While in La Jolla, we stayed at a tiny little rental cottage with cute things all around. I was inspired by all the great props to create a still life one morning; I hoped to get a few more done as well, but the beach was calling.
This diptych was created in response to the “Stacked Up” prompt for The Studio Online.
Here’s another view of the teacup filled with mini carnations. I was trying to do a take on the dinner plate art assignment for The Studio- where you artfully arrange food (or flowers, leaves etc.) on and around a dinner plate in an artful manner. Symmetry and precision have never been my strong suits, and I feel totally out of my element doing food photography- so I gave up after maybe 10 minutes. I put the dibs and dabs of leaves and flowers to the side and stuck with just the flowers in the cup- and one stray one on the saucer. I am in awe of those who create these beautiful tableaux- but it’s just not me.
I saw these mini-carnations at the store the other day and immediately thought of pairing them with my grandmother’s chintz teacup for a still life. Both photos were taken with my iPhone camera and were edited with my old stand-by, Snapseed. This app was especially useful in editing the second photo, because I needed to selectively adjust the reflection to bring it out; you couldn’t even see the reflection in the unedited version, but I knew it was there.
Our latest challenge in The Studio was to create a photo that is editorial-ish. I was pretty stumped until I went to bed last night and somehow came up with using the daffodils I had purchased yesterday at Trader Joe’s in this still life. I had been thinking of using one of my little Adirondack chairs in a composition, so it all came together in about 10 minutes. Adding the text took longer- way longer- as I always have to try out every font before I’m satisfied (or tired of it . . .).
I took the photo below a day or two ago, and it kind of fits into the “editorial-ish” theme as well. In fact, the newspaper is opened to the editorial section! Here I was painting hearts to add to a still life you will be seeing tomorrow!
Our assignment this week in The Studio was photographing flowers- from above. The weather was so beautiful this weekend that I took my photos out on the back patio- perfect for this assignment.
I remember when I started in with BeStill-52 last year, everyone seemed to be using these cool scissors in all their photos.
I was resolved to avoid buying props for my still life photos, figuring photography was a hobby I could barely afford anyway- why spend more on props? But I LOVED them- and, after searching our nurseries, craft stores and hardware stores, I googled “scissors” and finally discovered they are used for bonsai. They come in all price ranges- and, of course I got the cheapest I could find. I bought a set of two, this one being the photoworthy ones. I actually keep the other pair in the kitchen and use them all the time when I cut flowers (which I usually do on a weekly basis).
The Studio has a Facebook group, and I noticed the other day that one of the new members asked about the cool scissors someone had in their photo. I guess I wasn’t the last photographer to be clued in!
Here are a couple more berry photos from my still life session with fruit for The Studio.
Another photo for The Studio (for the fruit prompt):
Textured with sybil for Texture Tuesday.
Because I’m enrolled in both BeStill-52 and The Studio (as I think all of the still life students are!), it’s been a challenge to keep up with both. But I’ve spent the last few days working in my garage studio, and have had fun catching up on some of the assignments. Today’s photos are for The Studio- the prompt was textiles. I used the presets darklight and darkmood for these photos- and that was about all I needed to do. Happy Monday!
I had some fun yesterday creating a still life featuring a coffee cup and then editing with 2 different presets from Kim Klassen’s Studio. The top photo is edited using the gentle preset, and the bottom one has the chocolate preset applied (faded quite a bit with the Fader and additional contrast reduced).
melinda anderson photography 