Response to Sam Kaplan

I decided to respond to Sam Kaplan's photography by taking similar shots of numbered candles with objects relating to that age. I only had the number '5' at the present moment, so later I will buy more of these candles to do different ages. I researched the development of 5 year olds so I could find objects that linked to it, and I found that they are able to relate clock times to daily schedules, they know what a calendar is for, they begin to count and use money, they are able to use the phone, and are able to share toys during play (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development_stages#Five-year-old). I gathered objects that represented this such as a clock, diary, purse, phone and toy and photographed them in the studio. Below are my results.

This first image was to respond to his photographs of the candles. I had taken some photos in the exact position he had, although they were out of focus. However this photo is in focus but is in a different position to what Sam had, but this could be my own twist on his ideas.
Your eye leads straight to the candle as it's bright colours make it strike out to you. The composition of this image is right in the middle which is what makes it stand out further.
I used an aperture of F/6.3 and a shutter speed of 1/25 sec as the lighting was bright enough to let enough light through, but it had to have a narrow depth of field to show the detail of the candle and not the background.
I kept the background simple by having it plain white in order for the red colour of the candle to have a higher contrast so you focused on it. However, the background looks grey in my images which is a downside, so if I was to re-do this photo shoot I would ensure the background looked white.
The mood created is cheery as candles make me think of birthdays which are usually a time for celebration and happiness.
The textures are like wax due to the candle, but another texture is the air-like feel created by the fire on the candle.
As mentioned before, I would improve this image by making the background whiter, and I would also change the composition so the whole candle is facing us; I feel that would showcase it more.

After the candle photos I started on the still life objects that related to that number. I laid them out in various ways so I could find one I liked, and decided this one was best as the objects were all on show without distracting away from one another.
Your eye leads towards the monkey toy because it's following the rule of three in the top right corner. This helps guide your eye down towards the other objects as they decrease in height so you know where to look next.
I used an aperture of F/8 and a shutter speed of 1/25 sec as there was a lot of light so I only needed to allow a bit through the lens, and I had a narrow depth of field to capture the detail. However, I do feel it was a bit too narrow as some areas was out of focus, especially in other shots so I would change it to be wider if I was to do this again.
The colours used were all neutral, dark colours so they were colour co-ordinated so nothing looked random or out of place. The textures were also matched to create the same effect by them all being smooth and hard.
The mood created isn't what I wanted it to be. It makes me think of school or work thanks to the calendar and clock as the colours weren't child-like. I feel I need more child-ish objects to help get my point across more.
Therefore, to improve my image I would brighten it up more to bring some life to it, and would change the objects to look more like ones you would associate with a child.

To link the candle and objects, I decided on adding the candle into the objects still life.
Your eye leads towards the calendar due to the rule of three in the top left corner. It is taller than the rest of the objects so you are able to guide downwards to the other objects.
The techniques used were an aperture of F/7.1 and a shutter speed of 1.25 sec. This is because I had a lot of light that didn't all need to be let through the lens, but it had to be narrow to show the details of the '2014' and clock numbers. This was a problem because it showed the numbers, but made the image look darker so I would have to brighten the image in Photoshop if I wanted it as a final piece.
The colours in this image are the same as the previous image, although the candle brought in the higher contrast of red. I feel this has ruined the image because it looks out of place with the other dark colours because it doesn't match. To over come this, I would change the objects to be more colourful to help suit the child theme as well as matching the candle.
The candle does help create a more child-like mood thanks to it's colours, but the objects still make it seem quite formal so I would have to change the objects completely.
To improve this image, I would brighten it up, change the objects to look more child-like and maybe move the composition to the middle so it didn't leave such a large plain space.