Challenge 2 Perry Tatman

Nalf a mile from Shakespeare’s Birthplace, you’ll find Hall’s Croft. Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna married Dr John Hall in 1607, and this is where they set up home. It’s why there are medical artifacts and exhibits everywhere you look, in addition to some striking Flemish family portraits. This is where we headed to later in the day, and it was also the spot that Perry decided to set up for our next challenge. He wanted to document this desk and its various objects in a still-life-cumdocumentary style.

Shooting inside locations like this one means low light levels, but Perry overcame this problem by using a high ISO. “I thought that this table [in Dr Hall’s dispensary] still life looked stunning and was full of detail, although the room it is in was quite dark.”

“I tried the shot from various angles, but it was extremely hard not to get contemporary objects like signage and fire extinguishers in the full view. I couldn’t do much about the Perspex book stand, however, but at least it was unobtrusive and doesn’t stand out.”

Expert opinion

Perry has done a successful job of editing this shot, by raising the Shadows and taking down the Highlights in Adobe Camera Raw. To make his image more dynamic, we’d still encourage Perry to explore alternate angles and heights with his camera. The subject itself has a quintessential Shakespearean feel, though. Well done.