Signs of Summer

It's beautiful summer weather here in Southern California.  On the coast we have our usual "June gloom" but the sun comes out in the late morning or early afternoon.  We are so enjoying the balmy temps in the mid 70's during the day and mid 60's at night.  Melons are coming into season and I dearly love watermelon.  

I've been wanting to take macro shots and didn't want to pay the hefty price for a Canon lens.  So…..I did the next best thing….I purchased an Olloclip macro lens for my iPhone.   I had a go at it in the back yard.  These are tiny blooms or what's left of them on my Heucheras.

 And here's a shot of lavender

Finally after many tries I got one decent shot of this little leaf bug. He wanted to cruise around the lip of this paper cup, and I asked my friend to move the cup to keep him in somewhat the same spot so I could get the pic.  I was really overjoyed to get this.  

Linking to Texture Tuesday, The Studio Online and Be Still

Happy summer!!

~ Give ~

Something Dreamy

I've always loved Kim Klassen's style.  I've taken many of her classes, and I'm grateful to her for all that I've learned….photography, Photoshop, Lightroom, still life and the list goes on.  I did this shoot and culled these out of 85 images.

They are as close as I can come to her "dreamy" style.  This one is pretty much straight out of the camera except for minor adjustments.  I shoot in raw, so there has to be some post processing.  I did not use a preset or texture though.

This was fairly blown out but I adjusted exposure,  clarity, vibrance and highlights.  I also cropped it.  Today was a really gloomy day, so I used exposure compensation and upped my ISO to 400.  I love the beautiful light that I managed to capture. 

I used Kim's "Dreamlike" below.

The first of the peonies arrived in my Trader Joe's last Friday.  I had every intention of doing a shoot on Saturday, but life kept getting in the way.  So now it's Tuesday and they're fairly bloomed out.  One more day and they would have been shattered.

I'm a little late but think I'll link to Texture Tuesday, Be Still and The Studio Online.

~ Calm ~

Artist Tools of the Trade

I love paint brushes in all sizes, shapes, materials, long handles, short handles, covered with paint or clean.

These are a few (the clean ones) of my collection.  

I cut this picture up and made a layout with the various crops on which I had added different presets.

Can't decide which preset I like best…….but either Old English or Eve.  Presets offer so much - they can give an image mystery, depth, contrast  and generally give the same image many different looks.    I just really like working with them because they are such a quick fix.  It's like being a decorator with your images.  Pop a few colorful pillows here and there, and voila…you have a new look.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday

Until next week…..

~ Calm ~

Layout Playout

Hope you all had a very special Mothers Day.  I spent the day with Mike,  and my DIL and Grand #1 visited.  So nice to see them.  The grands are growing so fast.  

I've been revisiting Kim's tutorials on LR and working on layouts.  

I did apply a layer of Kim's "Coffee Tea or Me" texture though I would have been just as delighted with the SOOC images.  I added a circle and some text within.  I learned that when I took Kim and Xanthe's Behind the Scenes class.  I get so excited when I learn even the most elementary techniques.  Yay!!!

Using the same template I inserted some photos from my garden for this layout.  Just so easy in LR but then I got stuck because I couldn't remember how to save the layout to my desktop.  Finally figured that out.  I mean I just did it last week with my Be Still layout.  Hello???

I'm linking to Texture Tuesday.  See you all next week or maybe before if I get some wonderful inspiration.

~ Give ~

Breathing in Stillness

In our "Be Still" class we are practicing stillness as in

Be Still - breathe just prior to taking a photo. Our photos should be better if we take the time to be still first.

Take a breath when we feel overloaded or stressed.  It interrupts that pattern of crazy thinking/feeling.

Gentle preset

As an introvert, I relish my time alone.  Don't get me wrong….I love getting together with friends.  I like to laugh and talk as much as the most social people.  

I just can't do it as long. 

For a long time I was concerned that I might be bored or lonely after I retired.  I had a crazy, stressful job in sales for 30+ years.  You see, for many years I did not realize I was an introvert.  Go figure….why would an introvert be in sales?  Who knows.  I guess I did not think of it as sales.  I loved what I did - interviewing companies and potential candidates for their jobs…..matchmaking!  It was a great career but I was ready to have some quality alone time for me!!

Dark Light preset

I collect Buddhas,  and I believe it's because they give me such a feeling of serenity.  I learned to meditate years ago.  I still don't always find the time nor am I disciplined enough to sit quietly for a length of time every day, but I find that art and photography/image editing are meditative for me. I get cranky when I don't have the quiet time to do these things.  I think I shot these images knowing they would give me that feeling of quiet stillness just as the Buddhas do.

Chocolate preset

When I do find that time, I feel just like I've had a day at the spa.  These activities refresh me.  

What refreshes you?  What do you do that gives you a blissful feeling?  Maybe it is going to the spa, or maybe it's music, or maybe prayer?   

Moodswing preset

I'll be linking up to Texture Tuesday on Tuesday as well as The Studio and Be Still. 

May you have a blissful week!  

~ Give ~

Every Day is a New Miracle

That's about how I feel today.  With so much negative happening in the world, I think I'm just so lucky to live where I do.  I'm grateful for my good fortune.  Every morning when I wake up I remind myself how fortunate I am to be where I am.

  

I have been attempting to get a good shot of an object in back lighting.  I tried all sorts of things and didn't have any luck. Then, the other day, I just happened to walk by the bathroom and saw the light streaming in behind my beautiful Double Delight roses.  I ran and got my phone so I could snap them right at that moment.   These two SOOC images show the light beautifully,  but the images themselves are not great. I certainly didn't like the window crank showing in the background.  And….the countertop is not straight in the image.

 What to do…..  Using the top image I adjusted as much as possible in Lightroom and then took into Photoshop.  

I added a layer of Kim's "Cherish Scripted" on soft light 100% opacity and toned the texture down on the roses.  I then added a layer of Kim's "Word" on overlay 30%.  I went back into LR and added a hint of a vignette and a minimal border.

It's okay….just not a favorite.

Textures do make a difference and I tried several before I settled on these.  I had to stop though or I would have been linking to Texture Thursday instead of Texture Tuesday.

I think the second image shows the light better.  Adjustments in LR - no textures or presets on this one.  Actually I think I prefer it.

I wish you all a creative week!

Amaryllis in Bloom

Five days in the life of an Amaryllis.  I've always been fascinated with the Amaryllis and how quickly it comes into bloom, once it makes up its mind to do so.  I swear I think the stem grows 2 inches every day when it begins.

I decided to make a photo project out of its life in bloom.

Every morning I took a photo pretty much at the same time of day.  I also wanted to play with depth of field and focus-falloff for Be Still

Day 1 with Kim's "Whisper" preset

Day 2 with Kim's " On Air" preset

Day 3 with her "Organic" preset

Day 4 with "Moody-ish"

and Day 5 with Serendipitous  (I really like this one.)

and a Lightroom 4-square offset

For those of you who are reluctant to attempt Lightroom, let me say that no one could be more intimidated than I, and I agree….it's a huge learning curve, but as Kim says….oh so worth it.  I still have so much to learn and I forget along the way if I don't work with a particular technique.  I just go back to Kim's class and refresh my memory.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Be Still 52 and The Studio

 

You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.
      ~Maya Angelou

Spring has Sprung in Southern CA

Last week I went with my friends from Eastside Art Group to visit San Juan Capistrano Mission.  My photos for the most part were not terribly good.  It was just about high noon and sun was directly overhead.  I tried adjusting exposure but need some practice with that on my iPhone. I did get this one image of beautiful spring tulips and decided to play with it for Texture Tuesday.

I first used an HDR preset from Trey Ratcliff, one of my favorite photographers.  You can see his work here. I think the HDR really made them pop. I haven't yet tried using HDR setting on my iPhone.  

I then used Kim's "Dark Mood" preset and got this totally 

different look….

Finally I added a layer of Kim's texture "Peeling Paint" and a layer of her "Warm Grunge" to get another altogether different look.

I'm linking up with Texture Tuesday and you can see more by clicking the button below.

See you soon.

~ Give ~

Week 9 of Be Still

This week's lesson was not a new lesson, rather we took a "breather". In these images I worked on composition a little more - also worked with light (from the side).  I need to figure out a place where I can photograph a still life with light from the back.  So I'll return to that lesson. In the first image I used Kim's "Like a Dream" preset but bumped up the contrast a bit.  I also used an impasto texture called "Rumba" from French Kiss Textures.  It gives the image a painterly look.

I used Kim's "Providence" preset on the image below and then added text in PS.

On the final image below I adjusted in Lightroom and then used a filter in Topaz Adjust.  

I took shots from different angles.  I like shooting from above.

If you want to learn how to do these various techniques, I highly recommend Kim's classes.  I've taken several and they are all outstanding with great videos, concise explanations and all the tools one could want for editing photos.  A friendly community of fellow photo editing artists await you too.

I'm submitting this for Texture Tuesday and Be Still.

See you soon.
~ Give ~

Happy Spring

Hello all.  Hope you are having a great week.  I want to share with you some of the images I worked on the last few days.  I'm backtracking to Week 5 of Be Still…"Be Still and Look for the Light".  I managed to capture some morning light in my bedroom, and  I took advantage of it for side lighting a few images.  I was thrilled with the light shining through the flowers.

To begin, the image below was edited in LR and then taken into PS to add Kim's "Cool Grunge" texture.  I metered for the geraniums in front.  

I processed this in LR and used one of LR's black/white presets, then Topaz Adjust 5 for the fun silvery look, then into PS for addition of text.

I did nothing with this photo except adjust exposure and crop and add Kim's brush in Photoshop.  

I'll be linking this to 

and

~ Give ~

Glorious Imperfection

I love the term "Wabi-Sabi" - perfect imperfection.  According to Wikepedia, "The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect. impermanent and incomplete".  Life is so 

wabi-sabi, so it makes sense that we would see the beauty of imperfection.

In week 4 of Be Still, Kim edited a photo similar to this one, and I have followed her lead as far as the edit..a bit different but with a similar effect.  I started in Lightroom with some adjustments to clarity, contrast, saturation.  I tried many presets but in the end I did not use one.  I shifted over to Photoshop and added three layers of Kim's "Dusty Rose" on soft light blend at 72% brushing it off the cut glass vase and a bit off the rose.  I think it would be fun to do a whole series of wabi-sabi flower photos.

For the image  below I did edit in Lightroom as well and used a preset "Touchof Drama".  I took it into Photoshop and added a layer of Kim's "Daisy" from the Downton collection and one layer of "Sweettart".  I added a slight faded vignette. 

~ A beautiful thing is never perfect ~

A proverb quote

Linking to:

And to Be Still
~ Give ~