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Laundry time
I’ve already mentioned the task we got in the Be still 52 course, to try and capture quiet non-stylised real-life moments. We even got a few prompts to help us focus on a particular topic, one of them being “Laundry Time”. Well, there are many possibilities to capture that and I went for shooting our washed towels, dish towels and tablecloths hanging on the washing lines in our garden. Nothing was specifically arranged for the photo and I count this as a still life photo though as you can see, the pieces were moving in a breeze… The first photo is just basically adjusted, the other two images are further…
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Milk and cookies
How much fun do you think you would have shooting milk and cookies? When I read that assignment in the Be still 52 course I’m participating in and saw the images Kim created, I felt eager to give it a try. So many possibilities… I decided to arrange my props outside, as the morning light was so nice, and also I decided to add lilacs into the background as they were in full bloom all around and were complementing nicely the cookies I bought for this occasion. I tried different depth of field, different perspectives, cookies whole and partly eaten… and eventually also a different format of the final images.…
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Nature in my garden
Another task to be accomplished in the “Be still 52” course was to take a walk and find some props provided by nature along the way. I didn’t make it to the woods but I took scissors and a bowl and headed for our garden to find some nature beauty there. My garden didn’t disappoint me and I gathered some branches, flowers, bark and pebbles for my photography. I even found an old wooden surface in the yard and an old ugly board which made a great background so this time I was shooting outside, in the shadow of our old barn. I created several versions and modifications with the…
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Easter pastels
In the last week’s lesson of “Be still 52” Kim suggested that we might capture some pretty pastels inspired by spring and Easter and experiment with backlighting and focus. When I read that assignment I felt somewhat uncomfortable because neither pastels are something you can find abundant in my household nor the soft-pastel style is something I feel like creating. Also, I haven’t been experimenting yet with the backlighting, which makes it quite difficult to get the right exposure as the light often burns background part(s) of the photo while it leaves dark shadows on your subjects. Nevertheless, I accepted the challenge and gave it a try, that’s why I joined…
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Orchids
This time, I used two of my orchids for creating my images. Orchids are beautiful and elegant flowers, quite popular these days as it is so easy to grow them. 20 years ago my schoolmate’s father pursued a hobby of growing orchids in little greenhouses he had constructed at home and every grown orchid meant great success. Nowadays there are hybrids of various colours, shapes and sizes which you can buy even in supermarkets and which don’t need any special care… I’m quite happy about that! Here is the final image #1… and its processed original: And here is the final image #2… and its processed original: I took the…
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Nested balls
No long stories today, just the final image, the processed original …and a few words. I wouldn’t have believed how much different the image would look when taken from different angles. I took quite a few versions of the balls and just once tilted the camera in such a way that the perspective became slightly distorted. That is the photo you can see here as that perspective has become my favourite. I used kk_breathe preset (provided by Kim Klassen in her Be still 52 course) in processing the final image in Lightroom and tweaked it a bit to suit the photo better.
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Smiling
I learned very quickly last year – and see it even more now when participating in the Be still 52 course – that when you want to take arranged still life photos, you need quite a few things. Firstly those objects which are essential to your images – whether everyday objects or special ones and you may also need additional objects to complement the scene. But they are just a part of the whole and you may also need some suitable material or cloth to place underneath those objects, and often also behind, around or between, as appropriate. I found out this to be a problem for me so I…
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Apples in a basket
Playing with apples, side light, angles, depth of field and post-processing, I’ve created another image I’m not used to creating. I quite like it but expect more. Moving on… has become a motto of this project of mine.
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White, round and minimalist
Week 3 of Be still 52 invited us to gather various table tops and back drops to have interesting and suitable foregrounds and backgrounds for our photos. After rummaging in our house I’m perfectly sure there is not much to use, I need to buy a few things to start with. For the time being I decided to follow a challenge offered by Kim to those being already stocked with tops, textiles and backgrounds, which was to use any or all 3 of the following prompts: WHITE – ROUND – MINIMALIST You know me, I wanted all… and created the following image: It’s not a typical still life, rather an…
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Moving on
On Sunday I finished successfully the Art of Photography course with all of its videos, quizzes and assessments and could download my Certificate of Achievement. It feels great to accomplish something I had decided to accomplish. The course enriched me very much and I don’t regret the time and energy I invested into following it. I’m happy I took all those notes as I’d like to get back to them later to refresh some of the ideas. I’d recommend the course to anyone who would like to acquire or brush up on their photographic perception. It contains some technical stuff but also points at various principles and ideas that may…
