Easter Tulips and the first episodes of the 4th season in Downton Abbey, inspired me to create this still life photo with a painterly canvas effect. At times I wish it would be possible to live one day in the early 19th-century ... Either in an aristocratic British family or on a Souther cotton farm in America. I would love to experience the interior design and the style of the dresses, and the etiquette in general, trying to perceive the difference in classes those days - that may be a bit hard to imagine in our modern society. I used a burlap cloth as a back drop to my image. I made the setting beside a window, using natural side light coming from the left. I did set the books, the can with the tulips, the small plate with a single tulip and a dried leaf to the right side of the frame, leaving the negative space to the left - for the painterly canvas effect, that would create the warm, old mood to the image.
This is how I proceeded with the editing and adding layers:
1. I adjusted the cropping of the image, making use of the rule of thirds, so that the tulip on the silver plate is in line with one of the golden sections.2. I sharpened the image a bit, and adjusted the contrast, highlight and shadows in Lightroom.3. Thereafter I opened the image in Photoshop, and added the following layers with 3 textures and one photo veil:
- Camembert texture from Olde World Collection with blending mode Saturation, opacity 40%. Blending mode Saturation with the Camembert texture creates a vintage-like warm glow to the image - you will notice this effect when you look at the books in the before-after-image below. I brushed the texture effect away from the tulips, since I wanted to keep some of their blue-lilac color.
- Lavendel Glow Left - Vertical photo veil from the Illumination Collection with blending mode Soft light, opacity 15%, adds a soft lavendel light effect.
- Salerno texture from the Olde World Collection with blending mode Soft light 15% adds a mild and soft painterly effect. I brushed some of the effect away from the upper right corner, using a brush with 50% opacity.
- Riviera texture from Olde World Collection with blending mode Hard Light, opacity 39%, adds some more painterly effect to the image. Using a brush I removed the texture effect from the tulips and the books - leaving it on the negative space, to my "canvas" background
What I like about Still Life Photography is the process of creating the image - Both setting up the scene, and the post processing ... Thinking about the light, the shadows, the balance, and what I want to focus on, together with the style and the feeling, I wish to convey. Already as I was setting up the books and the tulips, I had the textures from Olde World Collection in my mind - I like the rustic touch and the warm color effect they create....Wishing you creative moments with photography and editing,Nina