In the news... IGPOTY Portfolio finalist, CUPOTY results and Amateur photographer article.

  Happy news today, on my second year of entering the Portfolio section of the International garden photographer of the year ( IGPOTY), I have managed to get a finalist position. I am thrilled with this, even more so as it is judged by the esteemed Royal photographic society ( RPS). Totally over the moon. What is also lovely is that it is a still life portfolio, a subject which I put a lot of time and effort into trying to improve and learn this last couple of years and hours pondering which to enter. 

 I also managed to get an image placed in the new Fungi category, which is very pleasing as its yet another subject which I have endeavoured to improve upon recently

So here is my fungi image, a strange one as I added textures to it. The mushroom shapes in the background bokeh were created by a tiny mushroom between the lens and the main mushroom. I added my own textures and edited it using Exposure 5 software for a bit of a different feel. Lovely to see fellow photographers Tony North and Barry Webb ( Barry produces the most fascinating macro shots of slime moulds) doing so well in this category too, check them out here -Fungi results

So I can now finally share my still life portfolio with you all. It was a project I embarked on partially in a bid to focus on learning how to light still life images better and also on bringing the beauty of wild flowers indoors - quite a personal one for me as I find it too exhausting photographing outdoors due to having M.E., so adapted to creating something indoors where I can take my time and sit down as much as I need. This is another example for all those who say  that they cannot get out to take floral photos, all the flowers were obtained very near our home ( literally in our garden and our street for some)

I wanted to showcase the beauty of wildflowers in still life settings. These days it is more common to see vases full of flowers bought at florists, but I prefer to enjoy wildflowers in a style similar to the Old Masters’ paintings, with light cascading across them. So, I set out to produce a collection of still life floral photographs, using my own interpretation of the classic still life style.

All plants used were local to me, mostly growing in my garden, a nearby garden, or wasteland. They include; rosebay willowherb, purple loosestrife, salsify, chamomile, dill, and buttercups.

 

This first one is Rosebay willow herb which has fabulous shapes, like tentacles reaching out.

Purple Loosestrife from a wild garden at the end of our street provided a bright splash of purple spikes to contrast against the greens of the vegetables from our local farm shop in this image.

These incredible Salsify seed heads from our garden were screaming out to be photographed, I felt they complimented the wildness of a mini faux birds nest and look quite special adorning  this decorative pewter vase. With subtle colours and creative lighting they pop nicely.

This lovely bunch of Chamomile is a sight I will not see in the same spot again as it is now been used to build houses upon, so it is quite fitting that they have a special place in my local wild flower project.

Wild Carrot or Dill? I am still not sure -  reply with your answers :) Nice vibrant flowers with intricate shapes.

The much over looked humble Buttercups with more Salsify feature with a kind of farmhouse table look.

 I hope you all enjoy my still life portfolio as much as I enjoyed creating it. The lighting was quite tricky in a small room and mostly featured 3 or 4 lights, with reflectors and home made Gobos. Quite time consuming to get it all just how I wanted it as even a slight shift of an inch or two made massive differences to how the light fell.

Do check out the other truly jaw droppingly beautiful portfolios that were placed and the other wonderful images from so many talented photographers in the rest of the categories. I absolutely adore the 1st place image. IGPOTY winning portfolios

In more good news, this week saw the publication of an excellent article ( in Amateur Photographer magazine ) written by the very innovative photographer, Tracy Calder, about mindfulness and photography, an approach I whole heartedly believe can help many people. Tracy kindly put my name forward for inclusion in the subsequent article which was superbly written by the lovely Geoff Harris. Geoff rang me for a little chat about the part photography has taken in my life, my struggles to actually manage photography with the symptoms of M.E. and benefits of using photography as a coping strategy. Its a great read with eye opening interviews from others who have employed photography as a tool to help themselves, its a sensitive subject and handled so well with Geoff's thoughtful and compassionate writing. Worth a read.

Today also saw the results of Close up photographer of the year's Two of a kind challenge. I was lucky enough to have two images make the stunning shortlist. Very chuffed to say that my image of the two Cyclamen made it to the gorgeous finalist selection. CUPOTY TWO OF A KIND WINNERS

This is one of my favourite images taken last year, sadly I can no longer reach this spot on my mobility scooter as it has been devastated by two storms within 2 months, with trees uprooted and hanging precariously. The paths are blocked for the second time in 2 months and I am told that the park is in a much worse state now. So this image is even more special to me, capturing a treasured spot where I practiced mindfulness for the last 2 years during the pandemic. Its a happy image, but tinged with loss of a much cherished woodland habitat.

Above "The Kiss" exquisite, delicate form and shape mixed with romantic pink ethereal haze in this portrait of winter Cyclamen.

A selection of images and tips from winners is to be published in Amateur photographer magazine next week, which could be interesting for those who enjoy a bit of close up imagery. ( I think I should get a commission for plugging a certain magazine this week! :D )

Now I have a question to ask you all, what would you like me to blog about on here?

Still life progress and success with IGPOTY

Following on from my previous blogs re Still life photography ( see July & October 2020 plus Feb 2021)

I have continued to experiment and try to develop my own take on still life photography. This year I have concentrated a lot more on lighting as well as aiming to improve compositions and coordinating the set ups that I create.  Yet again I have thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in this genre and found it a most useful pastime during the months where we were required to stay home more during lockdown. Spurred on by my previous success of a highly commended image in IGPOTY ( International Garden photographer of the year), I yet again aimed high, hoping to get another image placed in the competition this year.

ABOVE A summer fruits and wildflower still life - using colours to pull it together

This summer I created a couple of home made Gobos out of cardboard, these are simply a piece of card with shapes cut out so the light and shade hits my background or subject the way that I want it to. I mostly used a couple with squares cut out so it appeared as if sunlight was streaming through a window that was split into squares ( apparently called a Muntin). My challenge was to light by subject in the way I wanted whilst also getting the gobo lit backdrop, all in a small room - this was EXTREMELY challenging, with all sorts of things balanced around the room to keep my Gobo in position, to block the Gobo lighting affecting my still life scene negatively, whilst using Flags to stop light bouncing in certain places and reflectors to help bounce light back into the scene etc.

Above - A simple Summer wildflower still life setting, making use of crinkled paper to go with the crinkled Poppy petals I used back/side lighting to light the Poppy petals up, allowing it to also fall on the strawberries

This year I aimed for a bit more of a themed approach to many of the still life images I created, choosing to use mostly wild flowers that most people can obtain easily, many from our own gardens.

My reasoning was to be able to pull together a portfolio of 6 images to enter into IGPOTY and as I am also considering  subjects for possible Fellowship panels I decided this could be one of two subjects I would work on this year with the Fellowship aim in mind. Last year we had decided to plant lots of wild flowers in our own garden to help wildlife and the environment, so I had access to quite a few.

 I had also built up a small collection of vases, ornaments, dried items from nature, other props plus materials to use in the fore and background.

ABOVE Using a GOBO for the lighting, a mushroom I made from Polymer clay specifically for my still life photography, adding snail shells for extra interest and textures in the vase plus muslin.

Once I had my set up created I usually found myself starting with adding my first light from behind and to one side of my subject ( even though I only had about 2-3ft of space behind) this was often using a gridded diffuser to keep it directional. This kind of created a little bit of a lift to my subjects, helping them stand out more, but keeping this light coming from the same side as my Gobo so that it would appear more natural. Once I was happy with the light hitting the back and side of my scene, I would add my second light - often through the Gobo. This light needs to be a small source so I used a speedlight, unmodified. Again, space was an issue - I only had about 1-2ft of playing room to move my light within, plus balancing the Gobo in precarious positions whilst trying to keep it outside of the scene. Sometimes I would only use this light to hit my backdrop, other times I wanted it to hit my subjects as well. Even with these two lights the whole scene was often not fully lit how I wanted. For most sets lit this way I needed to introduce reflectors to bounce light back into the shadows and/or a 3rd light. My 3rd light was usually modified with a white shoot through umbrella pointed away from the scene and towards the white ceiling or walls to bounce just a small amount of light in to lighten the whole scene slightly, reducing shadows too. With all the lights it is crucial to note if any are causing unwanted reflections or glare off any shiny, wet, metallic or glass item which can be distracting. In the middle image below you can see a distracting glare on the jug caused by introducing a 2nd light, this was easily resolved by moving the muslin material. Another way to help reduce glare is spraying hairspray or specialised photography spray on the surface - I use a very light spray of dry shampoo sometimes. The series below is an example of how things can progress as I build lighting and sets/composition.

ABOVE Using grasses and root vegetables, I liked the colours, shapes and textures so tried to make the most of those with my lighting.

Looking back on last years images compared to this years, I can really see a difference in my approach. Now I am using lighting to focus attention on the details that I want to stand out - at least in many of the images. I will also take a lot more time in creating a set, putting a lot of thought into what subjects I want to use and why, the composition and relationship of the items to each other, the textures, colours, shapes, vessels, materials, background. I am paying attention to the tiniest of details and can sit in our dining room / mini makeshift studio contemplating my scene, changing things around and altering lighting for long periods of time, often leaving it and returning to the project the following day. This suits me nicely, having so little energy, I can spend just a few minutes at a time faffing and rest, there is no rush as little will change over the course of a couple of days providing my flowers are watered and kept well. 

ABOVE This image demonstrates for me how my approach to lighting has changed, taken last year, it was one of images I was most happy with then. It is pleasing enough but I think i could improve on it so much now by changing the lighting. Never the less it still did well in two competitions. NOTE I used dry shampoo sprayed on the pewter vase to reduce glare in this one.

After playing around with all the points mentioned above, I did manage to pull together a portfolio of 6 images which I have entered into IGPOTY Portfolio category this year and will eagerly await the results - usually announced in February the following year. I did also enter a few single images into the IGPOTY Still Life category and I was thrilled to at first discover that I had 7 images shortlisted. I was even more overjoyed when the winners were announced! 

Imagine my delight when I logged on to the winners gallery and saw one of my images at the top of the page in first place! I was quite surprised and even more taken aback as I scrolled down the winning images to learn that I had images awarded 3rd place, finalist, highly commended and 2 commended!!!!

I was in complete shock - 6!!! images placed in that one category and the overall winning image! I still find it hard to believe. It just goes to show what can be achieved from messing around in your dining room, using flowers that many consider to be weeds. I hope my results might inspire others to try out different genres and entering competitions, if I can manage this as an unwell, disabled person then Im sure most others can too. So here are my winning images :)  IGPOTY STILL LIFE WINNERS

Watch this blog to see how my portfolio does in the competition and to see how I progress in pulling together a possible Fellowship panel ( also see my next blog on Fungi photography - the other subject I have concentrated on for a possible panel and entered into IGPOTY)

Continuing on with Still life - plus IGPOTY award

  ( Written October 2020 - just forgot to publish)

One of my goals last year and this year was to get an image awarded in International Garden Photographer of the year (IGPOTY) - Last year I managed to get some shortlisted but none awarded. This year I have managed to get one Highly commended in the Still life category which I am so thrilled about after trying so hard to learn and improve in this genre. This is the commended image below. I will be entering another category this month, so fingers crossed with this too. 

I had been looking  forward to using autumnal items in still life and have certainly utilised found and foraged nature alongside bought food, plants and some bargain items from charity shops/ebay. I think I may have gone over board in making the most of having pumpkins, winter squash, Chinese lanterns and berries etc Ive had my winter squash and pumpkins around a month now and they have kept well, stored in a cool place. 

I have been trying light painting with a small book light and another small led light. It is a little trial and error but I feel like I am getting to grips with it slowly. The 3 images below were light painted - anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds seems to work nicely so far.

Another theme that seemed a natural progression for me, given the pumpkins, autumn theme and my pagan interests is a bit of a Halloween / witchy theme so I produced some along this idea. Candles worked well to light some of  these.

Below are a couple of my favourite autumnal still life images taken in the last month, just using standard studio lighting.

I have tried to concentrate on better composition and tried to keep them reasonably simple

I have tried a few with side lighting which does appeal to me.

Another approach I have played around with is flat lay, both in still life and touching on food photography. Ive mostly used the same items to experiment.  The flat lays are easily set up on a table or floor and photographed with a tripod over head. I have used studio light pointed at the set, then bounced off the ceiling and sunlight coming in from the side as you can see in the first two images of pretty much the same set - the different lighting makes a big difference. Whilst the first image has the down side of looking too busy in my opinion due to the shadows - I also find it more appealing because of the shadows. The seemingly well lit image underneath feels flat in comparison.

This image was the result of sunlight streaming through our blinds, onto a flat lay that I had set up. Whilst its quite bust and composition was not set up for images taken from this angle, I do like the lighting and feel it makes it warm and inviting.

For my flat lays I have used a combination of story telling in some and composition for others. I think I need to get both in one image and also find the lighting style that works best for me. Its amazing how many different images you can create from one basic set up, just swapping a few items. I do like introducing the human element - ie hands holding a drink and intend to try more like this - pouring drinks, cutting bread/food, stirring etc.

These are really amongst my first proper attempts at food photography in flat lay.

I do feel like I am learning and getting somewhere, but still there is so much to learn - especially with food photography. I will stick mostly to still life as I dont have the energy and stamina to be making meals to photograph them, but it is interesting to dabble in.