Texture Photography First Catches My Eye

I first noticed texture photography about 6 years ago when I joined BetterPhoto.com. I was new to photography back then, had very little Photoshop experience, and had no idea that what I was looking at was actually “texture photography.” All I knew was that I was seeing some wonderful images that caught my eye because they looked very much like fine art paintings. I had no idea how these images were created, but I knew that one day I would learn the process. That day has finally come.

Being “An Artist”

My grandfather was a wonderful artist. He could paint and draw magnificently. Somehow that particular gene skipped the next two generations. Neither my mother nor any of her five children were blessed with that same innate skill. We were all pretty bummed about that.

But I later learned there are other ways to be an artist.

Mine is through the lens — along with using Photoshop as my “brushes and canvas” to apply textures to my images.

Embracing My Inner Student

At this stage I am a texture student, learning as I go. Each day something new. Each mistake a lesson learned. Each attempt, a new possibility. Every moment, a chance for discovery.

Today is no exception. You never know what’s just around the next corner.

From Fading Flower to Fine Art

I spotted this Easter Lily this morning on my way into town to run an errand. I turned the corner onto another street and there it was in a neighbor’s front flower border. A quick U-turn had me driving back up the hill to get my camera and macro lens.

Upon closer inspection, I could see this Easter Lily was past its prime and fading fast. The white petals were just starting to wilt and featured a hint of brown. In my mind I had a vision of what this Easter Lily could become with the right texture, brushes, and opacity applied.

Fading Easter Lily

Backlit Crocus

I love to shoot small flowers at ground level. This crocus was a natural standout, as the angle of the sun produced wonderful backlighting to showcase the petal detail and tiny water droplets. I deliberately chose a texture color that would contrast with that of the flower. I also chose one with a pale center, as I wanted nothing to interfere with the sunlight through the petals.

Backlit Crocus

Solitary Siberian Squill

This is perhaps my favorite image of the week. This tiny Siberian Squill in the midday sun was a challenge to shoot due to its location. I knew the angle that I wanted — but it required a bit of yoga from me to capture it.

As you can see, the flower’s color and lines are beautiful, as is the delicate, curved shape of the petals. While I had used a shallow depth of field to produce the creamy background, I knew that I could change “pretty” into “beautiful” with the right colored texture and pattern. Again, a careful selection and application of the right Photoshop brushes and opacity helped me to bring my inner vision to life.

Solitary Siberian Squill

Texture Resources

There are many places where you can obtain textures, including creating your own (which I wrote about previously in another texture article of mine). Two resources I like to use are Joel Olives Textures and French Kiss Collections.

So there you have it. A bit of the story behind the images. If interested, they are all available as Fine Art Prints from Fine Art America.

~ Liz Mackney

Website

Editor’s Pick Gallery

New England Photography Guild Gallery

Flower Photography Cheat Sheet

Now that Spring is officially here, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about ways to improve your flower photography. My gardens are already beginning to sprout here in New England, and it won’t be long before flowers are blooming and vibrant colors are swaying in the gentle summer breeze.

Summer color loves diffused light

I’m often asked how it is that I get the flower shots that I do. What is it that I look for and what does my creative eye see? I’m happy to share that information with you and offer some helpful tips on how to improve your flower photography. First, however, let’s look at where you might be going wrong.

Common Mistakes

There are several mistakes that new photographers often make when shooting flowers:

• Shooting down on a flower from a standard viewing distance produces a typical “snapshot” image.
• Shooting at high noon in bright sun produces harsh lighting and washes out color.
• Not removing distractions, such as dead leaves or stray twigs.
• Always shooting from the same angle or perspective.
• Not thinking through the overall composition.
• Cropping too tightly in camera.
• Shooting too close with the lens you are using and thus being unable to focus.

Answer This Question…

12 Helpful Tips

If you want to be in control of the images you capture in the garden, but aren’t quite sure on how to do that, perhaps the following tips will be of some help.

Tip #1 — The 360 Rule

Really evaluate your shooting perspective. Basically check out the flower from every angle, including above and below, as well as by circling its circumference. Light, shadow and background all change as you move around the flower, as do the intricate details of the flower itself.

The back of a flower often has interesting detail all its own

Tip # 2 — Composition

When you see a group of flowers, study them collectively as well as individually. How flowers are positioned and grow in relation to each other can often be the foundation of a nice composition.

A flower's position in the garden can influence composition

Tip #3 — Selective Focus

Decide what element you want as the primary point focus. With a tight group of flowers, you might want to draw the viewer’s eye to a specific flower. I chose to do just that with this image, by creating a shallow depth of field for the background, and soft focus for the surrounding outside flowers.

Keeping one flower in sharp focus draws the viewer's eye

Tip #4 — Depth of Field

Controlling the depth of field (that which remains in sharp focus) makes all the difference in the world to flower photography. Therefore it’s important to remember these four factors that affect depth of field:

1. Your f-stop number (The smaller the number, the less that is in focus; the larger the number, the more that is in focus.)
2. The focal length of your lens. (When you’re zoomed in, you’ll have less depth of field. When you’re zoomed out, you’ll have more depth of field.)
3. Your distance to the subject. (The closer you are to the subject, the less that is in focus; the farther away you are from the subject, the more that is in focus.)
4. The subject’s distance to the background. (The further away the subject is from the background, the less that is in focus; the closer the subject is to the background, the more that is in focus.)

A shallow depth of field showcases the flower and blurs the background

Tip #5  — Close-Up & Macro

Flowers feature very intricate details. What better way to showcase these details than with a close-up or macro shot. It’s important to note that while a macro lens can really up your shooting game, you don’t need a dedicated macro lens to get a close-up or macro image. You can always crop an image afterwards to create a close-up or macro perspective.

The details of small flowers are not always seen by the naked eye

Tip #6 — Welcome The Rain

Don’t be too disappointed when the rain comes to spoil a sunny day. On the contrary it may be exactly what you need for a special shot. Sometimes you don’t need a steady rain. I’ve found that a quick passing shower can really enhance things.

Sometimes a spring shower can be your creative friend

Tip #7 — Spot Focus

What to focus on when shooting flowers is only limited by your imagination. You can shoot an overall garden scene, a group of flowers, a single flower with a shallow depth of field, or you can really call attention to the finer details by spot focusing on a single point to draw the viewer’s eye. That was my thought for this image, as the colors of the flower were the perfect frame to showcase the texture of the stigma.

Spot focus can draw the eye to a specific detail

Tip #8 — Fill The Frame

Certain images deserve to fill the frame during composition. Such was the case when I saw this large sunflower. I loved everything about it — the color, the texture, the background, the curve of the petals. I chose a square crop to showcase this pristine, symmetrical flower. It proved to be a good call, as I later had this image made into a large ceramic tile. The dimensions were perfect.

Fill the frame with the most important elements

Tip #9 — Flower Stages

Flowers grow in stages. That makes for multiple photo opportunities. I like to continually check my gardens to see what stage a particular flower is at. Do you have any idea what this emerging bud later turned out to be? If you guessed sunflower, you’d be right!

Different stages offer multiple shooting opportunities

Tip #10 — Top Down Perspective

As previously mentioned, shooting down on a flower from a typical viewing distance can produce bland, boring images. However, getting close to the flower (either physically or by zooming in) can totally change the composition and make for an interesting photo. The striped, curved petals on this variegated crocus guide the viewer’s eye to the central point of focus.

Shoot top down to showcase pattern and detail

Tip #11 — Soft Focus

In the garden certain flowers by their very design are a perfect match for soft focus. The shallow depth of field in this image again helped to showcase the flower, but it was soft focus that complemented the natural softness of the delicate petals. Everything working together is what makes this image interesting.

Certain details are meant for soft focus

Tip #12 — Incorporate Garden Visitors

We are not the only ones who wait for the gardens to bloom. Some winged friends become the perfect accent to a colorful flower. Dragonflies are some of my favorite visitors to capture. I actually think they enjoy my company, for they follow me around the garden all summer long.

Garden visitors love the flowers too

Practice Time

It’s early in the season, so you have plenty of time to practice these tips. You can even get a jump on things by picking up a potted plant such as tulips, positioning it in the garden, and experimenting. Best of all, you can then transplant the tulips as a colorful addition to your garden.

Bonus Tip! Keep practicing and don’t get discouraged. Every photo teaches you something. What better classroom to practice in than the garden on a nice, warm day. Sounds good to me!

Happy shooting!

~ Liz Mackney

Website

Editor’s Pick Gallery

New England Photography Guild Gallery

Texture, Texture, or Texture?

Confused by that headline? Let me explain. In my experience, I’ve seen texture incorporated into photography in three distinctly different ways:

The Subject Itself

We live in a world filled with texture. It’s a part of our everyday life. During the course of your day, take a quick look around. You may spot such things as crackled paint, rust on a piece of metal, bark on a tree, lichen growing on a rock, a kitchen sponge, and even the denim on your jeans. Texture is everywhere around us — and it’s worth photographing as tightly cropped individual images. I’ll soon show you why.

The Background

Subjects photographed against a plain, solid color background can often appear quite static and blah. Other times a shallow depth of field can produce a nice creamy bokeh in the background — helping to showcase your chosen focal point. Still, there are other times when a subject directly in front of a textured background — like a brick wall or fabric backdrop — is actually enhanced by the texture in the background. It establishes a mood or adds to the feel of the image.

A Photoshop Layer

Then there’s adding texture to a photograph by combining two separate images (the texture file and the main subject file) in Adobe Photoshop — the digital darkroom. As a general explanation, this means using the Blending Modes in Photoshop to apply the texture image to the subject image.

Exploring My Creativity

As I mentioned, texture is everywhere around us. That includes my sleeping tabby cat. As he was stretched out taking a genuine “cat nap,” I took advantage of the moment by grabbing my camera and taking a macro shot of the pattern and texture of his fur.

Original macro image of tabby cat's fur pattern and texture

Experimentation

Using that macro fur image, I created a variety of additional texture files by editing such attributes as Hue/Saturation, Shadows/Highlights, and Brightness/Contrast. I also experimented by applying different Photoshop Blur filters —  such as Gaussian Blur, Radial Blur, and Motion Blur — in varying strengths.

Application

With the arrival of Spring today, my thoughts have been on my gardens. I thought this image from last summer would be a good match for one of the texture versions I created from the macro image of my tabby cat’s fur.

Original flower image

Variation of the tabby cat's fur texture file

Blending Mode

I opened the flower image in Photoshop, and then placed the texture file on a separate layer above the flower layer. By using the Hard Light blending mode and reducing the opacity — along with a couple of minor tweaks to reduce the effect of the texture on the flower itself — I was able to create this new, more artistic image.

Texture layer applied to the flower image

Unleash Your Creativity

So there you have it. A simple example of texture photography and bit of information on how I produced the final image. Now that you know my basic thought pattern and steps, grab your camera, go on a texture hunt, and unleash your creativity.

~ Liz Mackney

Website

Editor’s Pick Gallery

New England Photography Guild Gallery

Snow Melt…

After a feisty February of back-to-back blizzards here on Cape Ann, I was thrilled to discover the snow melt of the last few days revealing the very first signs of spring!  Considering an enormous mound of snow remains piled at the top of my driveway, the emerging growth and subtly changing color of various plants made my heart sing. February was most definitely a lion — and another 10-inches of snow last Friday continued the trend —  but I am very hopeful the rest of March will be a lamb.

Walk the Gardens

With my beloved dog following closely behind, I took advantage of the warm temps today and strolled my gardens. The first thing to catch my eye was the green hue beginning to fill the leaves on my azalea bush.

Azalea leaves begin to turn color

Not too far away, bulbs were proudly emerging from the damp soil and up through the remaining bark mulch. The rays of the sun seemed to be urging them on.

Flower shoots begin to emerge from their bulbs.

In another border that gets full sun, the last bit of snow that had been covering the plants melted completely the other day. However, it was only today that I could see the color of my lavender plants shifting from winter gray to a delightful sage green.

Dormant lavender begins to awaken

Not too far away — and perhaps influenced by the warmth held by my stone walls — were signs of rebirth from my several blankets of phlox. They certainly didn’t look like they were going to return to slumber any time soon.

Phlox begins to come back to life

Even my stonecrop today looked antsy to get going. This particular bud seemed to be calling out to me — with his cronies in the background cheering him on. Their collective red has deepened a bit and seems a bit more vibrant.

Stonecrop bud reaches out towards the sun

Taking A Chance

I may be tempting Mother Nature, but I can’t help but say, “Bye-bye winter.”  I am so ready for Spring!

~ Liz Mackney

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Editor’s Pick Gallery

New England Photography Guild Gallery

This week’s media blitz for the upcoming Summer Olympics got me thinking about the athletes’ quest for the gold medal. As my train of thought continued, I wondered how many different “gold” subjects I had photographed recently. Apparently, more than I realized!

Goldfinch

I’m very lucky to have many goldfinches in close proximity. I hear them “squeaking” to each other all day long as they dart back and forth from tree to tree in my yard. After years of providing thistle for them in my feeders, I switched to black sunflower seeds and moved a feeder onto my back deck. In no time at all I had a very happy customer.

Goldfinch

Goldenrod Spider

This goldenrod spider was a first for me. I had never seen one before, so naturally the little guy caught my eye as he crawled along the leaf of my peony plant. How perfect for me that I had my macro lens in hand.

Goldenrod Spider

Golden Sunrise

Motif #1 in Rockport, Massachusetts, is a world-famous landmark. Living is this beautiful seaside town is a gift in and of itself. Waking up to sunrises like this are divinely inspired and hold a very special place in my heart.

Motif #1 Sunrise

Golden Reflection

You never know what you might discover around the next bend. Such was the case last autumn when an unexpected right turn off the beaten path led to this glorious reflection. There’s a lot to be said about the road less traveled!

Autumn Reflection

Golden Rays

This past winter, while on my quest to find the snowy owl at Hampton Beach, heaven seemed to be rejoicing. There I was — freezing my butt off — when I saw the sun’s rays celebrate the new day. As I turned around, there suddenly appeared the snowy owl! Hallelujah!

Hampton Beach

Gold On Gold

Nature has a way of color coordinating itself. This hoverfly was the perfect companion to this Black-eyed Susan. The gold-on-gold palette seemed to speak of mutual respect and appreciation.

Hoverfly and Black-eyed Susan

Golden Retriever

This is Sunny, my neighbor’s dog. How could this article not include a golden retriever? Good dog Sunny!

Sunny

So there you have it. You can “discover gold” in many different places. How about you? Do you have any gold shots of your own? If so, I’d love to see them. Post a comment with a link to your photo and show me!

~ Liz Mackney

Website

Editor’s Pick Gallery

New England Photography Guild Gallery