Studio Roses

Leica CL + Leica Elmar-C 90mm f4

While doing some research into portrait techniques to use in the ‘kitchen studio,’ I somehow managed to go down the rabbit hole of hyper-realistic still life photography. There must be a term for this genre, but it’s basically still lifes - which tend to be flower arrangements, but could also involve fruit and various objects - photographed to look like Renaissance paintings with strategic use of lighting and composition. I did not want to go quite as far as that, but I was curious to try the general ‘vibe.’ So I practiced on these wilting roses.

As far as I can make out, the look is achieved by using a dark background, illuminating the subject, and shooting at a high f number. Ideally I would have used a tripod, but I didn’t - so there might be some camera shake, which is why even at f16 some parts of the roses are not as sharp as they could be. I would like to try this on a person, if I am lucky enough to get light this good for my next scheduled photoshoot!