classical composition – Greg Urbano

Tomatos

This photographic composition showcases three tomatoes on a textured wooden surface against a dark background, illustrating the themes of light and form in still life art. Using controlled lighting to create a dramatic chiaroscuro effect, the photographer emphasizes the tomatoes’ beauty, merging classical traditions with contemporary techniques.

Tabletop still life of three ripe tomatoes with water droplets on a wooden surface against a dark background. — A tabletop still life of three tomatoes arranged on a wooden surface and lit against a dark background.

In this deceptively simple composition, the photographer demonstrates how the most humble subjects—three tomatoes from a supermarket produce section—can become vehicles for exploring light, form, and the enduring traditions of still life photography. The work sits comfortably within the classical end of Chapter 5’s spectrum, channeling centuries of artistic precedent while employing decidedly contemporary tools and techniques.

The arrangement recalls Dutch Golden Age vanitas paintings, where ordinary kitchen staples were elevated to subjects of profound contemplation. Here, three ripe tomatoes rest upon a weathered wooden surface, their placement casual yet deliberate. The varying positions of their stems—pointing in different directions like botanical compasses—introduce subtle asymmetry that prevents the composition from becoming static. Water droplets cling to the glossy red skin, suggesting recent washing and adding points of light that animate the surface.

His lighting strategy proves crucial to the image’s success. Working with a single Godox V1s flash modified by a softbox and grid, he achieves remarkable control over illumination. The grid attachment narrows the light spread, creating focused illumination that emphasizes the tomatoes while allowing the background to fall into deep, theatrical darkness. This chiaroscuro effect—the dramatic interplay of light and shadow—lends gravitas to subjects that might otherwise seem merely documentary.

The wooden surface provides essential contextual grounding. Its rough texture and visible grain contrast beautifully with the smooth, taut skin of the tomatoes, creating a dialogue between refined organic form and rustic materiality. The warm tones of the aged wood complement the rich reds of the fruit, establishing a harmonious yet varied color palette that feels both earthy and sophisticated.

His post-processing approach through Skylum Luminar 4, utilizing a color LUT (Look-Up Table), demonstrates an efficient workflow that enhances rather than overwhelms the captured image. The color grading deepens the reds toward burgundy in the shadows while maintaining natural highlights, creating dimensionality that draws the eye around each form. This restrained digital intervention respects the photographic integrity of the scene while amplifying its visual impact.

Within the broader trajectory of his still life work, this image represents a return to fundamentals—a meditation on how controlled lighting and thoughtful composition can transform the everyday into the examined. Where other works in this chapter might push toward experimental territories, this photograph anchors itself in proven traditions, demonstrating that innovation need not always mean departure from established visual language.

The Sony A7ii captures these elements with clarity and subtle tonal gradation, rendering the tomatoes with sufficient detail to appreciate their imperfect spherical forms, the slight variations in color saturation, and the delicate green stems that signal recent harvest. These details matter; they prevent the image from becoming abstract or overly stylized, maintaining its connection to the tangible world.

Ultimately, this work succeeds through its quiet confidence. The photographer understands that compelling still life photography requires neither exotic subjects nor complex staging—only patient observation, technical competence, and an appreciation for how light reveals the inherent beauty in forms we too often overlook. These grocery store tomatoes, frozen in this particular moment of light and shadow, become worthy of sustained attention.

Onions and Garlic: A Study in Chiaroscuro and Culinary Stillness

The photograph captures a still life of onions and garlic on a wooden surface, showcasing classical principles through contemporary techniques. The controlled lighting and asymmetrical balance create depth, while post-processing enhances tonal richness. This artwork engages with historical traditions, revealing how ordinary subjects can convey significant meaning through careful observation and technical precision.

Tabletop still life of whole onions and garlic bulbs arranged on a wooden surface against a dark background. — A tabletop still life of onions and garlic arranged on a wooden surface and lit against a dark background.

In this deliberate composition, the photographer demonstrates a mastery of classical still life principles while working within the constraints of contemporary digital tools. The image presents three bronze-skinned onions accompanied by two heads of garlic, arranged on weathered wood against an impenetrable black void—a setup that immediately recalls the Dutch and Spanish still life traditions of the 17th century, where humble kitchen subjects were elevated to objects of contemplation.

The technical execution reveals a sophisticated understanding of light modulation. Working with a single modified light source—a Godox V1s paired with a softbox and grid—the photographer has created a tightly controlled illumination that wraps around the subjects’ curved surfaces while maintaining crisp shadow definition. The grid attachment proves essential here, preventing light spill into the background and preserving the dramatic contrast that gives the image its gravitas. This economy of means, using just one light to achieve such dimensional modeling, speaks to both practical skill and aesthetic intentionality.

What distinguishes this work within Chapter 5’s progression from classic to experimental tabletop photography is its conscious dialogue with art historical precedent. The photographer acknowledges drawing inspiration from a tutorial source, yet the resulting image transcends mere technical exercise. The onions’ papery skins catch light with a luminosity that suggests both fragility and age, their dried stalks creating gestural elements that break the otherwise spherical regularity. The garlic bulbs, positioned in the lower quadrant, provide tonal counterpoint—their pearl-white surfaces reflecting light with greater intensity than the warmer onions above.

The compositional arrangement follows classical principles of asymmetrical balance. The three onions occupy distinct spatial planes, their positioning creating depth through overlapping forms and subtle scale variation. The leftmost onion’s dramatic upward-reaching stem introduces vertical energy, while the garlic anchors the composition’s base. This triangular organization guides the viewer’s eye through the frame in a measured, contemplative rhythm appropriate to the subject matter.

Post-processing choices, implemented through color grading in Luminar 4, enhance the image’s tonal richness without sacrificing naturalism. The warm amber-to-sienna palette suggests candlelight or late afternoon sun, though the lighting setup confirms neither. This ambiguity of light source contributes to the image’s timeless quality—it could as easily have been captured in a 17th-century Dutch kitchen as in a contemporary studio.

The weathered wooden surface provides crucial textural contrast to the subjects’ organic forms. Its rough grain and worn patina introduce narrative suggestions of use and time, transforming a simple backdrop into an active compositional element. The wood’s horizontal planking creates subtle linear structure beneath the curved biological forms above.

Within the broader context of this chapter’s exploration, this photograph occupies the “classic” end of the spectrum—demonstrating that traditional approaches retain their power when executed with technical precision and compositional intelligence. The work proves that experimentation need not always mean formal rupture; sometimes it involves mining established vocabularies with fresh attention. Here, the photographer engages in a centuries-old conversation about how light reveals form, how arrangement creates meaning, and how the ordinary, when carefully observed, achieves a quiet monumentality that rewards sustained viewing.

Elkins Apple Spiced Liqueur: Vernacular Object as Subject

The photograph of Elkins Apple Spiced Liqueur exemplifies a blend of commercial product photography and fine art still life, using classical composition techniques. The arrangement of the bottle with apples and cinnamon sticks highlights flavor context while demonstrating technical skill in lighting and focus. The image showcases an accessible beauty in everyday items, merging artistic intent with commercial appeal.

Bottle of Elkins Apple Spiced Liqueur on a wooden surface with red apples and cinnamon sticks against a dark background. — Elkins Apple Spiced Liqueur is photographed with apples and cinnamon sticks in a studio still life.

This photograph demonstrates the photographer’s engagement with commercial product photography conventions while maintaining artistic intentionality characteristic of fine art still life practice. The composition centers on a bottle of Elkins Apple Spiced Liqueur from Estes Park, Colorado, flanked by red apples and cinnamon sticks—elements that function both as contextual reinforcement of the product’s flavor profile and as formal echoes of color and shape within the frame.

The arrangement follows classical still life principles: objects positioned on a weathered wooden surface against a dark, graduated background that moves from deep black to subtle illumination. This chiaroscuro approach recalls Dutch Golden Age painting traditions, where selective lighting carves form from darkness and imbues everyday objects with weight and presence. The bottle’s amber-red liquid becomes luminous against the void, while the apples emerge from shadow with enough detail to register their texture and mass without competing for primary focus.

Technically, the image reveals deliberate choices in equipment and lighting strategy. Shot with a Sony A7ii and 85mm f/1.8 lens, the photographer employs a focal length typically reserved for portraiture, which compresses space slightly and allows selective focus while maintaining natural perspective. The use of a Godox softbox combined with a secondary flash creates dimensional lighting—the main light source appears positioned to camera right, creating highlights on the bottle’s curved surface and label while the fill light softens shadows without eliminating them entirely. This two-light setup produces the polished yet natural quality that distinguishes professional product photography from amateur attempts.

The label itself becomes a compositional element worth examining. Its vintage-inspired design, complete with wheat motif and hand-drawn typography, speaks to contemporary craft distillery aesthetics that reference historical authenticity. The photographer allows this graphic element full legibility, understanding that typography and branding function as visual information within the frame. The cork cap with its branded sleeve adds vertical interest and completes the bottle’s narrative as an artisanal product.

Within Chapter 5’s spectrum from classic to experimental still life, this work occupies the classical end—a straightforward, beautifully executed product study that prioritizes clarity, atmosphere, and material fidelity over conceptual disruption. Yet the photographer’s decision to include this image in his top 100 suggests recognition that mastery of foundational approaches remains essential even as one pushes toward experimental territories. The work demonstrates technical competence: precise focus, appropriate depth of field, balanced exposure across a challenging tonal range, and color palette that feels both rich and naturalistic.

The supporting elements—grocery store apples and cinnamon sticks—ground the image in accessible reality rather than aspirational luxury. This democratic approach to sourcing props reflects contemporary still life practice that finds beauty in the everyday rather than the exotic. The wooden surface, likely the photographer’s own workspace, bears authentic wear that reads as character rather than distress.

Post-processing in Luminar 4 appears restrained, enhancing rather than transforming the captured scene. The final image possesses the polish of commercial work while retaining the considered composition and atmospheric quality that elevates it to fine art documentation of material culture and regional craft production.

Mike Groth: Classical Studio Portraiture and the Language of Formality

Mike Groth’s studio portrait, featured in Chapter 4 of the Top 100 Journey, exemplifies traditional portraiture through controlled lighting and composition. Shot at Old Town Yoga Studio, the image focuses on character and presence, utilizing a classic backdrop and professional techniques. Its formal simplicity highlights the subject’s confidence, making it versatile across various contexts.

Mike Groth is photographed in a studio portrait at Old Town Yoga Studio in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Within Chapter 4 of the photographer’s Top 100 Journey, this portrait of Mike Groth represents a return to the foundational principles of studio portraiture—controlled lighting, deliberate composition, and the timeless formality of traditional headshot aesthetics. Shot at the Old Town Yoga Studio in Fort Collins, Colorado, the image demonstrates the photographer’s facility with classic studio techniques while exploring the psychological dimensions of formal masculine presentation.

The technical execution adheres to established conventions of corporate and editorial portraiture. Utilizing a Sony A7ii with an 85mm f/1.8 lens, the photographer has positioned his subject against a pure black backdrop, eliminating all environmental context to focus entirely on character and presence. A Godox V1s flash paired with a shoot-through umbrella provides the primary illumination—a traditional modifier choice that produces soft, diffused light with gentle shadow gradation across the subject’s features. This approach creates dimensional modeling without the harsh contrast of direct flash, revealing the contours of the face while maintaining a polished, professional quality.

The composition centers the subject in a classical three-quarter view, shoulders angled slightly to create visual interest while the face turns toward the camera. This positioning—neither fully frontal nor profile—has been a cornerstone of portraiture since the Renaissance, offering both dimensionality and direct engagement. The subject’s formal attire—dark suit, white shirt, burgundy tie—reinforces the traditional corporate aesthetic, while his neutral expression and direct gaze suggest confidence tempered with approachability.

What distinguishes this work within the photographer’s broader practice is its embrace of restraint. Where other images in Chapter 4 explore environmental integration and spontaneous moments, this portrait strips away context to examine how lighting, posture, and expression alone can convey character. The black void backdrop functions not merely as a neutral background but as an active element, creating psychological weight and directing all attention to the subtle details: the catch lights in the eyes, the texture of facial hair, the precise fall of shadow along the jawline.

The post-processing in Luminar 4 maintains the studio’s carefully controlled atmosphere. Skin tones are rendered with natural warmth while preserving texture and detail. The lighting reveals itself as directional yet forgiving, highlighting the subject’s facial structure without creating unflattering shadows. This balance between revelation and flattery characterizes effective professional portraiture—honest without being harsh, polished without appearing artificial.

Within the context of Chapter 4’s mission to document studio, outdoor, and workshop methodologies, this image anchors the studio component with particular authority. It demonstrates that contemporary portrait photography need not abandon classical techniques in pursuit of innovation. The photographer’s choice to work within established conventions reflects an understanding that certain approaches endure precisely because they succeed in their essential task: revealing the subject’s presence and character with clarity and dignity.

The formal simplicity of this portrait allows it to function across multiple contexts—editorial, corporate, archival. This versatility speaks to the photographer’s understanding of portraiture not merely as artistic expression but as functional communication. As part of the Top 100 Journey, the image represents a technical benchmark, showcasing the fundamental competencies upon which more experimental work can build. It is portraiture in its most distilled form: light, subject, and the photographer’s ability to orchestrate their interaction with precision and purpose.