Props and sets.

What is a prop and what constitutes a set?

To fulfill this brief it is important to include props and sets in the photographs you create. In order to do this you must first know what a prop and a set are.


In film and photography a 'prop' is any portable object that is placed in the scene.

 

For example, in the still above taken from an episode of 'Friends', almost everything you can see is a prop. The fridge, the fridge magnets, the table, the food, the chairs....

The 'set' would be the floor, the permanently fixed kitchen surfaces and the cupboards.

Think of it this way, say you bought a new house and the previous owner had taken all of their belongings with them leaving an empty shell (lets pretend you are left with fitted kitchen, bathroom and doors). The house would be the 'set'. Everything you then put in to it to decorate it - furniture, pictures, and television etc., they would be props.

In photographs even the model themselves can be 'props'. In photographs for clothing brands, the photograph is meant to display the clothes, and so the model is a prop for the clothing.

in this shot the model would be a prop.

A set doesn't have to be completely man made, in this still from Skyfall the 'set' is the grassy countryside the road and telephone pole you can see in the background, the car would be a prop, as would the clothing Daniel Craig is wearing, as Daniel Craig is playing James Bond and is not modelling the clothes, he would be an actor and not a prop.

A set doesn't have to be as expensive as building a fake flat like friends, or as large scale as using a whole countryside, it can be very basic.

In the image below the set is simple the plain wall and the floor, the carpet/rug, table and light are props.

This is all that is needed to give the impression that the woman is in a fully walled room and not an open studio against a solitary wall.


In my test shot for my still life, the grey mottled background is representing a wall, and the table is also a fixed part of the image this is my 'set'.

The skull, the fleece, bottle, sand white band and rope are all props.

 

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