Tag Archives: florals

Texture Tuesday: Purple Cactus Flowers

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I used the following to process the above image taken at The Desert Botanical Garden:

  • MCP’s Snap, Crackle & Pop actions
  • Yellow Sky’s Grape Charm action
  • Kim Klassen’s “be still” and “antiques” textures

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

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© Yvonne Michelle, All Rights Reserved

I always seem to be just a few days behind when it comes to the weekly photo challenge.  That’s ok.  Sometimes it takes me a bit to be inspired.  Time shouldn’t really be a constraint placed on creativity.  I’m really pleased with the way this turned out.  I really love the old bottles & I’m insane over locks & keys.  I have an entire board dedicated to clocks, locks & keys on Pinterest!

My formula for this image is:

  • Posterboard from WalMart for my backdrop (3-way), and then a flat one for the floor
  • I set the “stage” in front of my giant sliding glass door.  Make sure the cat is guarding the entire project (and feeling jealous she’s not the focal point).  With the light flooding in from the door, and surrounded by white… it gives me plenty of natural and reflective light to work with.
  • Nikon D300s, 55mm, f/5.0, ISO 400, 1/80s, fill flash used, shot in RAW (Yay!).

I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve moved over to RAW.  Although, they’re HUGE FILES and they’re all stuck on the SD card, because I don’t know what to do with them all!  I suppose be brave, 5 star the ones I want to keep, and delete the rest before importing.  (SCARY!  Can’t WAIT to learn how to use Lightroom!  eEeeeks!)

Post-production processing:

  • MCP’s Snap, Crackle, Pop actions (you know I love those)
  • then 1915 B&W Yellow Sky Action
  • followed by Kim Klassen’s “greyday” texture set to Multiply blend mode at 69% opacity (easy to remember number, and I find that it’s just the perfect amount of opacity for a lot of my adjustment layers… not actions, those are usually way less).
  • Then I duplicated all the layers (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) to come up with a composite layer of all the layers below.  Such a cool trick to use, you have to try it if you haven’t already.  That one I set to Screen blend mode at 100% opacity (I really liked the washed out look I got with the hint of color I pulled back in from my 1915 B&W action).  I wanted everything just a tiny bit brighter.
  • Font used:  Jane Austen (love, love, love that font) with a drop shadow at 20% opacity (brown), 120* angle, distance 3, spread 2%, and size 3

I typically don’t go into that much wordy detail when posting my work, but thought it might be fun to share for this one.  Perhaps I’ll be more on a timely track for this week’s photo challenge.

p.s.  It’s my birthday month, so please indulge me in flashing my little RedBubble banner & link to my store over there for the month of September.  We Virgo’s are a bit controlling like that.  What a great birthday present if you purchased some of my cards, < wink, wink >.  I just got a slew of them myself, and it makes it worth it when you order 16 and get the 30% discount off the full price!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

by

© Yvonne Michelle, All Rights Reserved

I always seem to be just a few days behind when it comes to the weekly photo challenge. That’s ok. Sometimes it takes me a bit to be inspired. Time shouldn’t really be a constraint placed on creativity. I’m really pleased with the way this turned out. I really love the old bottles & I’m insane over locks & keys. I have an entire board dedicated to clocks, locks & keys on Pinterest!

My formula for this image is:

  • Posterboard from WalMart for my backdrop (3-way), and then a flat one for the floor
  • I set the “stage” in front of my giant sliding glass door. Make sure the cat is guarding the entire project (and feeling jealous she’s not the focal point). With the light flooding in from the door, and surrounded by white… it gives me plenty of natural and reflective light to work with.
  • Nikon D300s, 55mm, f/5.0, ISO 400, 1/80s, fill flash used, shot in RAW (Yay!).

I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve moved over to RAW. Although, they’re HUGE FILES and they’re all stuck on the SD card, because I don’t know what to do with them all! I suppose be brave, 5 star the ones I want to keep, and delete the rest before importing. (SCARY! Can’t WAIT to learn how to use Lightroom! eEeeeks!)

Post-production processing:

  • MCP’s Snap, Crackle, Pop actions (you know I love those)
  • then 1915 B&W Yellow Sky Action
  • followed by Kim Klassen’s “greyday” texture set to Multiply blend mode at 69% opacity (easy to remember number, and I find that it’s just the perfect amount of opacity for a lot of my adjustment layers… not actions, those are usually way less).
  • Then I duplicated all the layers (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) to come up with a composite layer of all the layers below. Such a cool trick to use, you have to try it if you haven’t already. That one I set to Screen blend mode at 100% opacity (I really liked the washed out look I got with the hint of color I pulled back in from my 1915 B&W action). I wanted everything just a tiny bit brighter.
  • Font used: Jane Austen (love, love, love that font) with a drop shadow at 20% opacity (brown), 120* angle, distance 3, spread 2%, and size 3

I typically don’t go into that much wordy detail when posting my work, but thought it might be fun to share for this one. Perhaps I’ll be more on a timely track for this week’s photo challenge.

p.s. It’s my birthday month, so please indulge me in flashing my little RedBubble banner & link to my store over there for the month of September. We Virgo’s are a bit controlling like that. What a great birthday present if you purchased some of my cards, < wink, wink >. I just got a slew of them myself, and it makes it worth it when you order 16 and get the 30% discount off the full price!

Most Followers in One Day & 100 Followers = GIVEAWAY!

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I thought I’d continue with this week’s photochallenge: PURPLE, and post my favorite image of mine…  Violet Orchids.  You can click the image below and be taken straight to my portfolio on RedBubble.  This is important, because it is part of the giveaway (albeit a small one, a little gift for two winners).

THE 411

I was pretty excited when I saw my notification the other day that I had 100 followers on WordPress (I’ve surpassed that now). Then I discovered that I’d gained the most followers in one single day than I had on other previous days. I wanted to do a little something for my followers. It’s not a whole lot, but it’s a little something. I’ll be giving away a $10.00, and a $5.00 gift certificate to RedBubble. In order to enter the contest, you need to leave a comment on this post letting me know which one of my images over on RedBubble is your favorite, listing the title in your comment. (Even better, if you left a comment on your favorite image over there as well, but certainly not required). Comments left on other posts will not be considered entries for this giveaway. Only comments left here on this post (I’ll be linking back to it daily for easy access) will be considered official entries for the giveaway. Anywhere you see the word RedBubble, just click on it and a new window to my portfolio over there will open up.

You have between now and 11:59 p.m. (your timezone) August, 10th to leave your comment in this post as mentioned above.  I will be using Random.org to generate two winners, with the #1 and #2 spots winning the $10.00 and $5.00 gift certificates respectively.  I think this is all pretty self- explanatory, so I won’t ramble on and on.  Just check out my RedBubble portfolio, come back to this post, and show me some love in the comment section… and that’s it.  You’re entered in the giveaway.  Winners will be announced by 11:59 p.m. aka 23:59 AZ time on August 12th.  Good luck, and thank you for all of your support, your friendship, and for following my little corner in the Blogosphere!  You guys rock!