Photography Tips: Still Life

If you’re shooting still life, the same principle applies. Identify the subject first, then expose for the subject. There may be secondary subjects which are at different brightness levels, but don’t worry about those.

Aim to get the perfect exposure for your main subject, and the different exposure levels will tell a layered story with different layers of priority. The viewer’s eye will be first drawn to the subject with the perfect exposure, and then onwards to the other secondary subjects, or the background.

This layering effect can be further multiplied using:

-an effective composition
-differences in the light temperature (achieved through careful use of white balance)
-selective focus (ensuring sharp focus on the main subject, and using depth-of-field to render secondary subjects out of focus)