Series End

This is the last seashell that I shot on the driftwood for this series. I did shoot a few starfish and a seahorse but those shapes did not work well with the others.

Seabiscuit

Sand Dollars

Sea Urchin

Swirls

Stripes and Curls

Spirals

Seashell Series

In January or February of 2008 the BAPC assignment was "Still life". I had never attempted to shoot a still life before and tried several different subjects, including pears and flowers but finally found some seashells and decided I really wanted to explore their shape and texture. I tried various backgrounds like sand and a bamboo placemat and when I found a piece of very dark driftwood I knew I had something I would like. I used my macro lens and ambient light from a window and no reflector to fill the left side because I wanted shadows to show the form and texture of the shells. Whenever possible, I tried to place each seashell on the part of the driftwood that echoed the shape or lines in the shell. I could not decide between several of the images and then thought a triptych would help convey what I was exploring and since all of the shells were not the exact same color I first converted each image to black and white and then added a sepia tone.

Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens at f9 and 1/15th, -.67 exposure compensation, ISO 100, cloudy whitebalance