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
Lone Ranger
Posted: October 25, 2015 Filed under: Humour, photography, Still Life | Tags: bit of fun, close up, photography, sculptural quality, still life Leave a comment
My favourite subject when I used to paint was Still Life and that seems to be what I like to do best with my camera too. Sometimes I thrash around for ideas and sometimes a lone object just pops into my head and I begin to plan what the eventual picture will be. I was trying to think of something that would be more minimalistic and an Egg seemed ideal. The first image presents it in the context of food we eat for breakfast. To make it less boring, I thought I would try balancing a little white feather on top and this pic came after a couple of attempts. Because I’d taken it from the fridge the shell began to get a bit moist and so when I dropped the feather this time it got caught at an angle – oh goody!
This is a much more minimalistic picture and more true to the idea I started out with. Hope you like it …. it’s forcing me to experiment more with lighting my subjects and I’ve learnt the hard way how highlights can glare and look ‘burnt out’, and as my room is very, very bright I’m learning to adjust my camera’s exposure settings to compensate. I’m really hankering after getting a CSC – which I may have mentioned before – they come under various names – Compact System Cameras, four-thirds cameras, mirrorless cameras et al. The thing that appeals to me is that they are lighter to hold than DSLRs and have separate lenses. It’s a bit scary for me, but I get a bit frustrated with my present cameras’ limitations [good as they have been for me] and I would love to learn to use a proper Macro lens.
That’s all for this post folks, see you soon dv, Eileen
Tulip Poses [posies]
Posted: May 11, 2015 Filed under: Flowers, Nature, photography, Plant Portraits, Still Life | Tags: bunches, close up, Flowers, photography, sculptural quality, tulips 2 Comments
There are lots of bunches of tulips around in the shops at this time and I just had to buy myself a couple. They were in bud so only showing a slight hint of their colour. One lot was a bit disappointing because they appeared white with pale purple-coloured streaks but turned out completely white. The others were this lovely pinky shade.
Till next time folks, Eileen
Marbles
Posted: August 4, 2014 Filed under: photography, Still Life | Tags: bit of fun, close up, colour, drama, image, marbles, photography, reflections, sculptural quality, sparkle Leave a comment
In my ‘artistic’ days when I did a lot of painting in water colour and oils, the subject I enjoyed most was Still Life. So, in the times that I’ve exhausted garden stuff to photograph, and when there are no ‘hoomans’ to hand, I turn to setting up objects indoors to get creative with. It’s essential not to have a distracting background, and in the absence of a proper studio, I bought a small Light Tent some years ago that came with a couple of spotlights and several different colour cloth backgrounds. It easily sets up on a table top, but I need to sort out my little ‘office’ so that I don’t have to keep setting up and dismantling every time I need to use it. I still have stuff to dispose of since downsizing.
Anyway – back to today’s offering: I have some marbles ‘donated’ by my grandchildren which I’ve photographed a few times before.
I placed some on a mirror tile and eventually managed to get them to stop rolling around …. what a palaver!
I guess it’s just been an exercise in using shapes, reflections and lighting. I do love a bit of sparkle, don’t you? Eileen
As usual, if you’d like to comment just click the ‘comments’ word at the end of the opening info of this post.
Rain Drops
Posted: August 2, 2014 Filed under: Flowers, Nature, photography, Plant Portraits | Tags: botanical, close up, colour, colourful, digital, Flowers, green, image, intelligent mind, monochrome, nature, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, photography, photos, plant, plants, rain, raindrops, sculptural quality, sedum, succulent 2 Comments
What I love about Sedums is the way rain drops collect and stay put on the leaves – so convenient for taking photographs. The plant has fleshy, succulent stems and leaves and as it’s clump-forming it makes it very easy to control and also to propagate. I found out by accident that if a stem breaks off you can just stick it in the ground and it will grow into another plant …. even better – you can give them to your friends [if they want them].
So, after the downpour the other day, I saw the sedum covered in bright droplets, looking like little jewels with the sun shining on them. My photos don’t really do justice to what I saw as they can’t completely capture the beauty of God’s creation. Just shows you though what marvelous inbuilt lenses He gave us !
In spite of the monochrome colouring, the sculptural quality of the plant makes it really interesting [at least, to me] and it wasn’t until I uploaded the pics to my laptop that I saw the ‘debris’ in the close up shots of the single raindrops.
Then I had a go at isolating a green droplet against a black and white leaf and stems. I love my Paintshop Pro software! Always found it easier to fathom out than Photoshop – cheaper to buy too….
Bye for now – you are very welcome to comment by clicking the ‘comments’ word at the end of the opening paragraph info. Eileen
For a Short While – The Rain
Posted: August 1, 2014 Filed under: Landscape, Nature, photography, Portraits | Tags: bit of fun, close up, digital, garden, garden ornaments, image, landscape, nature, outdoors, paintshop, Paintshop Pro, patio, photography, photos, plants, rain, rainy weather, sculptural quality, sculpture, statuary, stone, weather Leave a comment
I took these photos through the window a few days ago when we had rain as a respite from the heat wave. The forecast seems to be for a bit more of our usual weather shortly, but that’s ok cos I don’t like the heat that much! It’s probably an age thing as all the ‘olds’ I know feel the same , but the young absolutely love it!
When it rains it makes everything look different and it creates opportunities for me [when the rain stops] to search out things in my otherwise ‘samey’ little patio garden. Plus I can shoot through the glass if it’s pouring down outside. I was very pleased to capture some ‘splashes’ in front of Ollie the owl and his companion [who I haven’t thought of a name for yet].
Ollie and Friend
I will post some sedum/raindrops later today hopefully, take care all – Eileen
Paper Play
Posted: May 27, 2014 Filed under: Abstract, photography | Tags: abstract, bit of fun, blush, close up, digital, dreamy, image, Paintshop Pro, paper, photography, photography books, photos, play, plug-ins, sculptural quality, software, strategic points, white, white printing paper Leave a comment
It was a very rainy day yesterday, so I decided to play around with some sheets of white printing paper. It was an idea I picked up from one of my many photography books. The paper is stapled at strategic points to get the required rhythmic patterns . I then used my Paintshop Pro to soften this one.
This one I had fun with using a plug-in called Virtual Photogapher. The effect is called ‘blush’. Although it’s a one-click job you can also use a slider [ or in my case Paintshop] to further adjust.
And lastly – this effect is called dreamy.
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
