An autumn still life- still loving those white pumpkins!
More Punkins
I never get tired of taking photos of pumpkins. Expect a few more over the coming weeks!
Trailing
It’s Fall!
I got in the spirit of autumn this week after a couple days recuperating from my Yellowstone adventures. I put the fall wreath on the door, bought some mini pumpkins, and made applesauce from the zillions of Fuji apples on our trees. Fall is my favorite season, and I can’t wait for the leaves to change!
Van Gogh Peaches
One of my AAUW photo group friends was giving away peaches yesterday- a perfect opportunity for me to finally get back into my still life “studio.” I have been so busy lately that I have had to put still life photography and macros on the back burner and just rely on the travel shots I’ve done throughout the summer.
I used my Lensbaby with the Edge 80 attached for these photos- and then ended up doing a version in Topaz Impression as well.
I added a texture to the original photo below to soften the black background.
I used one of the Van Gogh filters, although there were MANY other options that would have worked well too. I usually take the photos back into Photoshop and mask off portions to reduce the painterly effect, but I really liked them straight out of Impression this time.
Have a great Friday!
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
Random pots under a potting bench:
Cherry, Cherry
Music to read blogs by:
Taking cherry photos, editing cherry photos, EATING cherries, and listening to Neil Diamond SING Cherry, Cherry!
Lensbaby Sweet 35 (with macro converters in first image)
Textures and painting with Topaz Simplify in first image
Leftovers in Black and White
Here are a few photos left over from various recent shoots- all in black and white:
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!
And 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.
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!
These were all taken with the Lensbaby Edge 80.
Denouement
My peonies have bit the dust, but here are a couple more images from their glory days.
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.
Cheery
Is there anything more cheery than ranunculus? Happy Friday to you!
A Lensbaby Still
Next week I start an online Lensbaby class through Clickin Moms with Caroline Jensen! I’m beyond excited to learn from this Lensbaby guru (and also from some of the amazing photographers taking the class- Holy Cow!). I’m taking it “study-along”, meaning I won’t get any feedback except from my classmates, but I will have access to all the class materials and can read the feedback Caroline gives the other students. We’ve already been given “pre-assignments” well in advance of the class starting, so I already have started learning.
Because I’ll be so involved with the class, it is possible that I’ll be pretty behind in my still life assignments, unless I combine the two (which I may in fact). But since I often use a lensbaby for my stills, I’m going to try to step outside of my comfort zone and practice outside and with people.
So here is a lensbaby still life of PEONIES (surprise, surprise!) and my chair.
Still loving those peonies. . .
Chocolate Peonies
I found peonies for sale at Trader Joe’s last week!
Edited with Kim Klassen’s chocolate preset in Lightroom for Texture Tuesday.
melinda anderson photography 