Friday, January 14, 2011

Humble Pie and Other Goings On


The very talented Kate from Chronicles of a Country Girl often enters her beautiful photos into the photo assignments challenges on Pioneer Woman's site.  Kate was even a finalist in a recent contest with her gorgeous cardinal photo, a well deserved accolade when you consider the hundreds of thousands of people who enter each of these photo assignments!  It really is quite intimidating and awe inspiring when you see some of the photos which get submitted each time.

I finally got brave enough to put one of my photos out there, the pear picture above, since this round's assignment is all about Food.  You can click here to see some of the finalists so far.  You might think that photographing food would be a piece of cake...sorry, pun intended, but it's actually quite hard.  Shooting in sunlight is a must, not getting too close, yet close enough to your food is important, and motion is also a good thing for food shots, like pouring something, etc.

Of course I did shoot my pear in bright sunlight, probably too bright actually, but hey it was my first attempt with these assignments and after seeing the competition I was served a big 'ole slice of humble pie...perfectly lit, expertly composed, and mouthwateringly beautiful of course.  There is some serious talent out there people, and just scrolling through all of those photos is enough to make a person want to pack away their Kodachrome and pull the covers over your lens.  But I won't do that, instead I'll study the winning photos and take heed of all their subtle tricks which take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and turn it into a masterpiece.  Hmm, I seem to be talking a lot about food in posts lately don't I?!




Feeling slightly deflated and very much inadequate after viewing some of the photos in the contest, I did pick my chin up long enough to visit a few photo streams on Flickr of those whose photos I envied.  I came across one person's stream, which I have since forgotten their name because that's how many photos I looked at, and she had the most beautiful textures on many of her photos.  I'm talking drop dead, stop you in your tracks gorgeous textures.  Words gracefully blended with flowers, they had me at hello!  So I decided to crack open my photo archives from last spring and buy myself some textures, you know as a way of making myself feel better.




The textures I used on each of these photos are all from the very talented Kim Klassen.   Although the textures I used weren't free, they were all very reasonably priced I felt, and if you sign up to be on Kim's email list she often sends out freebies for folks like you and me to try.




I purchased a total of 10 textures, for $20.50 which I thought was fair, and after applying them to some of my flower photos from last spring I was convinced that if I ever decide to sell art prints or create note cards, these will be my "go to" textures!

The two pictures above both feature Kim's Layers Texture, I adjusted the lighting, the color burn, and erased a bit of the texture in the top cherry blossom picture so you can see that the same texture can be applied in a variety of ways to create very different looks.




On the photo above I used Kim's All My Lovin' texture, I love the mix of type written words, script, and music found in this texture. 




I also purchased a set of textures called The Vintage Collection.  I combined several textures from this set to create the photo above.  I love how some of the textures in this set give a subtle lace like quality to the photo and subject matter.




This last photo is my very favorite out of the group I created.  I used the All My Lovin' Texture once again and I simply adore the juxtaposition of the sweet sentiments with the delicate cherry blossom buds.  I actually think something like this would be so pretty for non-traditional wedding invitations or even bridal shower invites!

I want to thank Kim, who up until today I'd never really known much about, and had never used any of her textures.  She truly is a gifted artist and a very giving person.  We exchanged a few emails this afternoon and she was more than helpful in answering all of my questions regarding the compatibility of her textures for Photoshop Elements, which they are, HOORAY for me!  She also offers some great videos on her site to teach you how to use her textures and to help you take better photos!  She jokingly told me that this texture thing can become quite addictive, and I have to say that with these textures and others I'm planning to purchase from her, I may be in need of a 12 step program very soon!

You might have noticed that my watermark has changed too, I'm now using the name Kat W. Photography, not just Low Tide High Style.  I've decided that it's time to take off my training wheels and get serious about this photography stuff, so we'll see where it takes me, but for now I'm enjoying the ride, and I have you all to thank for constantly giving me support and encouragement...thank you!

I want to say thank you to those of you who have been brave enough to send me your house photos, if you missed it, read this post, and there is no time limit for submitting pictures, so keep them coming!  I wish we could feature single rooms, but right now we're looking for whole houses.

And also, there is still plenty of time to enter my latest Giveaway, click HERE to find out how to enter.

I hope you each have a wonderful weekend!

22 comments:

  1. You know we all have your back sweetie. That pear photo was lovely and I always appreciate in others what I don't have in myself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love these photos! I haven't tried the textures. Been curious about them. But afraid it would become a whole new obsession!
    Brenda

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those do look great, but I don't have a clue what you are doing. I will just enjoy looking at them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful photos, Kat! You are learning some wonderful techniques~ the textures are really lovely! The way you are putting yourself out there, inspires me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kat, Those pictures should be framed! Just breathtaking. I would love to learn how to do layers. They are so interesting!
    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kat wow, these images are amazing, you are very talented!!

    I love the new tips for fine art photography!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  7. in my book, you're right up there with the b.e.s.t.

    happy weekend

    ReplyDelete
  8. Awesome photos. I'm sure you'll do well in that field. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. My eye immediately went to that awesome vintage scale your pretty plump pair is posed upon. I took a look over at PW and geez louise it was enough to make you drool. I'm loving how you are using those textures and my goodness any one of those would make some really gorgeous notecards, provided you had the time, of course! xo ~Lili

    ReplyDelete
  10. These are all beautiful and should be framed. I don't know anything about textures other than it all looks wonderful!

    XO,
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stunning. I have fiddled around with textures a bit but I get way too distracted and go down the worm hole...................

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my! I feel like I just walked through a beautiful spring dreamland.
    That last one is insanely gorgeous.
    I love them all!
    And I'm with you on the Pioneer Woman's contests. The talent there is truly amazing and a little crushing at the same time!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I thought I left a comment on here yesterday but I guess it must not have gone through! Arghhh - I hate computers sometimes. Anyway, your photographs are beautiful as always and I LOVE all of the textures you played around with. They inspired me to start playing around with some of mine again!

    ReplyDelete
  14. The photos are beautiful. I feel so inferior to all the people that post photos at PW"s too. They are all so talented!

    I think your pear is gorgeous and I love it on the old scale.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Kat, Your beautiful photographs are what first drew me to your blog. You are a very talented lady! I love the textures and these would be gorgeous framed.
    Hugs,
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  16. Beautiful flower photos and the "textures" add a whole new diminsion to the pictures. I'm amazed at what can be done these days, or should I say "what we can do" with a little instruction.

    ReplyDelete
  17. All of your photos are lovely. The textures? Never dreamed such a thing existed. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  18. You feel humbled? I don't even know what you are talking about with buying textures. I mean I can see what you have done (love the look) but I didn't know you could buy them or how to use them and so on.

    I'm have to get a new camera. I have been putting off the search and research because I know how confused I'm going to be.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love your photos!
    And passing on to you the Stylish Blogger Award!
    Linked you from my blog post!
    xo Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kat- they are simply amazing.
    What makes them so wonderful is not just the textures-
    it is your photography as well.

    Have a wonderful week-

    Laura
    White Spray Paint

    ReplyDelete
  21. I completely agree with
    you....food is HARD to
    photograph really well!
    And if it isn't done well,
    it just looks....yukky.
    I've now got a hankering
    for a pear, so you are
    obviously doing something
    right, my friend. Well done!
    xx Suzanne

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.