Friday 28 February 2014

February - Photo a Day & Tips for Smartphone Photography

iPhone with Snapseed, Mextures and DistressedFx Apps

My tulips are in the phase where the leaves are falling and withering, yet the colors are brighter than ever! So I let them fall, forming modern art on the table - being thankful for my patient husband, who puts up with his wifes "frugal flower art."



iPhone with Waterlogue & iColorama Apps inspired by Roxi's tutorial at Creating Beyond the Layers
 
 
The quiet and yet silently concentrated atmosphere has howered over our house this week. Our boys are enjoying the process og gluing the Warhammer- fantasy figues together and painting them.


iPhone & VSCOCam and Tadaa SLR Apps
 
 
The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
Sydney J. Harris



iPhone with Tadaa SLR App

An afternoon out ice skating is great fun and a way to find your long-lost muscles in your legs ...
Ice skating in February with our younger sons class is a nice tradition - fresh air, cathing up with one another, and swopping the afternoon tea to hot chocolate.


iPhone with Hipstamatic App: Yuri61-lens and Robusta-film

A warm woolen blanket and a book - what else do you need for an unhurried afternoon?

:   :   :  

I probably use more time with the camera in my smartphone than phoning from it! Do you use your smartphone for taking pictures?

I share inspiration and  advice on smartphone photography in my article at Love That Shot ... click  the following link and be inspired:
  "5 Tips for Getting Started with Smartphone Photography"




February 2014 - Photo a Day. Photos with iPhone,
Video with Collectphoneapp, music Yiruma: River flows in you.
 

... Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
with moments of joy, quietness,
energy, peace ... and whatever your heart desires!
 

Nina
 
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Monday 24 February 2014

Add Subtle Light and a Natural Vignette with a Photo Veil: Photo Recipe


I like the glow and the light that photo veils from the Illumination Collection add to images. The veil I have chosen to this picture, creates a natural vignette to the corners and gives an airy feeling with subtle light.

The veil infusions from Love That Shot are jpeg files, that will work in any photo editing program, also in the updated versions of PS and CC.

Photo Recipe:
1. I adjusted the contrast and lightened up the tone of the image just a bit in the photoshop.
2. I added a photo veil Light from the Illumination Collection using blending mode soft light with 100 % opacity.

Quick, easy and natural - This is why I'm so fond of photo veils! Changing the blending mode enchanges the mood and the light effect of the veils: Jackie  at Bottle Tree Photography shows fine examples of the effect of using different blending modes  with a photo veil.

Until next time,
Nina

Sunday 23 February 2014

The way to go



I will teach you and tell you the way to go and how to get there;
I will give you good counsel, and I will watch over you.
 
Psalm 32:8 The Voice

Sara Groves: Hello Lord

Blessings to your week, 

Nina



Here's a printable
of Proverbs 32:8 for you
 



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Photo iPhone 5S, Hipstamatic App: Lowy & Rasputin, Photo Veil Agave from Love That Shot
 

Saturday 22 February 2014

iPhone snapshots from my week

Hipstamatic App
 
I visited our local cafe with a friend of mine the other afternoon. We found many new, funny things - like the two birds above! The Bruxelles-traffic sign is nostagic to me, reminding me of the 3 years I studied there. I met my husband while we studied at the Continental Theological seminary - we should take our boys there, it would be nice to see how everything looks now, 14 years after we graduated!
 
Hipstamatic App
 
It is always a pleasure to catch up with my friend. This time we shared a cheesecake ... I had to take a picture of the pretty spoons and the saucer!
 
 
VSCO Cam App

 
Our boys have spent hours with the Warhammer figures. Painting many layers, creating light and shadows, does make the capes look like they're made of real leather.
 
VSCO Cam App
 
The boys are planning to make a whole army of the figures, so that they can start playing with dizes on a real landscape-map ... I look forward of seeing, what that type of game is all about.
 


 
Hipstamatic App
Listening the keyboard on the background is cozy and relaxing in the evenings - our oldest son has started piano lessons. I have also played just a little, awakening my rusty fingers ...
 
 
This week has flown by so fast - I'm enjoying the slow life this weekend :)
 
... Wishing you peaceful moments,
 
Nina
 
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Sunday 16 February 2014

True friends



Friends come and friends go,
but a true friend sticks by you like family.
 
Proverbs 18:24 The Message

Everyday Miracles by Sara Groves


Blessings to your week, 

Nina



Here's a printable
of Proverbs 18:24 for you
 



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Photo taken with iPhone 5S, edited in Snapseed, TadaaSLR & Mextures-Apps
 

Saturday 15 February 2014

Love, tulips and finds in the nature

Textures 2LO Inner Circle 1 by 2 Lil Owls-Studio and 2811Magic & Love-stamp by Kim Klassen

I've grown up with the Finnish tradition of celebrating the February 14th as a Day of Friendship... and an occasion to bake some sweet little things, off course! This year I baked these delicious cookies grinding sundflower seeds and oat meal, with a heart of rasberry jam in the middle - Boy, were they good! The recipe is found in Green Kitchen Stories. The only adjustment to the original recipe I made was to roll the cookies in shredded coconut.


Besides my husband and the boys, my good friends Birgitta and Dorthe did get some of these cookies - They're Friendship Cookies after all!

The flu is getting better ... So I went to a Zumba Class yesterday with a friend. The music and the motion was great - afterwards I invited her over to dinner (I made chicken burgers - the favorite of our boys :) We had a nice Friday / Friendship Day and Valentine's!


Pictures taken with iPhone 5, the collage with Fuzel-app.


The sun has been showing itself a bit more often, coloring the sky ... I've taken many of the daily snapshots with my iphone from the little walks in the neighborhood.


Pictures taken with iPhone 5, the collage with Fuzel-app.

The project of taking one picture everyday is going well. I often take more than one photo every day, so my iPhone is filled with pictures and needs a caring hand in saving them in folders and delating the double-copies.

Pictures taken with iPhone 5, the collage with Fuzel-app.

Our boys have had winter holidays this week - they're enjoying the possibility of going deep with painting the Warhammer-figures. Today we're going to a shop called Farao's Cigar, that sells painting and other Warhammer things ... That's going to be exciting :)

And - the weekly challenge in Frugal Still Life Photography is about Food Photography ... I feel like baking something with chocolate, do you have a recipe you would recommend?

Have a great weekend,
 

Sunday 9 February 2014

Still Life Photography - a lá Dutch Master Style

f / 3.8  , 1/125´s., ISO 4000  Spot metering
 
We were to get some inspiration from the Great Dutch Master Painters for the assingsment in the week 4 of Frugal Still Life Photography. I had still some of the gorgeous images on my mind from the Flower and World Views-exhibition in the Danish National Gallery, I visited with my husband last fall. Among the works were some spectacular Still Life paintings from the Dutch Golden Age.
 
I had no fresh flowers, but I used some other items I spotted, as props for this prompt.
- The fruit vase is from my husbands grandmother. My husbad tells that the vase was always filled with oranges - and when visiting his grandmom, he was allowed to pick an orange and share it with his sister.
- The tin can is from my grandmother and grandfather. Right after my grandfather came home from the Winter War in 1940, he got married with my grandmom - and they received this tin vase as a wedding present. A year after the wedding, my uncle, the big brother to my mom, was born.
- The book is from my grandmother ... It is a Finnish translation of Elizabeth Goudges Green Dolphin Country.
- To create a light spot, I placed 3 candles to a Fair Play-cup, our younger son received two years ago. 
 
 
Experimenting with meter modes and adjusting the available light was challenging. To start with, I realized that I had to set 3 layers of sheets in front of the window in order to block the daylight out. I then changed the meter mode from matrix metering to center wieghted metering, and finally to spot metering. Spot metering gave the best results, so I decided to stick with it.
 
 
I did adjust the contrast and diminished the exposure of the original image. The light from the window does reflect on the right side of the can, so I removed it by cropping it away. In order to add warmth and to create a painterly-like effect, I added textures Texvol3_01 and Texvol2_03 with the courtesy of Cheryl McCain.
 
Week 5 
 
The assignments in week 5 of the Frugal Still Life Photography include using a single light source, and thereby capturing natural shadows. Cheryl McCain encourages us also to use complementary color in orden to bring about balance and to make certain objects pop. This is my first image:
 
 f / 3.8 , 1/125 s. , ISO 4500 Spot metering
 
The light from the candles does enlighten the foreground of the image. I like the way the candlelight softens the bowl, and how it creates a shadow to the mandarin.
Complementary color of green would be red, yet I had difficulties in finding something red, so I used orange - the orange mandarin does pop out in a vivid way.
 
 
 
I edited the photo as follows: I dimished the exposure and used the burn-function to fade the prints from the backdrop curtain. I straightened the image and cropped it, and added the satururation of the red color with +6. I added the two, pretty textures from Cheryl, using soft light blending mode, and brushing the texture from the flames. 
 
f/ 3.8, 1/125 s.  ISO 3600  Spot metering

This is my second image with the orange ... It reminds me of Alice in the Wonderland. Placing the mandarin on the top of the can, changes the balance of the photo, compared to the one before. The mandaring reflects on the bowl - creating a little but delightful twist.
 
 
I've enjoyed greatly trying to create Still Life Photography in style with the Great Dutch Masters. Cherishing the frugal principles - using items from your home - has brought me down the memory lane ... Going through the moments with the loved ones, that no longer are among us.
 
I'm not quite fresh yet after the flu, so photographing inside is just enough activity, in between the daily naps. I might as well grabb the Greeb Dolphin Country and read it anew ... With the next pot of tea.

 
... Until next time,
 
Nina
 
 
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How good God is



Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.

Psalm 34:8 The Message

Be Still and Know by Scripture Lullabies


Blessings to your week, 

Nina



Here's a printable
of Psalm 34:8 for you
 



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Photo taken with iPhone 5S -texture Jennifer with the courtesy of Nancy Clayes

Sunday 2 February 2014

You're blessed ...



You’re blessed when you get your inside world —
your mind and heart — put right.
Then you can see God in the outside world.
 
Maththew 5:8 The Message


I Will Never Leave You - Scripture Lullabies
 


Blessings to your week, 

Nina



Here's a printable
of Matthew 5:8 for you
 


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Photo taken with iPhone 5S - Camera+, edited with DistressedFX and Mextures-Apps
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