Monday Morning...

I haven't actually taken any photos over the weekend - I've been too depressed at the stupidity of our country.  This morning I finally managed to pick up my camera - nothing too complicated or technical but at least I managed to find the will to point it at something and press the shutter button!

Ralph is worried in case the referendum result means he gets sent back over the fence where he came from. 

Pepper is meditating for love, peace and togetherness in our country...

Charlie sees this as a great opportunity to become PM.

I thought it was about time I got out my macro lens again...

Wordless Wednesday...

I bought a few peonies at the weekend and have been playing around with them for some still life pictures.  At the moment I prefer dark toned still life shots to anything light and 'pretty'.  

These were all taken with side light which I love as it emphasises texture and shape and gives a wonderfully three dimensional feel to objects.  If you normally shoot in 'flat' light do give side light a go.  I took these on a table with light from our patio doors coming from camera left.  I diffused it with some voile to make it softer, and in some cases I closed the curtains to let only a thin strip of light fall on the objects.  It's all about controlling the light to give the effect that you want.

Linking with Wordless Wednesday at Image-in-ing.  and

My Photo Sunday...

I was meant to be shooting some portraits today but my model had to reschedule, so as I was at a loose end I decided to shoot some still life images. I'm still fascinated by the concept of wabi sabi so decided to incorporate the roses from last weeks shoot in the garden, which were on their last legs to say the least. As Leonard Koren puts it: "Wabi sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete, the antithesis of our classical Western notion of beauty as something perfect, enduring, and monumental".

Speaking of impermanence - Ralph was given a collar with a bell yesterday morning because he brought a female blackbird into the house (unhurt) and let it go in the living room before he then disappeared upstairs to bed. Perhaps he thought it wanted its photo taking?!? The collar lasted less than twelve hours before it was found, sans Ralph, in the garden. He's incorrigible...cute, but incorrigible.

Wordless Wednesday...

When I'm not working with my camera (see my websites at www.happypetsphotography.com and www.barbarajacksonphotography.co.uk) I like to just play.  It's good to create images just for the sake of it and stops me getting fed up with the whole business of photography.

Because the weather was so warm last week I did a mini shoot in the garden involving some very cute drinks jars I found for 59p each! I knew that I wanted a bright, summery shot and I knew that I wanted my Japanese Maples in the background, but the sun was far too bright in that corner of the garden so I had to soften the light somehow.  I decided to use a reflector as a scrim so that there was less light hitting my setup, it also meant I was able to shoot at a wider aperture to make the background less in focus.  You can use anything translucent to make a scrim - a shower curtain, tracing paper, a voile curtain. It's great when you're shooting portraits too and want to keep bright sunlight from someone's face.

I took a few shots before adding the tablecloth but decided it didn't look bright or summery enough...

...so I added a white tablecloth.

...which also helped to bounce light back up into the scene.

The roses are from my garden and are called Tess of the D'Urbervilles, they also smell as beautiful as they look.

David and Ralph dropped by to see what I was up to,  I think Ralph was hoping he'd get to have his photo taken ;-)

Texture Tuesday...

I came across these sweet plates in a charity shop and fell in love with the colours and design. They're from the Empire Pottery Staffordshire and date from December 1955 judging by the manufacturer's mark on the back.  I really only wanted one but ended up with a set of about twelve for £2. The prop shelves are groaning… I don't often do overhead shots because a) I find them difficult to lay out to my liking and b) it hurts my back to shoot them! The little plates seemed to demand it though.  It was a relief to get back to a normal pov and shoot clementines :-)

First image edited in LR with Kim Klassen's Breeze preset (tweaked), then in Elements with Kim's Touch texture.

The other images were just edited in LR with Breeze preset (tweaked).

Be Still 52...

Still-life shooting is like meditation with a camera… you can be totally in the moment, you don't have to think of anyone or anything else, just what's in front of you. 

I found these sweet little pots at the charity shop at our local animal rescue centre, they were 20p each! I didn't know what I'd use them for but I knew they'd come in handy, and things came together when my sister gave me a bag of scarves including the lacy number here, and Hinckley Fashion Outlet gave me some rather nice artificial flowers.  All I then had to do was shoot with window light and some bounced fill-in flash, followed by some LR magic, including Kim Klassen's 'Breeze' LR preset (which I tweaked).

Be Still 52...

This week it's all about props.  I've become an avid collector of all manner of odd bits and bobs since starting to shoot still-life.  My only problem now is where to put it all!

I  used Kim's new LR preset 'Darkmood' on this…

Last three edited with Kim's Melancholy LR preset (with slight tweaking).

Texture Tuesday...

Am on a bit of a Chinese New Year kick at the moment as you might have guessed if you've read this week's challenge that I posted yesterday…

Be Still 52...

I'm so enjoying this year-long exploration of still-life with Kim Klassen, it's so relaxing to just 'play' with pretty things and my camera!  This week it's all about side light.  I shot these on the kitchen work surface with light from the window, and used some large black card on the opposite side to darken the shadows further and create more contrast.  A bit different to the light and airy shots I normally go for - still-life from the dark side. :-)

… and one more.  I couldn't resist these heart-shaped crumpets in ASDA, they just made me laugh.  The crumpets of lurve!

Texture Tuesday...

Still being influenced by the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi: the art of imperfection.

Inspire me Monday...

This week I've mainly be inspired by still-life photography (with the odd cat photo-bombing its way in). I'm really enjoying Kim Klassen's Be-Still 52 class and am finding all sorts of bits and pieces are making their way into my photos because of it.

 Spot the odd one out…

(I was actually trying to take

a photo of some garlic!)