Day 269; Black and Blue

This black grid thing was part of the packaging for some socks. I liked the lines it presented, and decided to compliment the lines with some color. The shirt I used had a little texture of its own which just added to the look of the grid. A dark vignetting effect tamed the bright blue and drew attention to the black lines.

Day 266; 'Tis the Season?

Most people aren't thinking of Christmas just yet. But I'm working on a 4-H project where I'm going to build collapsible Christmas trees, and had the prototype set up by my desk. The shiny tinsel was the perfect subject for today's photo, even if it's no where near Christmas time yet. I turned down the lights and used my on camera flash to get the most dramatic an festive lighting pattern.

Day 259; Charm of the Camera

Today's photo is of a tiny camera shaped charm which my sister got me for Christmas last year. I usually wear it on a silver necklace, but today I set it on a plaid hat to use as a backdrop. I liked the shiny silver threads in the hat which caught the light from my flash. A simple black and white highlighted the textures in the charm and hat.

Day 247; Black and Lace

I really love lace, though I don't wear it often. There are white lace curtains over the windows in my room which I see everyday but don't really look at. If you really look at lace there are some very interesting patterns and textures. For this photo, I laid the curtain over a blanket and took a close up of the threads which make up the lace. I love black and white, and especially with the high contrast in this shot.

Day 234; Charred Wood

We had a bonfire outside the other day, so tonight I took a picture of the left over charred firewood. Since it had been burned there wasn't much color left, so a black and white effect simply enhanced the contrast present.

Day 214; Russian Nesting Dolls

My great aunt Glenda is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. She travels all over the world, and sends back the most beautiful things. These are two in a set of hand painted Russian nesting dolls which she sent to my sister and I a few years ago. The detail of the painting and etching is really quite lovely, and while admiring them earlier today I decided to make them the subject of today's photo. I set them up in my de-shadow box and used a black skirt as the background. I used the on-camera flash and the black background to highlight the dolls and help their color pop. The biggest thing I would change is that a fold in the skirt hides a portion of the larger doll's base.

Day 202; Sherman the Puppy

I'm so sorry I haven't posted for so long - life distracted me. Since my last post I've turned 16 in addition to my regular obligations for school and 4-H. Not to mention we've still been sick. In any event, I haven't been posting and now I'm going to change that. Today's photo is of Sherman, one of the three puppies we're the proud owners of. This photo was actually taken a few days ago, and the puppies have all grown a lot since then. I used the Holga effect from picmonkey.com to give a more artistic look to this snapshot, mostly because I didn't care for the red color of the coat in the background. I didn't realize until I took this picture with a flash how shiny the puppies' coats are.

Day 181

 My sister got a beautiful necklace with a camera charm on it for me for Christmas, and the gift box that it came in has been sitting on my desk for the past couple weeks. It was only today that I recognized the intricate patterns on the box. When I was holding the box for the shot I somehow managed to produce this dramatic shadowing and highlighting when I used the on camera flash.

Day 140

 Today I decided to buck tradition and post a before and after for this image. The original image is the red one, and the edited is the black and white. To take this photo I got a bunch of bright red drinking straws and bundled them together using a rubber band. I then turned on my flash and had a lot of fun. When editing the bright red color was starting to grind on my eyes, so I tried some black and white effects. I loved the stark contrast and graphic look the Infrared filter gave the photo. I'm not entirely sure why the ends of the straws came out looking a bright white, but I beleive it's because the light was hitting them almost straight on. Below is one more series of before and after shots I got in today's session edited the same as the above.