Still Life Photography [Sidelight - Organic]

The theme of week 38 in Kim Klassen's Be Still 52-class is Sidelight - Organic. Kim inspires us to use natural materials - tin, linen, cotton, branches - anything from nature ...  in order to create cozy Still Life images, with her Lightroom preset Organic.

I am fond of the tin bowl from my husbands grandmother, and the tin plate from my grandmother. The green linen fabric is at least 12 years old - I sewed anoraks and trousers to our boys of this fabric when they were toddles. The pine cones and the packthread are "leftovers" from out Christmas decorations - to be packed down to the cellar.

And this plant ... I was looking for something nice to my colleague and I fell for this pretty plant - and I ended up buying also one plant for myself. I have no idea what this plant is called, I only know that it needs to be watered twice a week. I find the  combination of green and lilac in the leaves as special and beautiful.

Using dark cotton cloth, I covered partly the window to the left - setting black cloth as a back drop, to create depth and feeling of shadow. 
I adjusted my camera settings to 18 mm 1/10 sec at f/3,5 with ISO 100, and I reduced the exposure even more with going down 3 stops.

The Organic preset creates a lovely dark mood. I did made some further adjustments in Lightroom, opening the shadows a bit, and increasing slightly the light and highlights.

This is the "setting behind the scenes": I used dark cloths to block out part of the sidelight from the window.

The great contrast in the photos awakened my curiosity to find out, how the photos would look like in black and white. I did the conversion to black and white in Lightroom, using Summer Rains BW/5 -preset from 2 Lil Owls Studios. 
Since I wanted to create a feeling of antique, warm tint, I used the split tone-function in Lightroom, adding just a bit orange hue to the shadows.




... I cannot wait to see the Still Life photography my classmates have created: I am sure, many of them will share their interpretations of the Sidelight - Organic -theme in Kim's Texture Tuesday this week.
Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

Thich Nhat Hanh
... All the best to your Tuesday,Nina

Sharing with 
Texture Tuesday Roses of Inspiration  Saturday Share Fest