Picture This

Our Picture This! assignment this month was for images made at flea markets and antique stores, where the sellers act as impromptu art directors and assemble their wares in often interesting ways. The assignment was to go on a kind of treasure hunt for those found still life photo ops, and to make framing and compositional decisions that created a cultural mix through juxtaposition of objects and their symbolism. A key element was lighting, be it natural, artificial and flash, and how the illumination gave the objects form, given that the photographer could not rearrange the objects at will. The fun came in the serendipity that an assignment like this fosters. Readers responded with a wide variety of images that reflected the rich mine of potential images in various locales.

Antique Tools

Ernest H. Boyd noted that the late afternoon light aided in creating the strong shadows in this shot, made with a Canon EOS 30D and an EF-S 17-85mm lens. Exposure was f/10 at 1⁄125 sec. © 2010, Ernest H. Boyd, All Rights Reserved

Seltzer

The lighting mood and use of shallow depth of field was perfect for this trio of bottles, photographed by Bradley Gross with a Nikon D100 and an 85mm lens with an exposure of f/5.6 at 1⁄20 sec. © 2010, Bradley Gross, All Rights Reserved

Wrapped Angels

The lighting on this shot enhanced the texture around the figures, photographed by Steve Levinson with a Nikon D80 and a 24-70mm lens with an exposure of f/2.8 at 1⁄1000 sec. © 2010, Steve Levinson, All Rights Reserved

Perfume Vials

Leigh D. Segel found these variations on a theme in a flea market in Malta. Exposure with a Canon PowerShot S80 was f/3.2 at 1⁄60 sec. © 2010, Leigh D. Segel, All Rights Reserved

Give Me A Hand

Warren Levingston found these mannequin hands at a weekly flea market outside a subway station in Vienna. He photographed with a Canon PowerShot SX100 with an exposure of f/4 at 1⁄200 sec. © 2010, Warren Levingston, All Rights Reserved

Piazza Navona, Rome

The lighting at night made for a dramatic mix of icons and apparitions in this photo by Francisco López. Handheld exposure with an Olympus E-P2 at ISO 800 was f/2.8 at 1⁄30 sec. © 2010, Francisco López, All Rights Reserved

License Plates

Donna Goff found this pile of expired plates and just the right light at a flea market in Fort Hays, South Dakota. Exposure with a Canon EOS Rebel XSi and a Canon 18-55mm lens was f/5 at 1⁄30 sec. © 2010, Donna Goff, All Rights Reserved

Window Reflections

Eva Gryk used a mirror to create a frame within a frame in the Arlington Antiques Center in Vermont. Exposure with a Nikon D90 at ISO 800 was f/9 at 1⁄320 sec. © 2010, Eva Gryk, All Rights Reserved

Faces Of Vases

Fredric Fink made this colorful photo of shapes and reflections in Old Town Albuquerque with a Canon camera and a Sigma 18-50mm lens with an exposure of f/4 at 1⁄150 sec at ISO 200. © 2010, Fredric Fink, All Rights Reserved

Curious Mix

Bringing a copy of an Egyptian sarcophagus and a carousel horse together with an old curtain and paintings as a backdrop is what found still life is all about. Don Adzigian made this photo with a Canon PowerShot G10 with an exposure of f/2.8 at 1⁄8 sec. © 2010, Don Adzigian, All Rights Reserved

Fabric Rainbow

Marek Grabis made this photo at the Indian market in Otavalo, Ecuador. Exposure with a Canon EOS 20D and a Canon 17-85mm lens was f/9 at 1⁄125 sec at ISO 200. © 2010, Marek Grabis, All Rights Reserved

Raggedy Ann Galore

The replication of manufactured collectibles in a myriad of materials and forms is the subject of this photo by Tina Marie Brookes, made with a Canon EOS 7D with an exposure of f/4.5 at 1⁄60 sec at ISO 640. © 2010, Tina Marie Brookes, All Rights Reserved

Cosmo Girl

This five-shot bracket, processed in Photomatix, was made indoors at a flea market in Puyallup, Washington, by Bobbie Climer with a Nikon D200 and a Nikon 35-105mm lens. © 2010, Bobbie Climer, All Rights Reserved

“From The 1950s”

Patricia Mark made this high-key, high fashion shot of a setup in a “neat little antique nostalgia store in Portland, Oregon.” Exposure was f/3.2 at 1⁄25 sec at ISO 800 with a Canon PowerShot SX100. © 2010, Patricia Mark, All Rights Reserved