Susan Ewart

4 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

I used to be a thrift store junkie at one time. Had to give it up because I kept buying doodads and other things I didn't need to bring into my already cluttered home. The bargains are too good to pass up. I should be donating, not buying.

me too.  Time to clear stuff out and keep what I will use...not what I "think" I will photograph, then never do.  too many hobbies and I have managed to cut out two of them (silversmithing and glass beadmaking/fusing).  It's hard to balance time to do each of the hobbies, I am failing at that.  

2 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

I did wonder where you found/got all the lovely vessels for your flowers. Good old thrift stores!

Thrift stores are dangerous for me.  So many cool trinkets begging to be photographed.  All my t-cups/sugar&cream containers and t-pots have come from them.  the flower vessels (for lack of better word) are usually candle holder and ashtrays....for a non smoker I sure have a lot of ashtrays! 🤪

3 hours ago, Michele said:

They are simply incredible. You have wonderful photography skills.

Oh Thank you Michele.  That makes we feel so happy that you liked what I did.  I had a long absence from photography and had restarted in earnest when my ex-brother-in-law gave me his very nice camera (and we re-connected after years of not being in touch).  When Covid happened I started watching online photo tutorials for stress relief and that's where a new passion emerged.  I've got a long way to go, and I'm really enjoying the process this time around. i do have many more UNskilled shots that okay shots, its all a learning experience.  I'm lucky to see so many inspiring photographers in the campus, it keeps me excited to keep learning.

26 minutes ago, Jeni Simpson said:

They are really beautiful flowers, Susan. I love the way you have showcased each one.

thank you Jeni.  I did have fun with them and finding interesting vessels (at thrift stores) to put them in.  

19 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

That is so delicate and pretty. I love dianthus. Don't tell me you have them in your garden already?

Thank you Julie.  And thank you for telling me what they are.  I bought flower by there photo-worthiness. hahahah.  Nothing in the garden yet, had snow and zero yesterday.  Need to wait a few weeks.  I'm really new at this growing thing (except herb, doing them for years).

Day 8, looking for a QP at Digital Scrapbook 

This one is from Marisa Lerin Vietnam QP 13

I forgot to post this before the extra extra Day 8 post.   that one (with the single flower) is from Marisa Lerin QP Set 014.  

This is me using the kitchen devices (baking dish) to carry the flowers I brought in the studio to photograph.  I didnt grow these, they were from a garden centre. I had them all in a pile in the dish and thought they looked cool so took a shot of them, wish I'd taken them out of the dish as the dish part is distracting.  But , I showed it here so you dont think I actually arranged them them.  I could never do it that good if I meant to, I literally just plopped them in after cutting them with no thought at all.  I only lightened the whites a bit, otherwise this is pretty much how it came out of the camera. 

Thank you for the workshop Carole and everyone who participated, I have oogled at and loved your layouts.  

8 hours ago, Michele said:

Your flower flat lays are absolutely gorgeous. I would love to see them closer up. Can you post a few of them by themselves so we can see the details?

Here's a Day 8 Extra Extra for you.  I did not edit this photo, just stuck it in as it was.  It was a failed attempt at floating in a vessel too big for it and it would float to the edges and not stay in the middle.  I photographed the vessel/flower on black so i could eventually extract it.  but since the rest that I photographed I abandoned the idea of extracting.  At least I got to use it here!

3 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

You can never have to many tuts/masterclasses on shadowing, and Carole has many of them.  Although they are at the bottom of the food chain, 99.9%  can and do out run  any 4 legged predator.  I have coyotes, foxes, badgers, GH Owls and Hawks, and yet the Hare population is  growing.  By all account only Eagles and the largest of the Hawks and Owls can and will take down  Hares successfully, even then 75% will get away relativley unharmed. They do get stressed easily. Their eyes reveal a great deal about their wildness, and how they are constantly on the alert,  as they are free, unlike those kept in captivity tha tare dependant on humans. Also, even with domesticated animals, they don't understand that when they are injured and in our care or rehab us humans are trying to help them.    I have been finding their discarded white winter coats.  I'm sure mice, voles, birds and many other creatures will be uising it to line their nests with.   It is so fine and soft to the touch, and  blows in the wind like fine feathers do. I'm looking forward to spotting this year's young ones.  

That is interesting.  The hares are so big it seems like if they could gather enough courage they could some damage with their back feet.  For the first time this year me and a co-worker have found some of the discarded coats.  I couldnt believe how soft it was and you are so right about the wind, just a little bit and it was off flying away from my hand.  

14 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

My last page for April 2024.  I read the  latest post in the blog. Using a table in digital scrapbooking.  Something I have never considered doing, so I thought I would give it a try.  Folded ribbon  and ribbon are Carole's scripts, the lace is a brush. Created a grungy overlay for the  papers, the  leaves is a paper template used as an overlay.   Everything else is my own.  Oh yes, I mustn't forget Carole's  heart corner  punch.  

 

I read the blog post too and had never thought about a "table" as a starting point.  Great idea and you executed it to perfection.  That shadow on the folded edge of the photo is outstanding.  There is a little bend(arc?) near the corner of the shadow and really "makes it" seem so real.  I must admit to wanting to hug and cuddle and get my face all up in their fur.  I know they'd "love it" too. hahaha.  Poor guy, it would probably give it a heart attack.  I saw on a wildlife rescue show that any wild rabbits, hares etc is hard to rehab because they stress easy (being a prey animal and all).  BTW, love the quote.

On 4/29/2024 at 2:16 AM, Jeni Simpson said:

Kittens are such a delight, these kittens belonged to friends.

Photographs of roses. I do love the scent of roses.
I'm unsure how to re-colour some elements, so I just did the piece I could easily change.

Photos of friends taken back in the 80's. 

I really love the rose photos, I do hope to see more from you.  

#5

You can see I didnt quite nail the backgrounds.  To much light contamination and different colors in the flowers and glass reflecting.  even with a custom white balance in-camera.  I've just started to experiment with using Kelvin settings instead to see if that helps.  (I'm using constant light so light contamination from my yellows walls and a window in the room can be an issue since I'm shooting at a slower shutter speed - one day i'll have strobes (studio flashes) and that wont be an issue as much)

#4

#3

#2

2 hours ago, Michele said:

Your flower flat lays are absolutely gorgeous. I would love to see them closer up. Can you post a few of them by themselves so we can see the details?

Thank you so much Michele, here they come.

9 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Those are so pretty, Suz! I wasn't a fan of this layout but you've "contained" it well! 😉

Thank you so much Ann.  I initially liked it, but then realized how much the details get lost in such small boxes.  Love your pun BTW.  Gave me a laugh.  

Day 7 Diamond Extra

Photos from 2022 when the world was being contained (or were we coming out of containment by then?) I started doing flower flat-lays and well, I contained them too.  I had to buy the flowers as I have never grown them before.  2023 was my breakout year for learning to grow flowers.  

Font is Gill Sans Ultra bold (formerly from Microsoft) that I had to scoop off my laptop since Windows 10 didn't have it anymore.  I used the technique we learned in the Text Workshop (and there is a blog post on it too) where the outline can be used separately, which I added a bevel too.  

Side note:  I think my brain has turned to mush.  My shadows, even at 80% have been looking soft and lighter and I thought, oh oh, something is wrong with my eyes.  Today I just noticed the shadow color wasn't black but a dark grey.  Geez, when did I change that and why?  

On 4/20/2024 at 7:44 PM, Bonnie Ballentine said:

Before:

After:

Done very quickly. I'm sure I could do better with a little more effort. I also removed an age spot from my forehead. 🙂

Wow, that is awesome.

1 hour ago, Michele said:

I'm having a problem with PSP so I can't make anything. 😢 I'm waiting to hear from support.

Oh no Michele.  I hope you get a fast resolution.  

Day 6,

More of the mundane things I found around the house to put on the little baby plinths.  Maybe I'll dig out some beads to show what they were really for.  

Fonts are Sea Gardens and Shintaku from CF.

1 hour ago, Sue Thomas said:

All haylage and silage bales have to be wrapped, due to the higher  moisture content to keep the air out otherwise the feed can be contaminated with botulism, which is a bacteria that likes the higher moisture, which can kill live stock and horses.  Haylage is  dryer than  silage, ideal for horses.  We did both, round and square  bales and  silage pits, which  would be compressed down with heavy equipment, and covered.  Unwrapped bales would be  straight forward hay.  Just thought I'd tell you.

Interesting stuff, I didn't know.  I just dealt with baled hay and straw for stalls (for the momma's and babies not for the racehorses...they'd eat the straw, they had to be on shavings).  

here's a close up of the screws (on plexy) just to show you that I really do have a "few screws loose".  I call it 'Art in the Everyday' or "Art in the Mundane'.

Day 5, plugging along slowly.  

These photos arent really meant to be shown small, detail is lost in the lack of size.  And why on earth am I photographing screws.  Hubby torn apart all the hard drives I brought home from work (they have holes screwed into them so they cant be used again) so I could use the insides for photo projects.  I walked into the room and saw the screws had attached the very strong magnets inside hard drives and thought, that looks like industrial art.  The wood plinths (two are laying on their side) are reject left overs from wood stands I used to make for glass bead makers (lampwork) (some with knots, some without).  They remind me of the big plinths you'd have in an art gallery show, but in miniature.  

Font is Nathalia (title) and Neuton (Extra Bold) both from CF I think.  

I changed the color of part of the QP using a layer mask (actually two masks; one for the band, one for the above and below part).  I need to learn how to duplicate and invert a mask, I tried but it didn't work.  

7 hours ago, Cassel said:

For Filter Forge, have you tried simply adding the path to the standalone version, inside the File Location for plugins? I am not 100% sure if it will or if it is, somewhat, a different "version" between the plugin and the standalone.

I will give it a try. I'm thinking it might be way more convenient to have it there.

8 hours ago, Mary Solaas said:

@Susan Ewart Wow, Susan. You sure are on a roll.  Your creating the text and then using Objects>Convert text to curves>as character shapes - really got me going.  I believe Carole taught us that in one of the workshops we've been attending - maybe the Text workshop???  Anyway, so I got to playing with it and this is what I came up with.  Because using layer styles means you don't have to change the text to rasters in order to bevel, etc. them.  Carole also introduced us to layer styles in one of the workshops. We have to remind each other of the different things Carole is teaching us - so much to learn (and maybe forget until one of us reminds us of them)!

Mary, THANK YOU!  this is brilliant.  And it looks fabulous.