When we were walking at the lake a week ago, I was captivated by the green of this tree, which contrasted with the darker trees bordering the lake. It was hard to photograph because I could only see it through branches- so I didn’t. But I saw it again on our way back- with a little girl under it- and knew I had to try. I was already envisioning it as a painterly image. I took the resulting photo into Lightroom and then Photoshop for some cloning work. Then, I used Topaz Simplify to remove details and give it a bit of a watercolor look. I blended it with the original image, bringing back some detail- and finished it off with some textures. Playing with images is part of what keeps stress out of my life- and it’s so much fun!
Lily Abstracts
I took some time a few days ago to take some abstract macro shots of lilies. I added a couple textures for that painterly look I love- and the first one I also took into Topaz Simplify. Truthfully, because of the shallow depth of field, it looked pretty painterly already, but I love to fiddle around with my images. It is my form of a mindfulness meditation and satisfies my childhood ambition to be an artist when I grew up. 🙂
D A R K
I had fun changing things up, editing this butterfly in a black and white grunge style. It actually was a whitish, monochromatic butterfly (don’t ask me what kind!) to begin with, and I just took it from there!
Where Ideas Come From
The above image is the latest of my still life photos for The Studio- a continuation of the One Thing theme. This time, my one thing is not the subject of my composition, but the background – my walls. I thought it might be interesting to explain the evolution of the idea and execution of this image. I’ve read that photographers find their inspiration everywhere- from nature, from music, from paintings, from the color palette in an advertisement- ANYWHERE.
In this case, my idea came from a movie. We went to see The Woman in Gold with our friends, Debbie and Dale the other night. The movie was a fascinating true story of a woman (played by Helen Mirren) who sued the Austrian government to have them return her family’s paintings (by Gustav Klimt!) which had been stolen by the Nazis and were now “owned” by the Austrian government. No, this photo was not inspired by the Klimt paintings.
In one scene, as I remember, there was, in the background, a painting or photograph of a still life composed of a dry arrangement (wheat?) in front of a two-tone wall. I somehow noted it and then dreamed about trying to recreate that image, using my colorful Arizona walls. That was the beginning of the photograph above. I took quite a few shots of these dried weeds and flowers in front of my bright walls, gradually moving away from the traditional still life I was envisioning to a textured black and white closeup image which is my favorite. All the photos were taken with my Lensbaby, which I’ve been practicing with every single day for the last 3 weeks.
Sailing
A beautiful view from Point Loma in San Diego
One Thing Again . . .
I think I might be finished with the One Thing challenge for BeStill52 and The Studio, but no promises. . .
A couple Lensbaby shots:
Top down with my 35mm 1.8:
Also with my 35mm 1.8, softened with a couple of Kim Klassen textures (linking up with Texture Tuesday today):
Raspberry Macros
I’ve been keeping to my word about practicing with my Lensbaby every day. I thought a major part of my practice would involve getting the Edge 80 off the Composer (so tight for these weak hands!), but so far, so good! Maybe it’s loosening up- or I’m getting stronger! I hadn’t done much with macro using the Edge 80 until recently, and I’m having fun with it. Raspberries were on my breakfast menu on Easter, so I took a few moments to take some macro shots. I’m finding the Edge 80 to be nice and sharp- similar to my 85mm macro.
Edits:
1- edited in onOne Perfect Effects (tonal contrast)- and then Photoshop, adding kk_chill to soften what I did in Perfect Effects!
2- kk_lettherebelight preset
3- kk_eve preset
Edits:
1- onOne’s Perfect Effects
2- my basic edit
3- kk_lightairypastel preset
Getting back in the groove and linking up with Texture Tuesday today!
Backyard Blur
My photography goal for April is to practice with my Lensbaby every day. We’ve been out in the backyard the last couple days, so the Lensbaby came out with me yesterday.
The fountain is up and running again. Is it just me, or does this look like a lady juggling?
Here is a macro of photinia leaves- with some added texture.
And here is the same basic shot, edited with a black and white preset. Notice how the lensbaby blur shows up in the black and white- interesting!
These were all taken with the Sweet 50 optic, macro converters added in the last two.
Simplified
Another beach image for you today! This one was edited with Topaz Simplify (and an added texture) to give it a bit of a painterly look.
melinda anderson photography 