Gentle Flower

SOFT AND SIMPLE!

I had a surprise show up in my garden - a single gladiola. I had planted it the year before and though it came up......it never bloomed. I know you are supposed to dig up those bulbs, but I've never done so. Well anyway....I sure was surprised to see the thing up and blooming the year after I planted it.

Now back to the photo. I had a medium sized nightgown which had soft colors on it. So I decided to try and use the nightgown as the material for this shoot. Since I didn't have a lot of material to work with, I had trouble hanging and draping the material. And the material had seams in it and it had a front and a back as clothes do have. So it WAS difficult to work with.

With such a shortage of material, I had to use a small vase which worked out fine since I didn't have too much of a flower to work with. (The gladiola was just about gone before I knew I had a blossom out in my garden.)

Though I really do hate the way the top part of the material drapes down, I really do like the way it ends up curving around the vase and on out to the edge of the image.

Though I did smudge the vase because it actually had a green line and small pink flowers on it, I didn't smudge anything else in the picture. I didn't want to destroy the curve of the material.


Challenge for today:

Check your flower garden again to see if something interesting has started blooming.

The Fog

LOOKING OUT FOR THE FOG!

I had gone on a camping trip and had gotten up before dawn because I wanted to get a photo of colors of the sun rising. The above image was taken as I looked down at a river as the sun was rising. There was some fog in the area, but I sure was surprised when I got the image back from processing and I had the fog as a golden color. I scanned the negative into my computer AND the color was golden. The processing center had not adjusted the color.

The only thing I did with the above image was to clone out a couple of areas in the foreground.


Challenge for today:

Capture some of the dawns and sunsets in your area.

The Cat

Sometimes You Cannot Create the Pose!

Sometimes you get poses which you cannot create, but you CAN kinda push it along.

My cat was on a table and I just put the bowl in front of her.

I then did a special effect in some software.

But the main thing is the cat looking down at an empty bowl.


Challenge for today:

Look around for possible photos with your pets.

The Pathway

NOTICE THE GENTLE PATHWAYS IN YOUR LIFE!

I took this picture about 10 years ago and it is gentle enough that I like it.

This image is the result of going into some software and letting the software do a special effect. That is all that I remember about this picture's history. I'm sorry, but at least you can enjoy a little bit of the calm of nature.


Challenge for today:

Take a walk and photograph the trees.

Spring in the City

USING TWO VASES!

I wanted to utilize 2 antique vases. They are called "Gufus Glassware." (I'm not sure if Gufus is the right spelling....) Anyway, the glassware is painted in the inside of the vase. So, a lot of this kind of antique glassware has the paint coming off from the inside of the vase.

Now back to the actual photo. I placed the two vases close enough together so it looks like all of the flowers are in one vase; however, I placed the vases enough at an angle that you can clearly see the flower design on each one of the vases.

I used a really dark lavender material for the background. Then I placed some yellow material on a table to be a part of the foreground.

After I shot the photo I went added a texture image and placed it as a layer onto the photo I had just taken. I then adjusted the opacity enough to give the final image some extra interesting color/texture.


Challenge for Today:

Try and photograph two vases together.

Purple Coneflower

MERGING OF TWO IMAGES

Photographers have had fun for years merging photos together. The above image is what I merged by using the computer.

I took a photo I had taken of a purple coneflower on a small blue dish. I then took a photograph I had taken of an outside light by my front door.

And I just combined the two images together!


Challenge for today:

Again, I think I am well protected from a computer crash. As far as I know everything I've ever done I have on both DVD's and portable hard drives. Are you as well protected?????

Cosmos and Zinnias

CHOOSING PLEASING COLORS!

Forgive me for such a long time between posts. I never knew that a thunderstorm can create problems for your computer even though your computer is unplugged AND the lightning is just only too close for comfort.

Now that I'm back in business, I'll start with the above image.

I chose orange and yellow and a touch of lavender because the colors go so well together.

The pot is only about 4 inches high - so you see the entire image fits quite closely together.

After I shot the image I got it into my computer and made a layer out of one of my textured images and started adjusting the opacity of the textured layer. I only wanted enough of the textured image to show to give the final image an overall idea of being a painting.


Challenge for today:

Make sure you have adequate backup for all the images you have placed into your computer and make sure you keep the backup in a safe place!