FINE TEXTURES AND PHOTOGRAPHIC OVERLAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AND MORE


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Pumpkin seat son!


Summers strong clear light is great but Textures and Autumn were made for each other!
Less than 2 weeks ago we were bathing in the sea and basking in 90F here in the south of France, now the heaters are on low as there is a chilly north wind a-blowing. With it comes the Mediterraneans smoky evenings as many people burn old Vine stumps in their kitchens and cook in their ashes. The downside is that those Vines are steeped in years of sulfur applications against mildew, and I'm quite allergic to this in the air. Still it has its upside, the seasonal celebrations are a fun distraction and give us an excuse to do a shot or two, with tongue firmly in cheek!

Shown here in front of my new chocolate colored wall, did I say chocolate? Because look how the lighting has changed it to green!
Shot very simply with reflected sunlight from the right and a cheap, 120w small halogen lamp's light is reflected from the left hand white wall.

Nothing was planned, I sat on the floor and snapped a couple of fast shots as I had an appointment to go to. I'm glad I did as we now have a week of low light and rain forecast!
Processing was fairly simple, I wanted our flypaper texture showing on that back wall, which has already been slightly enhanced in CS5 HDR, or with the Nik HDR Efex Pro I'd recommend number 26 Friendly scenery, and take down their effect with their sliders.
Before merging I removed around 50% of the HDR enhanced layer.
I also used Nik - darken lighten center moving the brightest part to the pumpkin and finally after the textures were fattened I gave a slight Glamor Glow from the Nik filters. Naturally, you can do all this with photoshop, but I like Nik these days for its speed and ease of processing.

Finally, I clicked auto tone in photoshop on a duplicated layer giving an effect like turning on a spotlight, however it was in the wrong place above the chair, so I brushed away most of this final layer leaving the brighter Pumpkin, nicely highlighted!

I chose Flypaper Summer Textures, as I didn't want the Spring paint brush effect, but I could have chosen any pack in reality, perhaps it was a hankering for those balmy summer days?
Anyhow, I opened Dawn Grunge, and it brightened up the chair a little too much so I removed a little from the chairs top fabric. Then opening up Sariel Leather, thinking it might enhance the autumn tones, and it worked a treat.
Sometimes the first textures you choose work perfectly and this was one of those spooky days!

Happy Halloween!

Dawn Grunge - Overlay @ 65% brushed from chairs highlights
Sariel Leather - Soft Light @ 48%


Spring Painterly Pack
40 Large Textures (38 square and two huge rectangles) for only
$40
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Summer Painterly Pack
36 large textures for only $40
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Complete Flypaper Package
Tex Box 1, Tex box 2, Fly Edges, Summer Painterly & Spring Painterly
$180
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Flypaper Triple Combo Deal
$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges
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Combo Pack Offer
Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two
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Fly Edges Pack
Only $40
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Monday, October 17, 2011

Vase of Lisianthus


After a hectic summer working non-stop, I decided to treat myself by reinvesting my earnings in a Photographic lighting studio set-up. Its still very basic.
(more about that next time) And as Canon 5D had no flash I had to buy one. At least i'm ready for those darker Autumnal months!
I painted my top floor studio wall a chocolate brown, Id give you the colour, but I mixed it by hand from old Farrow and Ball British paints,
I bring this up because the local French paint is terrible, you buy a big can and only get around two thirds of very watery paint at twice the price of UK paint - Lol, don't get me started! Anyhow, I use Farrow and Ball because its organic, doesn't smell and is dead flat Matt, giving a ready distressed effect if you use just one coat.

This vase is illuminated from a right side window, with reflected sun from the opposite yellow house. I used a fill-in flash bounced from a sheet of white card to the right of the camera, there is a white reflector to the left of the table. The Flash is on the camera, but pointing to the right.
Its well worth investing in a good all round orienting Flash, mine is the Canon 430EX II.
The camera was mounted on a tripod and tethered to my laptop with a USB wire, so I can view as I click, Its a luxury to see the image at large size as you shoot so you can sort out hot spots and snags.
Using a tripod helps get your composition sorted out, so you don't need to keep doing this, it saves time and shakes!

I used one of my old free negative textures, and you can find it here on Flickr The base image is already treated with CS5 HDR effect to brighten and then a De-noise.

Free Neg Texture Overlay @ 100%
Free Neg Texture Soft Light @ 100
Heather Overlay @ 100% - brushed from table area
Fly Edge no.10 Colour Burn @ 23% Dust and Scratches cleaned and softened.

Spring Painterly Pack
40 Large Textures (38 square and two huge rectangles) for only
$40
Add to Cart

Summer Painterly Pack
36 large textures for only $40
Add to Cart

Complete Flypaper Package
Tex Box 1, Tex box 2, Fly Edges, Summer Painterly & Spring Painterly
$180
Add to Cart

Flypaper Triple Combo Deal
$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges
Add to Cart

Combo Pack Offer
Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two
Add to Cart

Fly Edges Pack
Only $40
Add to Cart

See all our packs and deals on one Page

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Bluebells


It's been a while since we updated the blog, we've both been busy with other things.  I've been trying to get my garden organised amongst other things, I spent some of today planting my vegetable garden, I'm looking forward to heirloom rainbow carrots this season along with golden globe beetroot and celeriac, providing they grow that is.

In the flower garden the bluebells are still flowering, I love their elegant arched stems.
I gave these ones the Flypaper Texture treatment.

Eau de Nil @ Overlay 100% I  converted this layer to a smart object and blurred it using a gaussian blur and because I wanted some of the texture showing I removed the blur from the edges using the smart object layer mask.
Cobalt Cloud @ Soft Light 100%

Eau de Nil is from the Spring Painterly set and Cobalt Cloud from the Summer Painterly.
See it larger on Flickr

Spring Painterly Pack
40 Large Textures (38 square and two huge rectangles) for only
$40
Add to Cart

Summer Painterly Pack
36 large textures for only $40
Add to Cart

Complete Flypaper Package
Tex Box 1, Tex box 2, Fly Edges, Summer Painterly & Spring Painterly
$180
Add to Cart

Flypaper Triple Combo Deal
$100 for Tex Box One and Two and the Fly Edges
Add to Cart

Combo Pack Offer
Only $65 for Tex Box One and  Tex Box Two
Add to Cart

Fly Edges Pack
Only $40
Add to Cart

See all our packs and deals on one Page