Still Life and Abstract Photography

Still life paintings are made interesting by the effort required to paint them.  While the subject is often ordinary viewers can appreciate the ordinary by thinking about the time taken to capture the ordinary in art form.  Photographs can be captured much faster so still life photography often takes the ordinary and places them in unusual ways to prevent redundancy.  

What is considered abstract art is debated.  Some think that all photographs are in some way abstract.  Typically any extreme close up, unusual composition, or digitally altered photograph is considered abstract.  Others still disagree with that and say that abstract photography has to take the familiar and make a new interpretation.  Some also believe in a subset of semi-abstract art.  An abstract photograph is meant to challenge the way the viewer typically thinks about photographs.  Abstract photographs should still be in focus and well framed, but they also need to show a new and interesting perspective on the subject. 

 In order to shoot a still life the photographer has to slow down.  The idea is the isolate the subject and use light to draw focus towards it.  It’s better to stop and look at the pictures you have taken then go back if necessary to make sure you get a good photograph at the shooting stage rather than spend time more time in editing.