Old Microscope
Southern California has one of the greatest resources for photographers in the world. Yet it is not even know about by most non-pro photographers.
This is the land of the movies, and what do movies need? Props, and who supplies the props, prop houses. I have spent hours wondering around these places and they are wonderful. For a small rental fee you can find anything you can imagine for use in your table top and still life photographs.
This antique microscope must have captured the imagination of the photographer the instant he saw it. What a find, what stories it could tell. It looks like it was taken in the original lab or classroom. You can tell by the dust on the work bench and the old wooden cubby holes in the background. It appears that the photographer used a flash to illuminate the scene.
This is a nice photo as far as it goes. But I would recommend that the photographer work the subject a little farther. The overall shot tells us that this is an old microscope but little more. The subject could be approached in two ways. The first would be to set up a more interesting environment with props and create a planed still life composition. The second would be to get in close and see some of the graphic detail of the instrument and eliminate the background. I know your time may have been limited but if we want to take the subject out of the curiosity category more artistic planning may be needed.
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March 27th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Hi Jim, Thank you for the critique. You can find this old microscope in the Santa Barbara Zoo next to the Gorillas. Next time I am there I will try to get some macro shots of it. As for this shot I was trying to find an angle to keep distracting elements that had nothing to do with the subject out of the photo. As there were people walking around me, that was not an easy task. The only natural light source was behind me through a window in that dark room. I did use an on board flash.