Plendid play of light.

A nice thought would be to bring the owner of this place a nice print. They would really like it, it will certainly give you a nice discussion and...you can ask about the tripod. I think it can't have been used in very early photography. -Very- good work! On of my vafs. Thanks for sharing!

archanabhimasen (270) 2005-04-29 13:07

Nice still-life! The light and shade is just perfect.

bnallama (3755) 2005-05-05 5:22 [Comment]