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Lilac and wooden birdie
Some time ago I took a photo of cut hydrangea in a vase placed by quite an ugly window, you could see it in my post Out of place. I decided to use the same vase and the same window for another out-of-place photo, this time with lilac and a little wooden bird that decorates my interior. Again, I was intrigued by the contrast between the beautiful flowers and the place. Here is different, let’s say a bit more artistic, processing of the photo: I already have other flowers in my mind to put there and shoot, such as yellow Lysimachia or white Marguerite, sounds like it might be a…
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Apple inspiration
The other day I was peeling apples and their shapes and colours caught my attention. I brought my apron (that I like but rarely use), picked a few leaves of lemon balm that grew in a pot on my window sill and played with my camera for a while. This is the photo that I liked most: I played also when processing the photo and liked the darker, less saturated version. It’s tricky to try and change colours of fruit and herbs… The following photo presents the same settings but quite shallow depth of field which makes the eye return to that focused part again and again. There is still…
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Charm of the faded
Back in March I was capturing books and tulips and I tried several settings. I shared some of the photos in my previous posts Books and tulips and Yellow and blue. There was one more setting though and today I’d like to share some images it brought. The titles of the books below are not important. I chose the books because of their size and the colour of their covers, they looked great together. Some of the tulips I was shooting with were already faded but I decided to use them anyway. Their last moment of glory… I processed both photos in Lightroom and then I sent one of them…
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Yellow and blue
I love combination of yellow and blue and I used it in another set of photos with books. The first and second photos feature a fantasy novel by Jules Verne “The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz”. It’s an old book and I love all the illustrations it contains. I read it ages ago and when I was flipping its pages on this occasion, it felt tempting to start and read it again. There are only little differences between the two photos but along with the format, I find them interesting. The third photo features another book by Jules Verne “Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen”. I might have never read it…
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Books and tulips
Book images belong to assignments of the second month of Kim’s Be Still course and one would say that they are easy to be created. Not everything is as easy as it looks though and I can tell you that I had a hard time with them. For this first series I used tulips that I bought last weekend. I hesitated in the shop whether to buy a bouquet in one colour or this mixture but when I made the decision and brought the tulips home, I was really pleased about how wonderful the mixture looked. As you might have guessed, the book in the top-down photo above focuses on…
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Magic of coincidence
Take a tray. Put a colander inside the tray. Put a watering can inside the colander. Shoot. I know, it sounds like utter nonsense. I’d definitely shake my head in disbelief at such an idea. But coincidentally, the other day I bought those three things for my still life photography and when I wanted to take them and place them somewhere (no idea where at that moment), I put them together in the above mentioned way and went looking for some available space. When I got back and saw them sitting on the table, it struck me how interesting they looked together. That made me go and grab my camera…
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Beauty of the simple
Last time I promised to show you another try of mine at a top-down-taken photo, something a bit different than the elaborate and colourful composition you could see in the previous post, and here it is: It’s a very simple composition and I expect that (some of) you might find it (a bit) boring. Yet look at the pattern on the towel, the shapes and lines created by the colander, the subdued colours… all the parts contribute to the whole which I find delicate and beautiful. When I posted a square version of the arrangement on Instagram, I wrote to it that “beauty of the simple makes you see a…
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Some things are simply meant to be
The other day my husband and I were shopping in a Tesco hypermarket in Pilsen. Inside the building, there were presented several large boards promoting books to be published, each side of the boards was devoted to a single book. There was always a paragraph or two presenting the book and its author but what especially attracted my attention were images of the book’s covers along with their drafts and other versions, it’s something one rarely has the opportunity to see. Who could resist having a look behind the scene? Several of the promoted books were written by Franz Kafka, a writer coming from a Jewish family who was writing…
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Colours and shapes
The first month of Kim’s new Be Still course is focused on still life images shot top down. Top-down, looking-down, from-above, flat-lay, they have many names but just one perspective. They may look easy but they are not that easy. Firstly it’s the thing with arranging the right props in the right way with the right background but that’s nothing new in still life imaginary. Secondly, there are a few technical problems. The height from which you can shoot is usually limited, so you need to use such a lens that will include the whole arrangement into your image. The bigger your props the wider angle of the lens needed.…
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My birthday flowers
I have birthday at the beginning of January and I always get some flower(s) from my colleagues when we get back to work after Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Two years ago I used the flower in my 52-week photo project, then last year I used it at the beginning of my still life project. Have you seen (and remembered) those photos? It started to feel like tradition and I didn’t want to make this year any exception. The thing is though that as I get the flower usually on Monday and can’t shoot it until weekend, the shooting is quite a difficult job because the flower gradually fades and…
