Inspired by David Meredith

Happy (unstereotypical post about flowers) Halloween. 
I just found out that I married one of those people. You know them. Someone who doesn't like dressing up and promises that if I put leaves in my hair and paint a jack-o-lantern on my face... he will walk 50 feet behind me. Well, we'll see about that.

During my internship this summer I discovered David Meredith's work and fell head over heals. I didn't know who he was however, until he was mentioned in a photo lab because he teaches here on campus. I am currently starstruck. His photos are crisp and clean versions of messy still lifes. He crops into the mess so that it feels as if someone disappeared in the middle of a project. If you think his style looks familiar, its probably because he is a popular photographer for Anthropologie.

I decided to immerse myself in his technique. I knew it wouldn't be easy to style a messy still life, let alone take a successful photo of it. It brought to life many of the tips I've learned in my photo class. I'm no expert and I'm still growing, but I wanted to share six of them with you!

• Allow yourself time. Rushed projects will show, especially when you are starting out. When you accept the fact that you need to spend hours shooting, it allows time to think about your composition, the concept and to experiment with your camera.

• Do your best to make the photo perfect while shooting so that you have less to edit in post. Photoshop is amazing, but it can only do so much. It is harder to capture the photo you imagined, the more you adjust the exposure and erase smudges and crop. 

• Use good (preferably natural) lighting. As you can see in my setup above, I have the still life infront of a bright window, with a simple screen to stop harsh glares and disperse the light. The light behind the camera, in our living room, is off to get rid of the camera's shadow and the florescent yellow tinge. I also have two reflectors on both sides of the image. The one on the left is a dark color to stop the bright light that was leaking through from the left and the one on the right is pure white to reflect some of the bright light back into the shadows. Both of my 'reflectors' are just butcher paper or poster board. The last part of my setup is the tripod. This is a very important tool when you want to remotely take a photo while holding the reflectors with one hand and adjust the manual focus with the other.

• Pay attention to ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Taking photos manually allows more option to capture the photo you have in mind. To learn more about what these are visit this site. On the other hand, I have found that manually focusing can be deceiving unless you are seasoned photographer or unless you are taking close-ups on details. In the end you could be left with 100+ out of focus photos, and there's almost no way to fix that in post. Auto focus is a miracle that we should take advantage of!

• When all is said and done... post editing turns an average photo into an amazing one! Find your own comfort level of editing through price and features. Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, Lightroom, Pixelmator, even iPhoto and online editors are great tools. Make small, light changes, a little bit at a time. Step away from the computer for a while to see your changes in a new light to minimize overly-edited images. Find your own style. Do you like desaturation, vignettes or sharp images? There are many ways to get the look you desire when you have done your best to take a good photo and then learn how to adjust it to be amazing.

• Practice, practice, practice. I'm sure this is obvious. Don't assume that your first photos are going to be your best or that all of your images in the future will look like your first. Take inspiration from other photographers, pay attention to composition and editing techniques and get to know your camera on a personal level.

I'm still trying to keep all of these tips in mind while shooting. Choosing personal projects and setting goals are something that I have found to be important in learning about my camera. 

If you buy a camera and let it sit on your bookshelf, it won't help you get any better. There have to be some scary times at the beginning before you reach the point that you are perfectly happy and proud of your images. 

If you have any other important tips, please share them below! I am always looking for more help!