Found Stills

July has been a busy month; actually the whole summer has been busy.  Trips to Kansas, Yellowstone and Tucson plus some fun social events have filled up summer. I’m not complaining- it’s not like I have to go back to school in August! We’re also taking a quick trip (4 days driving, one day there!) to the Bay Area for business and have some houseguests coming (yay!) in August. And I’m about halfway through Caroline Jensen’s Communicating with Color and Light class through Clickin Moms (it is fabulous!).  Life is full and fun! I’m saying all this as a way to explain why I haven’t done much still life photography for the Studio Online. Something had to give, and I know I will be getting back to it.

But in the meantime, while I was at Eliphante yesterday, I FOUND some still life arrangements just sitting around. So I got my still life fix the easy way!

Artsy musical instruments

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Random pots under a potting bench:20150728-MMA_1127_melinda_anderson

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Cherry, Cherry

Music to read blogs by:

Taking cherry photos, editing cherry photos, EATING cherries, and listening to Neil Diamond SING Cherry, Cherry!

cherryLensbaby Sweet 35 (with macro converters in first image)

Textures and painting with Topaz Simplify in first image

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Very Berry Still Life

One of the recent prompts in the studio is BERRIES, which I have photographed many times and never tire of, so I thought this theme would be a good one for me to do to get back into the swing of still life. As usual, the simpler compositions worked best for me.

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Debbie’s Find

My Friday Find is borrowed from my friend, Debbie, who graciously allowed me to photograph it this week. You may see it again, because I have some other ideas before I return it. And my goodness, there’s that straw hat again!

This is a Lensbaby shot with added textures. I like the look that some of my textures give my walls- wish they really looked like that!

20150611-MMA_7085_melinda_anderson-EditAnd here is the same photo (in the original proportions- I “stretched the canvas” of the top one in Photoshop) with a black and white preset I adapted from one I had gotten from somewhere.  I wanted a light-ish black and white conversion, which I sometimes do by adjusting tones etc.  This time I decided to save it as a preset, hoping it will work on other photos as well.

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Kim Klassen dot com

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A Chair and a Straw Hat

Hats on Chairs- catching up on still life challenges for The Studio Online!

If you have been following my blog for awhile, you have seen this chair many times- and if you’ve been following it for a LOOOOONG while, you seen the hat. Oh well- you’ve seen them, because they’re great props for still life photography! And, no doubt, you will see them again!

20150605-MMA_6903_melinda_anderson 20150605-MMA_6910_melinda_anderson 20150605-MMA_6922_melinda_andersonThese were all taken with the Lensbaby Edge 80.

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Denouement

My peonies have bit the dust, but here are a couple more images from their glory days.

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Tomorrow or sometime later in the week I will post a couple images of their last days.

My lensbaby class officially begins today, plus I have FOUR meetings this week- so, over the next week or two, you will be seeing some photos from the (mostly recent) archives.

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Potting Bench?

Monday night I was inspired by a prompt in Kim Klassen’s Studio to create a still life potting bench . . . of sorts. . . inside. . . in my entry way.  I long ago let go of the idea that all still life photographers just come upon these beautiful vignettes in their houses- well, some do- but most often they are created or styled for the camera.  Since I was avoiding making dinner, I quickly gathered some pots and garden-y props to create a still life. I enjoyed it so much that I kept it up and took even more the next day.

Here is my first photo. If you’ve been to my house, you might recognize the antique dental cabinet.  I had to remove some of the liqueur glasses and little dishes in the cabinets, but missed a few (thank goodness for Photoshop!).  I also added some texture to rough it up a bit.

20150504-MMA_4640_melinda_anderson-EditAnd here are a few other shots from the next morning.  I took more time with these, using a tripod so I could slow my shutter to add more light (it has been dismal and rainy here). I used my lensbaby for the first one and edited them all with one of Kim’s presets for a dark and earthy look.

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Unique Vessel

When my friend, Debbie, texted me a photo of the old boots she had just bought, I knew I had to photograph them before they became part of one of her art pieces.  I had so much fun playing around with them for some still life and macro shots.  As I mentioned last week, one of our challenges for BeStill 52 was to use a unique vessel in a still life; I think the boots were up to the challenge!

20150504-MMA_4523_melinda_anderson 20150504-MMA_4547_melinda_anderson 20150504-MMA_4631_melinda_andersonThe first and third photos were edited using Kim Klassen’s darklight preset; the middle is almost straight out of camera.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday today.

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