It has been called one of the MOST dreaded, despicable, irritatingly horrific plagues known to still life photographers worldwide! Yes, you guessed it – DUST!
The closer you get to your subject, and the shinier and darker the material, the more dust magnetizes itself to the subject you are photographing. Don’t ask me why: It is a universal law of Physics. It’s called the Duunkenheimer Dust Law of Attraction.
Alright, alright, I just made that shit up. You probably won’t find that ‘law’ in any Physics textbook.
HOWEVER – Dust seems to have a mind of its own: I just know that it is saying, and yes, I do mean each and every little particle:
“Hehehehehehe – I’m gunna mess you up Mr. Photoguy! I’m gunna be a fly in the ointment, a monkey in the wrench, a pain in the ass!”
I attempt to ignore the taunting words of the dust. Mind you, I will still get the photograph done, no matter what – and to my liking and standards. However, minute pieces of floating and flying granules can make for a rough stretch of trials and tribulations during the shooting-phase, and during the post-production phase.
Such is life with dust and photography. I wonder if Seagate would let me use their clean room? I promise not to get in the way or take up too much space, just a corner somewhere would be sufficient.
How to Deal with Dust?
Well, if nothing else, make sure you have a high-powered, bulbous air blower to constantly knock the dust off of your subject, props, and the general photo set-up. I also use micro-fiber dusting cloth. The rest of the dust spots can be cleaned up with photo-editing software. However, the less dust that is captured in the shot means less time cleaning the spots off later, during post-production.
I don’t want to be worrying about dust, there are so many other details that are far more important in still life photography, such as lighting, props, design, position of the subject, composition, exposure, hot-spots, reflections, color, shadows, lens choice, lens angle, and positioning reflectors and diffusers.
Yes, dust is a pain in the patella! However, you can never fully get away from it – you just have to deal with it.
BELT, Still Life Product Photograph by Nawfal Johnson Nur
