Tulip Portrait
Posted: April 1, 2016 Filed under: digital, Flowers, macro, Nature, photography, Plant Portraits | Tags: botanical, close up, colourful, Flowers, image background, macro, nature, photography, sculptural quality, tulips 6 Comments
I love the sculptural quality of tulips because they make such clean, simple images … you can’t go wrong really, can you? I find this type of flower lends itself well to using a black background. Removing a petal allowed the stamen etc to be photographed from the front instead of from above.
One of the challenges of photography is to present something that is a common and favourite subject for photographers in a fresh way – otherwise it can be a case of ‘if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all’. As with all ‘Art’ – in the end it’s all about Ideas.
Could have been a little bit sharper, but I quite liked the softer look – a bit more dreamy perhaps ….
That’s all for now folks, see you again soon I hope. Your ‘likes’ and comments are always very appreciated, Eileen
How Did I Get in Here?
Posted: February 7, 2015 Filed under: Humour, photography, Still Life | Tags: bit of fun, digital, image background, Paintshop Pro, photography, still life 3 Comments
Climbing Out
After doing some ‘still life’ with this little chap I tried to use my imagination in other ways to involve him in a story and this is the result. It took several days to do stuff in my Paintshop Pro , mainly because it’s fiddly trying to get accurate selections and then reversing them to enable background alterations. I wanted to keep the objects fairly sharp but not the backgrounds. I’m sure I could have made a better job of it if I knew how to use Layers properly, but sometimes you need even more patience I think – and mine is in short supply these days!
Anyway – I hope it brings a smile …. Eileen
Easy does it …
OK so far …
Whoops-a-daisy!
aaaaaaah!
Phew – nearly there ….
Terra firma.
See ya’ll soon I hope – don’t forget to use ‘like’ button[ if you do]or leave a comment – they are always welcome – as well as any constructive critism or suggestions. Eileen
New Arrivals
Posted: July 29, 2014 Filed under: Flowers, Nature, photography, Portraits, Wild Life | Tags: botanical, brown, butterflies, close up, colour, colourful, digital, drama, Flowers, Gatekeeper, image, image background, insects, nature, orange, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, photography, photos, plants, purple, red, sedum, weather, Wild life Leave a comment
For weeks I’ve been bemoaning the fact that I haven’t had any butterflies in my garden – well today there have been several fluttering about and even resting long enough for me to take some pics. I think this particular lot are called Gatekeeper [Pyronia tithonus] because they have twin black eyespots with white pupils on their forewing. Anyway – I only know that because I did a google search! I’m delighted – especially as I’m getting more used to using the zoom on my camera instead of the macro setting [which I still haven’t figured out!].
I amused myself no end cropping and trying to be generally more ‘artistic’ without it looking too artificial … BUT – I do try to get the best pics I can ‘in camera’ as is always recommended. I tend to take loads of shots and discard the majority as many of them are almost the same – it’s just a matter of choosing the best of the bunch. It’s been a bit on the windy side today, so as well as the butterflies and bees being on the move all the time – so are the plants they land upon unfortunately.
I’ve deliberately kept some images high key to reflect the beautiful sunny weather – although I appreciate some butterflies suit a bit of drama more.
Even though this Sedum isn’t in flower yet, the butterflies are obviously attracted to it. I’m fortunate in having several Sedums which I love – especially this dark red variety called Purple Emperor.
I’m looking forward to posting some photos I took through the window during a downpour yesterday. I was going to post them today but the butterflies took priority!
see you soon, Eileen
Enjoying the Sunshine
Posted: June 10, 2014 Filed under: Landscape, Nature, photography, Portraits, Wild Life | Tags: birds, bit of fun, Canada Geese, colour, colourful, digital, drake, Ducks, feathers, Goose, Ifield Pond, image, image background, landscape, nature, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, photography, photos, sparkle, sunshine, water, weather, Wild life Leave a comment
As it was a bright and sunny day and I was stuck indoors doing nothing in particular, I decided to take a stroll down to the Ifield Pond again. Although the scenery is much the same [although changing with the seasons of course], at least the wildlife activity varies and there’s always something different to see.
Disappointingly I’m a bit late to catch the ducklings in baby stage – they look more like teenagers, but there still seems to be a lot of courting going on.
This is a particularly nice little area, favoured by the ducks and geese because people park their cars by the roadside nearby and come especially to feed them. In fact I got slightly wary of one particular large Canada Goose who approached me – I think he though my little camera was something to eat and was waiting patiently for me to throw it for him.
This very handsome drake ‘posed’ for me , but I took the pics as much for the interesting water as any ducks on it. I confess to doing a bit of enhancing to the colour, as the sun was so bright and sparkly on the water, and what with the reflections of the overhead trees – it was beautiful to see, but hard to capture. I liked the somewhat hazy appearance.
Let me now introduce the Goose ….
Poppy & Clematis
Posted: May 23, 2014 Filed under: Flowers, Nature, photography, Portraits | Tags: botanical, Clematis, close up, colour, colourful, digital, Flowers, image background, nature, outdoors, photography, photos, plants Leave a comment
I have several lovely poppies trying their best to open up, but they seem to be dying off while still in transition …. was it lack of sunshine I wonder? Well, we have had a few days of warm sunshine now, but they are still stuck! This one opened up enough for me to see the centre though. I’ll be keeping a keen eye on them – but the rains are here again.
This Clematis – Nellie Moser – is doing great and I’ve trailed it along my little picket fence. It is a joy to look out on …..
Photo Art
Posted: May 21, 2013 Filed under: Flowers, Nature, photography, Portraits | Tags: bit of fun, botanical, close up, colour, colourful, digital, drama, Flowers, gradients, image background, nature, paintshop, photo library, photography, photos, plants, Rose, sculptural quality, tulips 3 Comments
When I can’t find fresh inspiration I sometimes go back and have look through my photo library to see what I could have a bit of fun with. I love using my Paintshop Pro to get creative and try out different effects.
Tulips have a lovely sculptural quality to them and I experimented with ‘Gradients’ using the Flood Fill tool on the image background. I’m quite pleased with the results.
I thought the Rose needed something a bit softer …..
bye for now Eileen
