Monday, December 29, 2014

Playing of Faffing

 I was so happy to learn over the Xmas week about a little word called "faffing", an english expression for just wasting time.   It seems I do quite a bit of that, just playing with stuff to create lovely images or art.  Moving this and that around, looking for some light, a prop or two.  Is it wasting time or not...I say NOT.  Art is never a waste of time. 

 I love these little Shasta Daisy's from the summers flower garden combined with sea shells and a cheesecloth frothy surface.  Again lots of play with whats at hand.  I used a little ocean texture as the frothy crest of the wave.
 My prompts from Be Still were spool, string and three.  I think this was so much fun because I just learned how to use the Auto Sync function in my LightRoom program.  I edit all my work further in Elements but love the time saving auto sync.  I have learned so much to date in my e-class and there are still weeks left to enjoy and learn more.
These are little Zinnias that were seeds I special bought because of the fun little stripes and most were huge, but these were the end of the summer, stunted and small but while they were short of statue they made a fantastic prop with a great mason jar.

I love exploring ideas with still life and style prop photography.  NEVER enough props it seems, but there is a wish list and my eye is ever open to possibilities. 

My year ended with getting a couple of my photos on Flickers Explorer and that sure was something worth shouting about.  None of my physical friends are into photography so they just didn't get the high I got from it, but I shouted anyway!   I can't wait to see where my lens takes me in 2015.  Hope to see you soon!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Friday Blues made Explorer

I am so tickled to find my Friday Finds which I named Friday Blues made it to Explorer on Flicker.  My 2nd image for December.  What a great way to end the year.  Never dreamed I would have one let alone two images in a month land there.

Thanks!

Friday Finds is a group hosted by Kim Klassen.  She also has Texture Tuesday and its a great way to get you to continue shooting throughout the week.  Sometimes we just need a little push to keep the inspiration going.   This little vintage bottle was my prop of inspiration for this image with the hydrangea.  Cropped to 4x5 size, and some processing of the light and a little pale grunge texture.   I hope you keep your camera close by, you never know when the spark will ignite!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Two's Company and Three's a Crowd

I had to really do an improve for our recent prompt for an exercise using 3 things.

Backlight, window and a chair!   I have no cool chair that is weathered, stained and shabby but I did have this little tiny bench that was given to me as  a prop this summer.  I used my kitchen window sill and sat it there but really didn't have anything
interesting to use with it.  I was looking for a light bright fresh look and it was drizzling outside and dark - I hit a blank ..

I got to cooking up a pot of Manhattan clam chowder and for fun just tossed a couple onions on the bench, then added the towel and the little onion skin,  Took lots of shots and angles and decided on this one.  Love the square crop, and I used a little preset in lightroom called onair by KimKlassen and then a texture to give the grunge look.  The rain on the window gave a cool bokeh I thought so now I have an idea to paint this up white for a brighter look. 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

I made Explorer on Flicker!

WOW this is such a big deal for me, my first ever image to make Flickers Explorer.  Its like the most fun thing ever and to think I didn't even know it until someone gave me a nice congrats on it!

This was an exercise from Week 27 of Be Still 52 group,
Our prompts were to create a vignette, use something tall and sweeping, a preset, a texture and a printable.  It was hard because this was very large and tall.  I dragged my kitchen island up to the fridge and propped up my black core board there for a backdrop.  Then began trying different arrangements to shoot.  I probably shot 30+ and finally ran out of angles and props,

This printable was our first xmas card of the year, so adorable with the white and hint of red from the snowmans scarf, it really fit in with the red bow around the bugle, the red books and wraping paper.

The pussywillows are fake and have been loved by me for several years.  I wish fake silk flowers were not so expensive, they make the most amazing props.

I hope I can post something exciting as this in the months to come so till then, its Sally behind my lens...