Last of Photo Tips for Now!

Good morning, sweet chicks. I'm sooooo tired of taking photos!! You think YOU'RE bored?!?!?! Nuuuuuuuuu, it's me taking the pix and taking the notes and posting endless boring pix of the same plate and jar!! (Excuse me while I have a nervous breakdown for a few minutes.) Leaving room sobbing.....................

Okay, I'm back. Chocolate cake works wonders for "nervous breakdowns"!!!!

BUT I got another tip from a photographer monday night. She's a professional and teaches it at a local high school. In lieu of a costly filter she suggested 2 things. One is a tissue and the other is a piece of card stock. I took it with the door and blind closed so absolutely no artificial light came in. I took it in the dark at night. I used only 2 items: a jar and a gold encrusted plate. Both have been my nemesis when it came to capturing even a "good" photo. These came out beyond my wildest imaginations!!

Take a piece of card stock to about the size of your flash. I can't photograph my own camera or I'd show you. Anyway, cut it and score it so that you can attach it to your camera with a piece of scotch tape so that it is attached just below your flash - shielding the flash - and the flash will then "focus" on the piece of card stock and the light will "bounce" UP. Then I held a piece of card stock ABOVE the camera out of sight of the camera view. I tried it several times and have most of the results below with a few notes as I went along. Remember, this is FREE!!! I did it this way because I have no desire to become professional, just want to blog and sell items here.

First pix with card stock. Each succeeding photo was adjusted just one "notch" for light as I went along. See photos as I go along.
Second pix with card.

Third pix with card stock.

Fourth pix with card stock. With the jar and succeeding pix below I tried to get closer just a bit as I clicked the photo.

Fifth pix with card stock.

Sixth pix with card stock.

Yep, goofed here. 7th pix

This one I edited out the little front spot with my iPhoto. That's all I did to this one.

Did not edit out spot on this one but got closer to jar with camera.

Did not edit it out on this one either, but got closer with camera.

This plate is so heavily encrusted with gold that I have NEVER been able to get a good photograph of it. This is the 1st photo - no filter.

This is with the "kleenex tissue filter."

This is the same picture but I edited out a tiny bit of the spots on the upper part of white on left and the lower right where you can see the light a bit.

As you can see it gets better and better with the kleenex tissue.

Tad better here. At least there is no "light" spot on this photo.
Still room for improvement but that's just it - KEEP PRACTICING until you can say you are getting a really good picture.
~*~

While I'm here, my little chicks, and so you won't be complete bored to tears, let me show you my latest round of practice roses. Most of you know I've been practicing roses off and on - mostly OFF - for about a year or so. These are the latest. I'm simply looking for a impressionistic shabby (I got that part down right; they're definitely "shabby"!! Plus I am SOOOOO sad****......well, I'd put the word in here but then I'd have all the weirdos looking at my blog!) type of rose because I'll NEVER EVER (because I don't think my life is that looooooong to allow for it!) be able to do one like Ronda or Cindy or Gail or Rhea or whomever........... Sob....... But this is my latest and I may do a painting as a "giveaway" but don't let that scare you away, chicks!! Remember, it's FREEEEEEEEE!!!!

NEXT to Last of Practice Photos!

Let's talk about lighting now. I've said I'm not an authority on photography but I have learned how important lighting is. I'm not completely lame, ya know, chicks!

On your camera there are different settings for different lighting. (I was looking for some fabric lately for the trailer and came across some that showed blue in one photo and green in another photo on the same site. This was clearly a light issue. I've experienced similar issues myself.) On any camera there will be a sun setting, a cloudy setting, an incandescent/tungsten setting, a fluorescent setting - mine has 2 fluorescent settings, one for halogen and one for regular fluorescent - and a custom selection setting. I generally use the auto light except when I'm outside in the sun or on a cloudy day. But if I'm indoors and it's on auto then I turn out ALL the lights to shoot the pix. Otherwise I'll get an orange cast. Let the camera flash do the light unless Romantic Country is coming to photograph in which case let them handle it! :-) I should be so fortunate! LOL

Here are the last pictures of my experimenting with the camera taking up close photos. Just take a look at how enchanting they can be. Well, I think so!

A very very close photo of a little stick with chicks on it that Rhea gave me because I call all my gals "chicks"! I just love that chick - uuhhhh Rhea I mean......

Another artist I bought this little vintage drawer from on ebay. You'll have to enlarge to see the vintage wood grain of this beautiful drawer.

A sweet birthday gift from Karen who has more talent in her little fingertip than all of my fingers and toes combined! We have to keep telling her this. Now, would this face lie to you!?!?! Nuuuuuuuuuuu

Another little cottage picture on the "slant." See how ethereal it makes it look.

Even these little cherubs I stole.........uhhhh, I mean got from my daughter have more of that dream-like quality with the "feathering" around the print.

I tied some vintage seam binding on the glass jars but no matter how hard I've tried I cannot get the reflection from my windows to stop glinting off that glass. I'll work on that, chickees.

Eye candy that smells absolutely yummy! You chicks don't know what you're missing by not buying my fabric faux cupcakes scented with plumeria and rose oil. (Shameless plug for my selling blog site. Ha!!)They fragrance up my home like you wouldn't believe. In fact, a woman came over to visit with me last week and walked into my home from the garage through my laundry and just stood there and said, "Your house smells like roses." Yep, it does. My whole house smells yummy from the things I make and stuff with oil scented "stuffing" and the stuffing is a big secret that you'd probably not guess. ;-) But this little photo was also too close up and looks out of focus plus I "feathered" the edges giving it even more ethereal look. (Uuuuuuhhhh, see what wonders some mistakes can bring about??!!!) :-)

I've forgotten who this artist is but I saw her art somewhere on the internet one day and just fell in love with the "ethereal" aspect of her roses. Yep, almost "too perfect for this world" lovely.

As you have got to know by now if you've been with me blogging for any amount of time, I'm so into mixing the old with the new, the elegant with the shabby, the rough with the shine and the sublime with the humbleness.

One of the most favorite things in my home. I mean it's up on my top 10 list!

The very old with the kitschy of new. Also barely peeking through on the extreme bottom right is a little photo of me as a very young child. ;-)

My Faux Cupcake Giveaway Soon

Don't laugh now, but this is my first little shabby cupcake painting. It will be given away when the total of visitors/views reaches the 25,000 mark. I thought we should celebrate that. Notice I didn't put cherries on top; I put little roses........yeah, yeah, I know, I'm using that term very loosely!! But to be an equal opportunity cupcake painter, there's one in blue, pink and yellow. Now, don't get tooooo excited about this, chicks. Remember, this is my first one. The frame is included but there isn't a hanger on the back. You can, however, hang it on a nail because there is a wide lip back there. The canvas it is on doesn't seem to be a normal size so it just fits in there........precariously. Hey, it's free; what do ya want.....Monet. Oh, I know! I'll be called "Grandma Chickadee." If you haven't read my Profile page then you won't know I'm a wanna-be-rose-painter. I've flunked but I forge ahead. :-) Maybe next one will be roses in some fashion.

More Practice Photos #3

Again, if you enlarge you can see the yarns - texture - much more clearly.

Exact same thing here. You can see each stitch more intimately. It's very difficult to get a very close up picture with a flash and especially on white. But I'll tell you a little secret that definitely helps. A filter, which can be expensive, or a piece of white clear plastic OR a piece of Scotch tape - the invisible type. Yep, that's what I've been using for a couple of days and it really does cut down on the glare of the flash. I'm soooooooo into cheap where this kind of thing is concerned. But look, it works as per my photos here. I used a piece of invisible tape and voilà, here it is without the glare and I was VERY close up.

Here too.

And here. You might have to adjust your lighting but that's easy. We'll talk about that tomorrow though.

Tad bit of glare on the ribbon but ribbon is notoriously hard to capture since it is so shiny. But as soon as I've solved that one, I'll post it here if anyone is interested. AND if I solve it!! LOL

Now, here I've "un-straightened" the picture. This I did in my iPhoto but I'm sure you have something in your photo editing program that straightens a photo. I use it all the time, but here I did just the opposite. A slight slant in the photo of this little cottage is of visual interest also.

I'm not in the least bit shy about posting my "mistakes" either. This was way too close and I didn't give the camera time to adjust as can be heard with the "whir" of the mechanism inside. Terrible picture.

This was a tad better but again the shiny satin ribbon reflects too badly.

But it worked here on the white of the clock face. I see a spot of light on the faux cookie though that I didn't catch on the iPhoto before I went to the PhotoShop Elements editing. :-(

No glare on this white plate though and those are very difficult to photograph.

I love the shabby little faux cupcakes with the vintage elegant roses plate. Then the cheap wood I painted white adds a touch of country elegance to the photo.

I am absolutely NOT a professional photographer in any way, shape or form, chickadees. I don't even pretend to be. I just want to have fun with it. I make many, many mistakes but I love doing it for blogging and selling on ebay and the selling blog. It's a hobby and not one I spend a huge amount of time in, but I believe people want to see nice clear photos when viewing photos. I think the biggest problem I see on ebay photos is that they are soooooo dark. I sometimes have to drag them to my desktop and edit them to view them properly if I want to see what I might buy.

So pull out that instruction manual and read it a little bit and maybe just on the essential things you'll be using at first. It really is very easy, chickees. Have fun with it and play around with close ups and slants!! Give it a try and you'll see a world of difference in your photos. :-)

More Practice Photos #2

A tiny fragment of the corner of a frame makes a delightful practice item. Give it a try sometime, my little chicks. Set your camera to "close", which on most cameras is a flower icon. You'll have to read the instruction manual. Ooooooooh noooooooooooo, you're saying??? Yep, that's right. Put your camera down, step away from it, pick up the "i n s t r u c t i o n" manual (bad word, huh?!) and start reading at least where the "far, near and infinity" settings are on the camera. Sheeeeeesh, do I have to tell you everything?!?! Now, it's not hard, just DO it. Continuing right along...........

I did use PhotoShop Elements on this little picture. It is called "feathering" and I do it around the edges. In fact, I do it on most of my photos to give them that soft look. If you have PhotoShop I imagine it's the same thing. For those of you who don't have anything to play around with for your photos, PhotoShop Elements is about 1/10th the price of the full version and it does a fantastic job for what we regular gals want to do. If you going to go seriously into photography then go right ahead and buy the full version one for about $500 - $600.00. Your decision. If you are on a regular PC you might have Paint on your computer. I'm not familiar with it at all. Paint Shop Pro is another one that is good. I just prefer saving money for " just playing around with my hobby" but, hey, if you have the money, go right ahead. PSE is a fantastic program though. One tenth the price of full version, remember!

An up close shot of a clock. Look at the texture of it. Don't see that in a full shot.

Same clock.

Roses on a painted sign I bought a couple of years ago. I can't even remember who painted it, but it was NOT me. :-)

Just a simple little candy dish. I didn't have my camera adjusted quite right for this close up but I doubt many people could tell. I still feathered the edge and it blends in quite well with the "messed up" shot I took. Fooled ya, huh?!?! ;-)

An extreme close up of a toile roses fabric I have. If you enlarge this photo you can see the weave of the fabric. Believe it or not, these kind of photos have helped me make the decision on buying fabric on ebay. If the seller gets it this close I can tell how "heavy" the fabric is. It has helped me immensely when making a selection.

This is on a vintage tin tile I bought about 3 or 4 years ago on ebay. I really like this woman's roses and she says she can whip out a canvas in about a half hour!!! Makes me wanna cry....... But it is simple yet lovely when viewed up close like this.

Another view of that ceiling tile. See what a difference "eye candy" can make "up close and personal"? You can see each brush stroke, each color variation and each color she uses. I love it!

I love the juxtaposition of something old and rusted with something new and elegant. Just a different kind of "eye candy" for me. Truly "shabby and/or chic"!