A Pitcher of Roses | Texture Tuesday
During the winter, each week I must decide what bouquet of flowers to buy from the grocery store. In the summer, I fill vase after vase with flowers and herbs cut from my garden, but in the winter the bouquets from the grocery store give the house a little bit of color and light. It’s always a trade-off with these bouquets. The less expensive mums last the longest, but they lack that sheer soft beauty of roses. Roses, on the other hand, seem to start wilting even on the drive home. When I brought these pink roses home, I knew if I wanted them fresh, I’d better snap some photos right away.
While I love looking at all the still life photos, with all the bits of this and that, when it comes to my own, I am so simple. It’s not that I don’t have lots of pretty little things to include, you can either say that I’m lazy or that I prefer a minimalist look. It’s probably a bit of both, though I think lazy edges to the win by a nose. So for this shot, my roses in my mother-in-law’s antique pitcher on some beadboard that we rescued from the porch ceiling of an old house they were tearing down. I processed it using Kim’s Breeze preset and applied her Sybil texture at soft light.
I am entering this photo in Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.
Faded Roses for Texture Tuesday
Well, let’s see. A whole week is passed since I last posted a Texture Tuesday photo, and I am still no further along in Be Still 52! I am just so crazy busy! Last year in the fall, my photography business was so busy that I actually quit blogging Sidewalk Shoes, Grey is the New Black and this blog for almost two months! Now, I am paying for it as I have to build my audience back up. I pour over articles on SEO and social marketing. I read about how often to tweet and what to say. I learn when is the best time to pin. Social marketing can be so time consuming! I remember when I first started my food blog in 2007, it seemed like there was a handful of us and page views were just dropped in our lap. Now, with 20-somethings and all their energy making blogging a full time job, it is hard to keep up. I know. You are tired of hearing me complain, so let’s look at the roses, shall we?
I bought some deeper pink roses at the store this week. These were really a bright, magenta rose and they darkened as they faded. They look about like I feel this morning! For this photo, I used Kim Klassen’s Breathe preset in Lightroom and then finished it with a layer of Kim’s Trust Texture at soft light.
I am entering this photo in Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.
A Moody Rose for Texture Tuesday
One of the benefits in being in Kim Klassen’s Be Still 52 class, is that she shares some of her Lightroom presets with us. I love Lightroom presets, one click and you are good to go. Oh, you can tweak it here and there, but usually if I feel like it needs a whole lot of tweaking, I just find another preset – that’s the beauty of presets. The latest one was a bit desaturated with a dark and moody feel. I thought it would work nicely with these roses in their silver vases.
I need to work on seeing the composition better in camera. When I look at this photo, I like it, but I think that front rose is two tall. There is too much stem showing. I think if the stem had been about an inch shorter, it would have worked better in the whole composition of the photo.
For this photo, I used Kim’ Klassen’s Dark Mood preset and applied her quest texture.
I am entering this photo in Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.
Roses | Side light | Be Still 52 Week 5
Trying vainly to catch up on Kim Klassen’s Be Still 52. I cannot say enough good things about the class. Calling it a class doesn’t do it justice though, and I am definitely not doing it justice. I was so insanely busy last year that I am about 25 weeks behind!! Those that keep up, get to link and share on a forum. I’ve thought about just jumping ahead to where everyone else is, but it is a process and I want to honor the process.
This week’s lesson was focused on side lighting. I am currently working on learning my flash, so I knew I wanted to try it. I was trying to mimic the light you see in old oil paintings, with only the subject lit and the light dropping off almost immediately to the back and sides.
The Fairy Rose for Texture Tuesday
These are my favorite roses to photograph. You can’t really tell from the photo, but they are tiny (about an inch across). They are a ground cover rose, I believe called “The Fairy”. They grow and spread like crazy. They have heavy clumps of flowers at the end of long thin stems. This photo was take last October, they really do bloom from spring up until the first frost. Sorry. You came here for Texture Tuesday and ended up with a garden lecture!
I processed this using Kim’s Melancholy preset (my favorite) and then I applied her texture, Way, at soft light 20%.
I am entering this photo in Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.
Roses for Texture Tuesday
Well, I am back from my blogging vacation and my real vacation to California! I was completely blown away by how gorgeous California was! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was amazing. We traveled up the Pacific Coast Highway, hitting as many wine tastings along the way as we could! As my photography business slows down for the winter, expect to see California pics popping up!
For texture Tuesday this week, I have some wild roses in a blue ball jar. I used Kim’s Not Too Shabby texture at soft light. Even though the photo has a summery look to it, I think it’s icy blueness reminds me of winter.
I’m linking up with:
Faded Roses
Once again, I am having to pull from my archives. I am simply too busy with Pamela Greer Photography to do any creative photos of my own! Fall is my busiest season. I usually limit myself to 2 sessions a week, but in October I have some weeks that I have 5 sessions (this week being one of them!) Luckily I overshoot any roses and peonies that I find, so I always have some in the archives.
For these roses, I used Kim Klassen’s Melancholy Preset and then applied her “touch of” texture.
Thank you so much to Kim and to everyone that visited me last week with my selection on her page! I tried to get buy and see everyone, but I might have missed a few! Hopefully when it slows down after fall, I will get back into Be Still and visiting all you incredibly talented people!
I am entering this photo in Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.
2014 190/365 Red Roses
More roses. Because there is no such thing as too many roses.
2014 189/365 Red Roses
This is how my camera read the red in these roses! Crazy. But I like it!