STILL LIFE

Cherries
A free and easy style, having fun with Topaz Impressions, Nik, and touchups and adjustments in Photoshop.
fruit porcelain bowl metal bowl white bowl bowl of fruit metal cup porcelain cup painterly
Rose Of Sharon
The rose of sharon with it’s delicate goosemer petals. A garden veil playing with light.
flowers summer garden bouquet rose of sharon pitcher white pitcher reflections
Honeysuckle
The scent of honeysuckle fills the air in the garden. A heavenly fragrance that wraps around you and whispers, paradise.
flowers spoon plate pitcher creamer silver spoon silver plate texture topaz topaz impressions nik photoshop
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.
Dahlias flowers vase glass vase reflections cut glass vase texture topaz impressions painterly
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.
apple plate silver plate vase painterly topaz topaz impressions
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 balm flowers flower arrangement bouquet teapot pewter cup pewter teapot rod 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.
yellow roses flowers sissors wooden box candle petals dreamy bouquet joy happiness
Daylilies In Black
Bouquet Of Daylilies
daylilies Black background red daylilies glass vase water floral bouquet flowers vase still life
Peach Reserve
Peaches by window light.
Peach Preserve fabric fruit peaches plums still 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! :)
bowl plums black plums red plums texture cloth table no people fruit restaurant art bowl 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 life rod neil thomas rodneilthomas.com fruit masters light light of the masters chair golden light still life setting
A Cup Of Buttons
cup buttons sig 1568 cup and saucer clothing buttons texture wide angle artistic artistic rendering pastels modern art
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!
flowers summer 8396 dahlias bouquet floral vase clock alarm clock time garden jewlery box rod neil thomas
Morning Ritual
A teapot and cup with dried flowers.
Morning Ritual dried flowers teapot cup flowers vase shell texture warm glow lighting dutch matsters dutch masters lighjting dutch masters still life
Summer Romance
A romantic setting of flowers and fruit.
still life wine glass lantern sunflowers pitcher peaches cherries white pitcher floral bouquet wine
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.
autumn grass glass vase basket straw basket autumn theme vase ornamental grass curtain window light texture water floral floral arrangement warmth fall
TIME WARP
My impression of time. A good tool but an extremely bad master. Great for the illusion of duality!
clocks warp reflections texture impressionistic
Buttons And Thread
buttons thread scissors jars
Peach Harvest
A basket of peaches.
Peach Harvest sig 080418 3803 peaches basket still life
The Coffee Grinder
The coffee grinder, and the coffee beans ready to crank out a morning wake-up call.
The coffee Grinder coffee beans knife cup coffee grinder texture coffee cup drink lighting
A Stitch Of Time
Cutting attachments along our journey to things no longer needed such as watching time and adjusting our lives to the minutes and hours of the day. Time to sleep, time to eat, time to work, time for . . . .
scissors clock watches thread sewing flowers texture rod neil thomas
Sunflowers On Chair
A bouquet of flowers on a chair.
sunflowers chair wooden chair flowers summer bouquet still life old masters impressionistic romantic romance floral lighting
Spring Roses
Still Life depicting the first yellow roses of spring in the garden.
Spring roses sig 2879 yellow roses tankard table texture lighting romantic garden roses flowers
Moments In Peace
flowers bouquet dahlias fuzzy wuzzy dahlias floral open book reading glasses texture glass vase reflections rod neil thomas
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! :).
cherries Detail red red cherries cloth texture still life reflections side light canon lens canon 5d mark III fruit
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 dahlias dahlias red flowers copper pot teapot copper teapot bottle copper cup wooden box metal bucket
Times Past
scissors watches clock time flowers raindrops cloth composite gold gold chain wall clock texture rod neil Thomas
A Look At Time
Is time real? One of the great illusions in a world that is an illusion itself, keeping us from knowing the truth.
clock watch watches sciccors flowers cloth dreamy
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. :)
The sewing Basket sig 072117 9443 sewing basket sewing needle thread spools of thread colorful straw basket reflections loose thread loose ends repair clothing 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. :)
The Morning Paper lantern candle clock coffe grinder coffee newspaper pencil eye glasses coffe cup cup coffee beans vase books dried flowers time still life keys curtains window light reflections
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.
Southern Comfort vase daylilies window light floral bouquet still life fine art flowers romantic colorful
DAYLILIES IN JUG
daylilies jug still life
White Roses
Fresh picked roses catching the last light of the day.
white roses vase glass vase spring window light wood flowers artistic reflections rose petals water clear 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.
driftwood clematis flowers vine spring wood blue flowers magenta flowers old wood artistic wood vining flowers balance
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.
Tambura Man music ragas rudraksha beads hat cloth red cloth chair wooden chair musical 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.
Tropical Teacup tea cup flowers floral pink flowers impressionistic
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! :)
atomizer flowers green atomizer glass atomizer dead flowers texture sprayer moisture golden light
A Summer Setting
A still life portraying the gifts of summer.
Summer Setting 072018 2984 still life watermelon apples grapes fruit flowers bouquet pewter pot glass vase floral impressionistic colorful red
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.
Guest For Tea still life fruit tea set cream pitcher grapes orange slice flower rose white rose texture romantic
Teapot Dahlias
An impressionistic rendition of dahlias in summer.
white teapot ceramic teapot flowers pink dahlias yellow dahlia bouquet still life texture
A Loose Thread
Three spools of of loose thread.
Loose thread 2.8 sig 9782 sewing needle repair clothes repair loose ends a loose thread string theory string canon 2470 lens relections selective focus blured image macro
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.
Day The Beach sig 52118 4175 shells cloth basket straw basket still life artistic painting like
After Dark
clock candle lamp candle lamp fruit pear books bowl wooden bowl candle light
SWAN BOUQUET
crystal swan daises still life
Days Of Autumn
apples apple half sliced apple plate of apples bouquet flowers red dahlias garden wonder dahlias still life floral
R O S E S
still life rose
Oops!
Black-Eyed Susan flowers spilling from a blue vase.
Spill flowers yellow flowers blackeyed susans blue vase vase water water spill texture reflections floral
A Story In Time
In times of deep stillness you can always experience your true self.
pocket watch open book book eye glasses vintage glasses teacup and saucer teacup flowers bouquet dahlias fuzzy wuzzy dahlias floral

" Turning Moments In Time Into Works Of Art "

STILL LIFE