How to create a rustic still life

Ignore the downpours and windy weather, raid your fridge or vegetable rack for this rustic tableaux

- Wendy Evans

You can either raid your kitchen for items or make a trip to the supermarket, with the added bonus that you can eat everything afterwards. The key element, though, if you're shooting this in your own home, is trying to exercise some control over the light. One neat trick is to close all your curtains, but then fit a blackout curtain with a slit in it in the middle of the window, to let in a shaft of light. This can be surprisingly effective. Otherwise, you can use artificial lights, as I did here, while drawing the curtains to remove most of the light from outside. The LED light was bright enough that anything not lit by it became dark.

Camera: Nikon Z 8, Nikkor VR 24-85mm f/3.4-4.5G lens

Settings: 1/200 sec at f/4.2, ISO 100, with Spot metering

Arrange the tableaux

The key items are the bread and the plate of vegetables, with the others as background details. As there are two layers to the composition, the bread and box are angled to be more dynamic. The grapes at the front pull the eye towards the plate of vegetables.

Colour scheme