I Still Love Playing With Textures

I have been looking for the right pink texture for awhile.  I hadn't used textures for a few weeks and I am always looking for a certain shade to get just the right look for a photo.  Here is the first photo edit just the color as shot.

This is the little sweetheart I babysit and it seemed ideal to do a focal black and white on the toy where all the color was coming from.  We had all the lights off so she could see the toy and it was giving her face a really nice glow.

Then I applied a pink texture from Kim Klassen called reverie and there was the pink I was looking for!  See how pretty it lights her face. 

Which edit do you like?

Left to right: regular color, focal black and white, or with the pink texture?

With such a good subject it is hard to take a bad photo.

In this last photo to give it a little more texture, depth, and a vintage feel I added one more texture called enlightened at 60% on multiply, I think.  Texture by Kim Klassen.

I will join:

Kim Klassen  for Texture Tuesday

Anatomy of a Photo Shoot @ TCOH

I thought I would show you how I set up and take my photos.  This is my favorite location.  It is a south facing window.  First thing you should notice is the lighting.  It is a very dark, cloudy day.  I have a warm color room with overhead can lighting on dimmers.

The warm room color and the overhead can lights are not going to do anything for my photos.  I use the light from this window and I adjust it by putting the curtains and lace panels up or down depending on how bright the sun is.  Today  I am putting the curtains and sheers all the way up because it is very dark.  I have a natural linen and a piece of burlap on the table for a table covering, but I am not going to use them.  Today is the day it is perfect to shoot an all white photo.

I prop my all white backdrops in place and look at all that great light starting to show up!

Next, I style my subject to get it ready for the shoot.  I have found that I have bored of traditional set tables.  I like a styled grouping of objects that give you the hint of what the table would have on it.  I just think for the composition of the photo this is much more interesting to look at.

The results:

I know when I have captured the light correctly when I go to edit the photo and I hit the correction for lighting and color and the photo does not change.  Then you have captured the light perfectly.  I do this on about 90% of my photos now that I have practiced it enough.  Today the color adjustment gave me the choice of the salad plate being warm or cool.  The only adjustment difference that made was a gold tint to the plate or a blue tint to the plate.  I chose the warm unedited photo because I like to keep it as natural as possible.  So, all I did to these photos was crop them.  Which ones made it into the post over at TCOH?  This one did.

This one was cut, it looked too much like another one.

This one made it into the post.

This one got cut, because I had another picture of the plates and that is mainly all you are getting in this photo.

This one made it.

This one was cut.  It was taken on a step stool.  I don't use this angle often and it just wasn't my favorite.

So, that is how I managed this photo shoot.  I hope you can use some of my ideas.  I try to see everything through the lens in terms of the basic principals of art (texture, color, shape, value, line, etc.)  I might need to do a post on that....it is a another whole subject...

Sherry

Lighting

I am getting back to basics with my photography.  The number one basic to me is lighting.  I would rather not take pictures in bright sunlight.  It is way too harsh.  Here I did take the photo in bright sunlight.  But, I was trying to get the light to diffuse through this ruby colored vase. I didn't get it like I envisioned but, I still liked the photo.

This is how I usually set a photo shoot up.  In a south facing window on a cloudy day.  This is the most flattering light.  

Here I tempted the light with white and a mirror.  They both reflect light a lot and can be a challenge to photograph.  

The most striking natural light will be at sunrise or sunset.  I am always caring for children at sunrise but at sunset I can manage to get my camera out.

I have had comments wondering if I am a photographer.  My father took wedding photography freelance and I was in the darkroom some growing up so, I guess it was osmosis.  I haven't had any classes on photography.

 I have found that even in areas of my house that are hard to photograph, that if I work with the natural light I have I can still get a pretty decent photo.  

Another way to use natural light is to get back lighting.  I have taken this picture with the sun shining on the back of these leaves to make the color even brighter.  When you use this light you will have to get the camera's focus point to focus on the yellow color of the leaves.  This is going to give you the right settings to get the color you want with the lighting you love without the photo turning out too dark by being focused on something other than that great fall color.

That is my only trick with lighting.  I never use a flash and I use natural light as much as I possibly can.  Someday I will experiment more with lighting and all the photography tricks that I have seen used in studio lighting.  Right now I haven't got time so, the sure thing is natural light. 

I will try to get more post on this blog about how I photograph my pictures.  It is always a work in progress. 

Sherry

Photography Now On Sale

Photography now on sale at  Fine Art America.  Click link to view.

A Work in Progress

I have been working on these photos of ferns.  I want to create art out of them.  It took a bit of time to get the images similar.  It is a work in progress.  Love tinkering with this.  Will post the final product soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sherry

Textures and Their Effect

I have been using textures a lot.  I have been noticing how they can take a normal photo and give it a whole different look.  Here I have added a texture and given this fern a whited out effect. I am seeing this a lot on blogs. 

In this photo the texture gives it a dream like quality.

In this black and white photo a texture added enhances the emphasis of aging the photo.

Here, I also added a texture and it gives the quality of sand or the beach to the subject.

I enjoy playing around with the editing and hope I can learn more along the way.  

All textures from Kim Klassen.

I will join:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Editing

I have been working in baby steps to learn some editing in Photoshop.  There is so much to do to a photo in Photoshop.  I know photographers that say they will never learn it all.  So dive in and get your feet wet, with a small bit of skill you can create some amazing results.   This photo was given a final edit by adjusting the levels in Photoshop and applying a layer of texture under multiply at 100%.

This was the before edit that I created in Picasa.  I am more comfortable working in Picasa so, I start with my photo there and then move over to Photoshop if I want to do more editing.

This photo with the final edit in Photoshop.  I applied a layer of texture under multiply at 40%, and before that I adjusted the levels to white it out a bit.

Here the photo before edited in Picasa.

And, last this photo also had a final edit in Photoshop.  I adjusted the levels and then applied a layer of texture at 100%.

Here the photo was before, edited in Picasa.  The texture used was Silence by Kim Klassen.

I am trying to get more skilled at the editing to create art with my photography.  It is a lot of fun, even learning in baby steps.