Back in the Studio . . .

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

I believe I’m a creative person, who makes mistakes along the way, but I always seem to find my way. As I set out to write (and photograph) this weeks blog, I was a bit uncertain, how many ways can I talk about photographing a teapot or a flower?  I’m sure it must be a bit mundane for someone reading my story each week.

I thought, maybe I could share with you my process for arriving at my final image.  I took a few photos of what I purchased before it was propped and primped and made to look how I envision it in my mind.

The props used this week were:

• teapots
• pink roses (Lilies Florist)
• soft cloths (mainly baby wraps)
• a white cake plate
• a cupcake (The Bake Works)
• green macaroons

In many of my images I like to give them a vintage feel, in order to do that I incorporate textures, overlays and sometimes presets or actions.  Each step brings me closer to the final image. Many of the textures I use are either from Kim Klassen or Leslie Nicole of French Kiss Textures .

First, I place the texture over the image, then by using a layer mask in Photoshop, I begin to erase or remove, with a brush, the parts I do not want to see.  When I first began using Photoshop I was so intimidated to use a layer mask, it seemed so foreign but it’s really quite simple.  Basically what you are doing is placing the texture OVER the actual photograph like so:

Once I’ve placed the texture over the photograph, I then adjust the blend mode and opacity of the texture to achieve the feeling I desire.  The final step will be to “brush” or “erase” off the portions I do not want visible, allowing the photograph to show through.

Two textures were used for this final image, some of the texture was “brushed” off of the photograph, but I did leave most of the texture on the plate, but brushed most off of the flowers and cupcake to make them pop and become more prominent in the overall final image.

For this next image, I did not use any textures or overlays, just simple white and pops of color gave me the feel I wanted for this flower teapot.  At first I wasn’t sure of the fabric color but it seemed to match the flowers in the teapot, so I decided to keep it.

In this image, I used two textures, one which had more of a watercolor brush stroke and the other had a golden brown tone, with a nice border around it.

So, that’s most of my workflow for creating the images today.  I was a bit more chatty this week, but I hope you enjoyed my process and also enjoy my images.

If you would like to see what I’m up to during the week, please follow me on Instragram. All of my images are for sale as birthday, greeting cards or customized invitations.  If you are interested, please contact me.

Have a fabulous Fourth of July … Until next week  . . .