rich

Walls, wood, frames, images. Color, patterns, gestures, textures. There's just something about the way all of these elements compliment each other and help weave together the tapestry of who we are. Of where we stand. Of what we believe. There's power in all this stuff. History. Resolve. Strength. Womanhood.

Share impossibly rich textures with us today. Something that begs to be noticed by simply being exactly what it's supposed to be, where it's supposed to be.

ordinary beauty

I ordered some wool felt for some possible craft projects I have in mind. But when the package arrived I was more interested in taking pictures of the felt than using it. The beautiful colors and textures along with the way each piece was carefully rolled up and tied with a piece of twine just begged for a photo. This seems to happen pretty often where I'm more excited to take a photo of an item or situation than use it, eat it or live it. I would imagine I'm not alone in this because as photographers, we often see beauty around us that others may pass by. It's what sets us apart as artists.

What do you find yourself more excited to photograph than to use?

The Art of the Vignette

I think my very first digital darkroom infatuation was the ability to vignette my images. You know, the method of manipulating the edges of an image in order to really make your subjects pop? For me, it was darkening the edges and I couldn’t get enough of it. Although I was having fun with it, it got a tad predictable, I will admit. As I continued to experiment with processing techniques I found other fixations. Textures, tones, saturation, or whatever my processing flavor of the day happened to be. Even after a few of years in experiment mode, I still don’t know what all the potentials are in processing and am still having fun trying new things. I do know what I like when I see it and I know that I shoot in waves of my own personal preferences and trends of whim. Maybe we all do. It’s just a part of the creative process I suppose and part of the fun for sure!

Although my love of vignetting still remains, I am beginning to enjoy challenging myself to build those vignettes into the shooting process. Natural vignettes can be just as intoxicating as their fabricated cohorts but I find they can be a lot less predictable which for me is refreshing.

I’ve recently begun toying with using a shallow depth of field in the foreground of my images as opposed to using it only in the background. I am loving the results! I am addicted to using my trusty macro lens and getting down at ground level, right up to my subject makes it easier to get that soft and lovely blur in the foreground. As long as my focus is on my subject (in the case above, the flower) and there is enough information in front of the subject that will be thrown out of focus with a shallow depth of field you can achieve these results. In this case, the edges don’t go dark but the softness of the bottom edge does do the trick of pulling your eye right to the subject almost as if it were framed.

I would love to see your vignette success stories, whatever they may be. Show us an image of when it really worked just as you wanted it to.

Superhero Photo Challenge: Play with Textures

Textures. Actions. Everyone seems to be using them these days, right? Like most things technological, I am at first wary of any fancy pants tools. And when I say wary I mean totally intimidated. Then I warm up when I see that it's fun and relatively easy. The next step is to enter utter and total texture/action geekdom. Be warned people, you can spend hours on one photo!

At first it will feel like how photoshop did when you first encountered it. Overwhelming, boundless, how can you possibly try everything out? And after you get over the kicks of liquefying your friends' faces and turning your husband into a colorful mosaic, you get bored. And for me anyway, with the lack of expert knowledge, the images always turned out kinda corny. It became so much more about the effect than the image.

The same goes for textures. I'm learning that you have to start out with a good image or you don't have much to work with. That said, I have also transformed mediocre shots into something really special, and saved my sorry ass when the lighting wasn't quite right. Phew! The next trick is to not overwhelm the image with effects, but use the your tools and not let them use you.

I am not good at being subtle yet... I don't have command of my tools but I hope to. And I've gotten lucky a few times just the same. This week's challenge is to take a photo and use a texture on it! There are some free textures here and here, or the vintage background I used on this shot is here. I'm excited to see what you get! Here are some shots that will give you some inspiration.

Click here for simple instructions on how to use textures. You can also purchase some really affordable textures from the same person, Ash. If you've got the bug and you're ready for a little splurge, there are also gorgeous fine art textures available from Jesh de Rox. His work blows me away...

What are you doing with textures? Have you been playing with them? What kind of results are you getting? What about actions? What are your favorites? Looking forward to seeing what you create.

The Dance

 

For quite some time I had been admiring the rich dimension of photographs bejeweled with texture. Not knowing at all how the technique was achieved, I sat in wonder, content that the question ‘how on earth do they do that?’ was just adding to their mysterious charm. Plus, I know how these things go with me and another all-consuming obsession was nothing I needed. But then, alas, the invitation came to join this lovely Flickr group and the rest is slowly becoming history. I am hopelessly hooked and although my inexperience and genuine don’t-know-how could have continued to keep me at arms length, this texture thing is far too alluring for me to resist.

Diving in blindly with one of Melissa’s free textures, I experiment and test and I enjoy the process of discovering what I can do. I begin to figure it out, make sense of it (layers and opacities, contrast and fill light) and as I start a slow and steady waltz I find myself tripping over my own feet, getting tangled in the steps I haven’t learned yet. I am reminded then of what I can’t do--the frustration sets in, I get distracted and I stumble.

My entire journey with photography has been as such. I walk and explore and discover. I get caught up in the music; add a shuffle, a twist, a spin. But it never fails, no matter how fluid the dance may seem, eventually I collide with a wall of my limitations. Although I continue to pick myself up and forge ahead, my technical confines continue to trip me up. Learning new moves takes…well…learning. But like Sarah, I don’t do well with manuals or dry how-tos. I need to get involved, feel the rhythm for myself, and test things out on my own in order to be willingly pushed into the fancy foot work of technical accomplishment.

I know I am not alone. I can hear the collective feminine voice agreeing, “yes, yes, me too”. So, I would like to hear from all of you on the subject. What is it that helps you learn and grow in your photographic endeavors? What inspires you to bust through the technical walls? What approach do you take? And how can we do more of it here at Shutter Sisters?

Come on, let’s dance.