Three dollar vase and flowers

This vase with yellow roses was purchased last week at an antique mall for just $3.00.  I just couldn't believe it!  I was actually looking for yellow roses, but to get a pretty vase AND some yellow roses!!!!!!  (I added the lilies.)

Of course the flowers aren't real, but I used some real ivy for some of the photo.

For the background, I used some dark lavender poster board I purchased from Hobby Lobby.  I used a small lavender blanket for the base of the image.

I used many different techniques to get the photo just the way I wanted it.....so I'm not going into detail.

BUT please support some of your local flea markets, thrift stores, antique malls.....you can get some great buys!!!!

Old coin purse and coins

 

Many times photos are taken out of necessity and the above photo is the result of one of those needful photo shoots.

I was finalizing a blurb.com book I was compiling - all I needed were the cover photos. 

Since the book was titled - Nothing to Pay - I really kinda wanted the book's images on the front and back cover to correspond with the title.

I had already found an image for the front cover - a still life photo I had composed seven years previously.  The photo itself was an arrangement of my mother's and father's Bible, a pair of old glasses, an old coin purse and some old coins.

But I couldn't find an image for the back cover.  

So this past Monday, I again got out my father's old coin purse and a few old pennies and to make the picture even  more of a memory for me, I got out one of his old brown waist long jackets and used it as the foreground.  One of Hobby Lobby's large brown poster boards was used as the background. 

After about 10 pictures I decided upon the above picture.

I then took the following steps.

1.  Under Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, I added some extra texture to the photo and gave the extra textured photo a new name.  (Never destroy the origional photo.)

2.  I then took the extra textured photo image into Photoshop Elements and under "enhancements" I decreased the red and called it by another name.  

3.  I then went back into Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

4.  I opened up the extra textured photo image.

5.  I then opened up the decreased red image.

6.  I made a copy of the decreased red image.

7.  I then pasted the copy of the decreased red image as a layer onto the extra textured image.

8.  I then reduced the decreased red image layer to about 28 percent (to suit my fancy).

9.  I then merged the layers and called the image under a new name.

By doing Step number 2, I was making a decision.  I personally had decided the picture had too much red in it and so I was attempting to decrease the red.

By doing Step number 8, I was again making a decision.  I had decided that Step number 2 had taken out way too much red, and I was attempting to put back in some more red.  

Oh, by the way, the blurb.com book will be out in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know on the particulars.

Roses on a Blanket

THAT SOFT LOOK

My husband was sick so I decided to drop by a florist's shop and check in on their flowers. It was towards the end of a Friday afternoon and the above roses were $1.00 each. Boy did I have fun photographing roses that weekend!

The above roses are resting on a creamy colored blanket.

The only thing I did on this image was to smudge everything and clone a few places.

When I was entering competition this never won any awards, but this image got my highest score in 4 state competition - it got a score of 91.


Challenge for today:

Bring out the beauty in flowers in a simple setting.

Mosaic Vase

COLORFUL MOSAIC GLASSWARE

Mosaic glassware is beautiful with light shining upon it....however......it pretty well has to be empty in order to get the best advantage of light bouncing off of it. I have photograph the above vase many times, but most of the time I have flowers in it.

Anyway, back to the photo. The background I used for this image is the same I used for the image I posted on August 18.

For the flowers I used a couple of roses which were past their prime and placed them in front of the vase.

After I photographed the image and got it into the computer I placed a textured image I had created and placed it as a layer upon the image I had just photographed. Because I only wanted the final result to look a little like a painting, I adjusted the opacity of the textured layer so that only a bit of it was showing up on the original photograph.


Challenge for today:

Remember you can still photograph flowers which are past their prime. Try it.

Tulips and Glassware

HAVING FUN IN YOUR CREATIVITY!

This may not look too creative, but for me having the glass plate in an upright position in front of a glass jar is being creative.

For me this was just a fun photo shoot experimenting with clear glass and tulips/daffodils. I actually have quite a few versions of all of this and I'll be sharing at least one more version further on.

Anyway, the background in the original image was white poster board.

After I got the image into the computer I took a textured image I had created which is just made up of colors. I then darkened it quite a bit before I placed it as a layer on the image I had just photographed. Then after quite a bit of mixing and erasing and adding back onto the original image, I got the above look.

It looks kinda wild and modern and I like the final result.


Challenge for today:

Experiment with positioning glassware in unusual positions.

Roses in a Cookie Jar

USING UNUSUAL ITEMS

The one thing about looking at magazines - you gain new ideas. However using a cookie jar was entirely of my own thinking.

Now actually this isn't a very good picture - the roses look too pale. Yet, I like the image because I used an antique cookie jar AND the background is one of my own images printed out to a size 12" by 18" in length.

Nothing special was done to the image except smudging the foreground material a bit.

Challenge for today:

Once again, try your hand at printing out and use one of your own images as the background.

Morning Glories and Other Flowers

LETTING THE MATERIAL GUIDE THE PHOTO SHOOT!

I had a soft, pastel colored night gown. I love it; however when you start using clothes as a part of the background/foreground, you generally are limited on how much material you actually have to use in the picture.

Anyway, I was willing to take the risk and I helped minimize my photography problem by using the material only in the foreground and I used white poster board for the background.

I'm not a floral arranger and the flowers in the vase proves it, but I do like the way the morning glories are arranged on the material. (Remember, morning glories tear easily and they are called morning glories for a reason.)

After I got the shot I wanted and downloaded the image into the computer, I got out a textured image I had created and placed that as a layer. With such light colors on the background/foreground it was easy to adjust the opacity of the layer and get just enough of a "painting" look.


Challenge for today:

Start thinking about photographing some morning glories - the blossoms are large and they can fill up a lot of space in an image.