STILL LIFE
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A Morning In Light
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A Dream Of Plenty
I’m always looking to develop new techniques that help me in the creative process. And I suppose that goes toward a particular style of a photographer or digital artist. I’m always inspired when looking at other’s photography. It’s fun for me to develop an understanding of how certain results were achieved. Many are astonishingly simple but with impact. Oh, I love impact! I’m never in a hurry to produce anything for any reason. I generally will spend a few days off and on, making slight touch ups here and there as I discover them, until I choose to leave the work and post it. I used Topaz Impressions, Nik, and Adobe Photoshop in creating this piece.
water potcoffee potforksilverwaresilver platesplatesfruitcantaloupepeachclothtexture
Three Sunflowers
For the past few summers I become excitied as the flowers bloom in the garden. When the season starts for the sunflowers, my first thoughts are what else can I do with them on a creative level? So far, my creative juices are still working, I think, and have tried to capture the energy and joyus representation that they bring to the season. I used Topaz, Nik, and Adobe Photoshop for processing. The lower part of the image (foreground) is darker which adds grounding and also contrast for the petal and leaf highlights to guide the eye into the frame. Intially, I experimented with the color of the background and choose this with a slight mix of blue and violet. I love, the various styles available to us as digital artists and photographers these days and love blending the painterly with realisim. To me, it’s about impact and visual eye candy with color and contrast. Not so much as what is seen but more of what is expected to be seen.
Cherries
A free and easy style, having fun with Topaz Impressions, Nik, and touchups and adjustments in Photoshop.
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Rose Of Sharon
The rose of sharon with it’s delicate goosemer petals. A garden veil playing with light.
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Honeysuckle
The scent of honeysuckle fills the air in the garden. A heavenly fragrance that wraps around you and whispers, paradise.
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X Factor
X- Factor Dahlias from Holland.
In processing these unusual and yet beautiful dahlias, the glass vases were as you probably guessed clear glass and very bright. They were in competition with the flowers so I decided to turn the light balance to tungston during processing. I believe the warm and cool colors work better together and the flowers are the main focal point.Dahliasflowersvaseglass vasereflectionscut glass vasetexturetopaz impressionspainterly
Grapes and Lantern
In this composition, I have used the rule of thirds as you can see and incorporated a triangular setup. If I hadn’t placed the brightly lit apple in the foreground the lantern and vase would have dominated I feel, and the eye would have gone out of the arrangement. I shot this at a 45 degree angle and used a 24mm lens setting to get the visual effect.
I used Topaz Impressions, Nik, and Photoshop in the creative process.
Bee Balm
In this composition I used the rule of thirds but within that I have used visual triangles to keep the eye from leaving the image. The red flowers at the top of the bouquet meeting with the one red flower on the table. The bouquet in general is yet another triangle leading to the table. The teapot and cup are another. etc. The cheese cloth on the table symbolizes water creating a bit more interest since the cup is lying on its side. As far as the color scheme goes, it too had to maintain a balance between warm and cool colors while not letting the white cloth overpower the composition. Although overlapping objects in a composition can give depth, often times it causes confusion to the eye and I believe each object should clearly have it’s own identity, most of the time but not always. . I used Topaz Impressions, Nik, Photoshop, and ACR. I am still learning and having fun and thought I would write a little about my process.
bee balmflowersflower arrangementbouquetteapotpewter cuppewter teapotrod neil thomas
A New Beginning
Most all of us can say we have had at least one new beginning in our lives. I have come to the edge of life where each moment is a new beginning.
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Daylilies In Black
Bouquet Of Daylilies
dayliliesBlack backgroundred dayliliesglass vasewaterfloralbouquetflowersvasestill life
A Bowl Of Plums
I had fun creating this and then enjoying a very tasty desert over a few days. Now, well, I'm just a regular type of guy! :)
bowlplumsblack plumsred plumstextureclothtableno peoplefruitrestaurant artbowl of plums
Apples On Chair
On this composition, I raised the back chair legs slightly in order to push everything forward a bit. I used Topaz and Adobe Photoshop along with bouncing back a bit to ACR ( Adobe Camera Raw).
still liferod neil thomasrodneilthomas.comfruitmasters lightlight of the masterschairgolden lightstill life setting
Flowers Of Summer
The dahlias on display were grown in my garden. It was the first time growing them and I was very pleased an excited each day as I tended them. The large yellow ones are actually white but they are eight inches in diameter! What a blast!
flowerssummer8396dahliasbouquetfloralvaseclockalarm clocktimegardenjewlery boxrod neil thomas
Morning Ritual
A teapot and cup with dried flowers.
MorningRitualdried flowersteapotcupflowersvaseshelltexturewarm glowlightingdutch matstersdutch masters lighjtingdutch masters still life
Summer Romance
A romantic setting of flowers and fruit.
still lifewine glasslanternsunflowerspitcherpeachescherrieswhite pitcherfloralbouquetwine
Autumn Grass
The ornamental grass has produced their fall fronds in the garden. My wife and I enjoy their movement in the wind going from side to side as if conducting a musical symphony. The gentle sound of the waterfalls in the background, and yet a stillness at the same time, penatrating ones very being.
autumngrassglass vasebasketstraw basketautumn themevaseornamental grasscurtainwindow lighttexturewaterfloralfloral arrangementwarmthfall
TIME WARP
My impression of time. A good tool but an extremely bad master. Great for the illusion of duality!
The Coffee Grinder
The coffee grinder, and the coffee beans ready to crank out a morning wake-up call.
ThecoffeeGrindercoffee beansknifecupcoffee grindertexturecoffee cupdrinklighting
Sunflowers On Chair
A bouquet of flowers on a chair.
sunflowerschairwooden chairflowerssummerbouquetstill lifeold mastersimpressionisticromanticromanceflorallighting
Cherries
One of my photographic images. A Still Life of cherries. I have found that like life, the cherries can be likened to our life experiences and memories, sweet and sour. And then there are the pits of course! :).
cherriesDetailredred cherriesclothtexturestill lifereflectionsside lightcanon lenscanon 5d mark IIIfruit
Red Flowers
The flowers are Garden Wonder dahlias. They grow about 3 feet in height and the flowers are around 4 5o 5 inches. Beautiful for flower arrangements and I plan on growing some again next year.
Garden Wonder dahliasdahliasred flowerscopper potteapotcopper teapotbottlecopper cupwooden boxmetal bucket
The Sewing Basket
I found this sewing basket at a local Goodwill store. When I see something handmade like this I can’t help but appreciate the skill in making it. The top to the basket is in the foreground and fits beautifully. The basket inspired me to do this still life. As you can see, we don’t have a sewing machine. :)
ThesewingBasketsig0721179443sewing basketsewing needlethreadspools of threadcolorfulstraw basketreflectionsloose threadloose endsrepairclothing repair
The Morning Paper
A concept image of all the ingredients of needed to start the day.
This particular image was the one I settled on which was the third shoot and arrangement. Lot’s of fun and I learned a lot. Most often drapery, cloth, or a paper is used in many still life works to help draw in the eye and or to add interest. This is my first implementation using newspaper and I found it brought back memories of days gone past when looking for a job in the classified. In light of that, I also added teeth marks on the pencil. :)TheMorningPaperlanterncandleclockcoffe grindercoffeenewspaperpencil eye glassescoffe cupcupcoffee beansvasebooksdried flowerstimestill lifekeyscurtainswindow lightreflections
Southern Comfort
I named this southern comfort because I imagined the vase to be something I might see in the southern U.S. It has been broken at one time and repaired and handed down to us. Since the daylilies are in bloom I thought it would be a great time to immortalize them both. I used window light and black fabric to get this effect plus a little photoshop.
SouthernComfortvasedaylilieswindow lightfloralbouquetstill lifefine artflowersromanticcolorful
DAYLILIES IN JUG
White Roses
Fresh picked roses catching the last light of the day.
white rosesvaseglass vasespringwindow lightwoodflowersartisticreflectionsrose petalswaterclear vase
Drift Wood & Clematis
I have had this piece of driftwood in the garden for years with the idea of doing a still life. What better accompaniment than the spring flowers of Clematis.
driftwoodclematisflowersvinespringwoodblue flowersmagenta flowersold woodartistic woodvining flowersbalance
Tambura Man
I’m musically challenged but I love this drone instrument from India. An amazing sound that can be easily recognised in the background of East Indian Ragas.
TamburaManmusicragasrudraksha beadshatclothred clothchairwooden chairmusical insturment
Tropical Teacup
A tea cup of flowers with a little Topaz Impressions, textures, and layers in photoshop. I wanted the feeling of sky and water for the background for a balance of warm and cool colors and to give a light presentation as a gift floating upon a cosmic sea! I often have fun mixing an artistic look with what appearts to be realistic to our eyes.
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THE ATOMIZER
An atomizer and some flowers that are waiting to be brought back to life. I can just hear Gene Wilder in the movie “Frankenstein” exclaiming over and over “It’s Alive”. . . It’s Alive! :)
atomizerflowersgreen atomizerglass atomizerdead flowerstexturesprayermoisturegolden light
A Summer Setting
A still life portraying the gifts of summer.
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A Guest For Tea
A fun still life welcoming a guest for tea. There is much planning, arranging, and work setting up for getting the image in the mind’s eye, whether it’a a landscape, portrait, or still life composition. What I love about it is that it may be quite some time if ever, that our inspiration as photographers will be duplicated by a phone camera, or a pre-set button in a software program. Images by all passionate photographers and digital artists are truly inspiring to me.
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Teapot Dahlias
An impressionistic rendition of dahlias in summer.
white teapotceramic teapotflowerspink dahliasyellow dahliabouquetstill lifetexture
A Loose Thread
Three spools of of loose thread.
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A Day At The Beach
In putting some things together for a still life I ended up with shells, a basket, and some cloth. I was also aware of the negative space during this process. Once isolated, development on the objects began and then textures were introduced. With textures, I wanted to imitate the blue sea and a sky at sunset. The cloth added flow to the scene.
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