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Wreath
Last Sunday Catholic church celebrated a “Celebration of flesh and blood of the Lord” which is a celebration related to Eucharist. On this occasion we always get a little wreath made of fresh green leaves in the local church and though I actually need to ask what it symbolises, I love its structure and freshness. It inspired me this year to try and take a few photos with it, these are the ones I liked best. As the wreath actually gets dry quite quickly, I’m pleased I’ll have something to look at and remember. The freshness, the feelings, the spiritual mood. There is no need to explain what “Bible” means…
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Organic
Kim Klassen asked us in one of her Be still 52 lessons what we think of when we hear the word “organic” and I thought of opening an English dictionary to find out the exact interpretation as the Czech and English meaning might not have been the same… When I read the following definition… organic – (of food, farming methods, etc.) produced or practised without using artificial chemicalsorganic cheese/vegetables/wine, etc. an organic farmer/gardener organic farming/horticulture …I knew right away I’d love to shoot cheese. I’ve chosen Gouda with herbs which we buy in a specialised shop from time to time. It’s a bit more expensive but truly delicious. You can…
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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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Shining through
There is a low sideboard in my kitchen which separates the space where meals are prepared and cooked from the space where the meals are eaten and I like to have a pot with herbs or a vase with flowers placed on it as it looks quite charming. There is also a window near the sideboard which looks westwards. Sometimes, when the sun is quite low in the evening and it still shines, its rays get into the kitchen and shine through the leaves and flowers I have displayed on the sideboard and it’s always very beautiful. I sit at the table having my supper and watching the beauty… A…
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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.
