Week 11 ~ Something Old

I am way behind in updating this blog with my Project 52 ramblings! But I am determined to catch up on the missed weeks, starting with the theme of Something Old. I’ve been listening to photography podcasts while doing major pruning in the garden – and can I say it’s the best way to get a job done, as you’re engrossed with listening to the podcast, and it’s easy to get carried away. Hence the major pruning! Anyway, back to the podcasts. I’ve been listening about the technique called “pre-visualisation” which is where you see the scene in your mind’s eye before you even begin to create it. Certainly with the theme for Week 11 – something old - the first thing I saw was heirloom tomatoes – I wanted to create a still life featuring these gorgeous and knobbly fruits. There was one major problem – over the course of two days, I visited no less than seven greengrocers looking for these tomatoes, and I was completely out of luck! The season had finished and all I could get my hands on where the miniature ones – that don’t actually look too different to the conventional cherry tomatoes.  So I compromised - if I could find “old fashioned” looking vegetables, maybe I could create a still life setting using vegetables and herbs you would use in an old fashioned vegetable soup.  I bought a selection of less than perfect looking vegetables and herbs and arranged them in a casual way (which takes a ridiculously long time to get right!), I added an old cookbook, complete with my childhood doodles filling some of the pages, then set about organising the lighting.  I think I achieved an “old” looking still life arrangement and it might be a stretch of the theme, but it’s all about making do with what you have at the time.

I’m determined to shoot a new image for the week, rather than go through my archives in search of an image that will fit the theme. I’m sure this isn’t a pre-requisite, simply something I have set for myself.

Lastly, did I mention that my image “Narrabeen Sunrise” won the Canon EOS Hero Chain a few weeks back!I know! How exciting!

Week 5 ~ Fruit

 

This week's topic was fruit and being summer, I chose summer fruits - luscious peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots and a tiny bunch of grapes. There's such a  wonderful variety available at the moment and they're all so delicious. I had intended the image to reflect the summer feel this fruit has, but summer seems to be missing where I live. It's been raining all week and I know that the heavy and constant rain is causing all sorts of problems in northern NSW and QLD. By the time I finished editing the images - I couldn't make up my mind which I preferred, so I did two versions - there is barely a hint of summer in the images!

with Lensbaby Composer f8

Before I started though, I came across Digital Photography School's blog post that talked about slowing down and really looking at the subject you're going to shoot. Let the light and shape etc, determine how you're going to shoot it. So I applied that thinking to the summer fruits image. The family were banned from going anywhere near the fruit until I had finished with it! I have to say that studying the fruit and slowing down really worked. I took a fraction of the usual number of images. Unfortunately, the article didn't address how you really should make up your mind when choosing the final image and not confuse things by using different lenses... I've included the lighting diagram below to give you an indication of the set up. Again, I used my own textures applied at various opacities.

Week 3 ~ RED

 

As I mentioned in my post last week, I usually start thinking about the following week's theme while I'm still working on the current theme. The recurring thought I had with the theme of "red" was a still life. While it's possibly been done to death, I also wanted to include a pomegranate. I'm sure I would use more of that fruit in cooking if I could buy it already seeded. I know that it is available as I've seen Nigella use the pre-packaged seeds, but I've not been able to find it, so maybe it's a UK thing and not an Australian thing. So, back to the still life, I've also included a lighting diagram to show you the set up. I used a black background, not white as per the diagram and at one stage I toyed with a red gel, but that didn't look effective so i removed it.  I absolutely resisted the urge to use any textured layers to give it an aged or painterly feel - I wanted a straight-up image for this week's theme.  Short and sweet this week, I hope you like it. Bring on week 4!

How different Photographic Treatments change the look of a Subject

Take a bunch of hydrangeas, a hand painted ceramic bowl, a string of pearls, a cedar table, some floaty organza and a couple of torches.  Add to this mix your favourite camera equipment and your editing skills.  Get busy and arrange the items in a pleasant fashion. And now experiment!

In the first photograph, a standard 50mm lens – the plastic fantastic, diffused torchlight, and a long exposure of a couple of seconds was used.  The diffused torchlight was used to “paint” the light onto the hydrangeas.  The brightness, contrast, levels were then adjusted in Photoshop to get this final results.

There’s a real trend toward adding textured layers to photographs these days.  Adding textures really changes the feel of the photo.  It somehow ages the photo, giving it a real retro/grungy/moody look.  I recommend you shoot your own textures or if you really prefer, you can obtain free textures by simply searching Google for “free textures”.  I’ve used 3 different texture layers (my own) to the original image, and have blended them using varying opacities and blending modes.   I find I use overlay, soft light, hard light and multiply the most.

This image is identical to the image above - it has been layered with textures to change it's appearance to a more moody and vintage look.

This final image was shot using a very different technique – in fact it’s a blend of two techniques that I enjoy – the dreamy Lensbaby and the Through the Viewfinder techniques are absolute favourites of mine.  Different brands of Twin Reflex cameras will also yield varying results.  So, in these final two images, I used the Lensbaby Muse with the +4 macro filter; I inserted that into the “tube of darkness” which directly points to the viewfinder on the top of the Twin Reflex Camera.  Using the Muse lens, really softened the overall look of the image and the square format plus some cross-processing, gives it an aged appearance.  Follow this link if you’d like to know more about the Through the Viewfinder technique.

Through the Viewfinder using Lensbaby Muse +macro 4 filter and Argus Argoflex Camera

Through the Viewfinder using Lensbaby Muse + macro 4 filter and Kodak Duoflex Camera

Coming Soon - How to apply textures to your images.

Still Life Photography - Feature Monday

Boy, that's come around quick! Feature Monday...and this week I'm bringing you some examples of Still Life Photography. In my opinion, it would definitely have to be the safest form of photography - but that's where the simplicity ends. While you don't need to worry about your objects moving about, or throwing tantrums, or being generally off, or be subject to the weather, there is still much to consider before actually pressing the shutter. Yes, you can photograph your still life at any time you find works for you, and take your time with the shots, there is still a fine art, a skill involved in actually taking a still life photograph, to one that is simply a happy snap of some objects bunched together. Lighting, positioning, the objects chosen, the depth of field, the angle are some of the factors to consider when "staging" a still life photograph. What are you trying to portray to your viewer - is something else to consider - is there a message to your still life - is yet another factor to consider. And while it's true that you don't need to worry about being rained on, or injure yourself while out in the wilds - there's a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to still life photography.

Here are some examples to look at:

Harmonious Shells by Maria Madeiros

Lilies by Rose Atkinson

Still Hooked by Debbie Black

Nails and Nuts Figure by VashR31

still life by me :)