Pretty Petals

I fell in love with Lightroom a year or more ago.  I became so immersed in LR I didn't realize that I was losing my Photoshop skills.  As you all know I've been AWOL for some months and just wasn't able to reconnect the circuits for my art/photoshop.  A good friend basically told me that for me to get re-inspired I needed to "just do it" as Nike says.

I also started to use my iPhone rather than my DSLR.  This week I did a photo exercise using both cameras.  I decided to edit one of the photos in PS.  Wow!  I had forgotten so much it was crazy.

With lots of effort and some frustration I managed to come up with the above image.  I used mostly PS but also relied a bit on LR.

  During all this time I've been learning Instagram.  So I wanted this image for IG.  I shot it on my iPhone for that reason even though I know it is possible to cheat and post DSLR and other types of photos.  Forgive me but my technical skills are always behind the curve.  I'm pretty happy with this.  I will continue using Photoshop more and shooting with both cameras so I don't get so rusty.

Have a great rest of the week.

~ Create ~

Food for the New Year

After reading Carol Hart's  beautiful post I was inspired to purchase this cookbook.  It has so many wonderful recipes, and it's not about dieting or losing weight.  It's really about eating healthfully.  I've made a couple of the dishes and they are delicious.  

She also posted about a wonderful lemon detox drink consisting of warm water, lemon juice a smidge of maple syrup and cayenne pepper.  It's very comforting first thing in the morning.  I've heard that warm lemon water is alkalinizing to the body.

After my previous post I decided to use some of my lemons for the detox tea.  Yum!

  

Fall Arrival

I have much to be thankful for.  Fall has finally arrived in Southern California.  Whew!! We had the hottest summer on record.  For those of us who live at the beach (and don't have A/C) it is more than welcome.   It was actually under 70 degrees yesterday. 

It's so easy to get ready for Thanksgiving..... a few branches, some candles and fall colors.  I found this adorable sequined pumpkin at Pier 1.

Branches are from Michaels. 

 Candles are from everywhere.
Here's wishing you and yours a full of wonder Thanksgiving!!

Orchid and Rose

A couple edits to ease myself back into Lightroom and PS.   I feel really rusty, so I'm just diving in.

First the orchids...

I used a LR preset called Old Polar to bring out more color in the foreground and keep the background soft and hazy. 

Next the rose....

This image seemed to imply sophistication with the black linen.   I chose the Park Lane font for its sophisticated look.  I used Kim's Dark Mood preset.

~ Give ~

"New" Old Stepladder

While "junking" with Erin at the flea market, I found this marvelous stepladder (heart skipping a beat). 

 Actually I found two ladders....the first was red.  I had been looking for the perfect ladder for several months and decided I'd just have to paint this red one.  Then just as we were taking one last lap, I saw this one and I fell in love!  The steps fold out (in) just like a ladder I had as a child.  It has obviously had a lot of use with its paint spatters.  I can't decide if I want to paint it white or leave as is.  It has a lot of character this way.  I was lamenting the fact that I didn't need both ladders as I'm really limited for space.  Besides what would hubby say?  Why was I bringing two stepladders home??  Erin was a sweetheart and bought the red one from me.  She has lots of primary colors, as you can see, in her garden.

My project this week was to learn more about my Canon camera.  I watched some YouTube videos and finally learned how to "back button focus".  And......my camera has a touch screen which makes it really easy.  I just touch where I want to focus.  I also wanted to experiment with creating more light using the camera since most of my house is lacking in it.  I changed exposures while working in live view.   I used my louvred closet doors as a backdrop which helped.  I also changed lenses from my 50mm 1/4 to my 18 - 200 mm.  What a difference.  Because my shooting areas are so tight I needed to have a wider angle view.

I used Kim's Sunday preset on left image, Quiet Dreams on right image and no preset on center image.  

Have a great week.  I'll be working on lighting and exposure for the next photo sessions.

~ Give ~

Berry Love

As members of Kim's Studio Online group, we are given prompts to play with.  A most recent prompt was "berries".

If you're a photographer, I'm sure you've had a few shoots, especially still lifes, that have given you less than exciting results.  I have done three different shoots for the "berries" prompt.  So frustrating, I wasn't even going to post my photos.  However I decided to post as every shoot is a learning experience.  These are the best of 80 shots on different days.  I used Kim's "Prairies" preset for this one.

Below I used her "Raw" preset.  I like the wide aperture setting on this one as it blurs the background.

I was determined to use my vintage table cloth for this shoot.  It was a bit of a challenge to keep the overall image clean and uncluttered looking.  I used Topaz Simplify for the painterly look  of the two images below.

Finally, my Canva layout.  Still learning how to use their labels.

Have a great week everyone!

~ Give ~

Wednesday Photo Shoot

 Seems Texture Tuesday is on hiatus.  But, I've been more involved with Lightroom anyway and Texture Tuesday was all about layering textures over photos.  These days we can get gorgeous looks with presets in LR.  Sad to lose TT though.

We have one tomato plant in a pot that overwintered.  Our nighttime winter temps in So. Calif. have only dipped below 60 degrees maybe in Dec or Jan. this year.  We have an overabundance of tomatoes - bright, juicy, flavorful and  so much better than store purchased tomatoes.  They were part of my shoot this week.

I also shot some photos of this teacup and chocolate.

For some interest I clipped a rosebud and some thyme from the garden.  I now have the thyme hanging upside down to dry.....didn't want to throw it away and didn't need it in the dish I cooked.  This china was my mother's.  I think it was the first china she purchased after she married or maybe it was her wedding china. It's Syracuse china and actually says "Made in America".  How old is that???

Hope all you lovelies are having a great week.  If you're a photographer, try putting a little Lightroom love in your life.

~ Give ~ 

Edit Wow

My membership to Kim Klassen's The Studio Online entitled me to her Studio Collection of presets - about 80 of them.  Her presets are so artistic, it would take me forever to make my own.  And....let's face it, I'm lazy. 

I discovered I can get a beautiful edit without doing anything other than adding her preset.  Below the original...

It's a so-so photo.  But with one click of her preset in Lightroom and cropping to square I got this.  

I used "Rumpled" preset.  I just love the effect here.  I'm going to try several more presets, but this one really wowed me.

If you are into photography and still lifes, and you have not yet joined The Studio Online, hurry over there and sign up.  It's a huge value for the money and there are so many talented people you can learn from.  If you do love still life photography, Hans Blomquist has a beautiful book called "In Detail" which you can purchase from Amazon.  I'm ordering that for myself.

Wonder of wonders, we actually had a sprinkle of rain this afternoon.  I guess we're getting the monsoon moisture coming up from Mexico.  It wasn't really rain like we need but it was so exciting to see the sky get dark, and listen to thunder.

Plus, the rain smelled wonderful!!

~ Give ~

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 ~

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 ~

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