What is still life photography? What are the characteristics of still life photography?

Still life photography, as opposed to figure photography and landscape photography, takes inanimate objects (such as fish and shrimps coming ashore, picked melons and fruits, etc.) as the performance objects. Mostly handicrafts, fruits, vegetables and flowers. On the basis of reality, through organization and arrangement, the composition, light, tone and color are artistically treated to accurately reflect the texture and three-dimensional sense of the subject.

Still life photography has a vast world in material selection. After selecting materials, we can deal with these objects at will, because objects are inanimate and can move from multiple angles at will to achieve our creative intention. Still life photography has two advantages: first, the deepening process of further understanding of artistic vision. When some ordinary objects are taken into fascinating photos, it is actually a process of in-depth study and observation of these objects. Secondly, shooting still life can gain more practical photography knowledge.

For photographers, the difficulty of still life photography lies in its unique picture composition. When arranging the subject, we must choose the shooting angle, be creative in using light, and then apply the practical photography knowledge and basic principles learned from still life photography to daily photography.

As an art, still life photography allows photographers to have absolute control over the picture ―― light, mood and composition. Here are some wonderful still life photos.