Light, Shadows and Transformation in Roses – Picture to Ponder – v7 – issue7

This past week I was focused on noticing light, shadows and contrasts, following along with the suggested explorations for participants before the last session of the current Through and From The Lens Telecourse.

I ultimately had fun “playing” with two white roses out of a Valentine’s Day bouquet of roses gift from my son and daughter-in-law. I photographed roses against both white and black backgrounds and then experimented with different editing “enhancements” in iPhoto, Photoshop Elements, my most frequently used program, and Picnik, the free program that Flickr offers and integrates with its services.

For more of Today’s Photos, explanations and Queries A couple of the photo examples are featured below as Today’s Photos. You can see some of the other roses, showing my usage of the different editing programs, on the 2011 Roses Set on Flickr. When you go to the latter, you’ll note some of greyish color in the non-enhanced photos.

Special thanks to Ingrid Owens, of Beginners Photography Blog, for being our guest lighting expert on last week’s call and for later explaining to me how the camera sees white, the results and how we can compensate.

If you are interested in participating, the next TFTL series starts in three weeks on March 8th. Click on the link, or see below, for more information.

Today’s Featured Photos –

The editing in the top photo was with iPhoto and the middle with Photoshop Elements. The bottom one had no added enhancements. Against the black background the color was “true”, whereas with the white there was a grey overcast.

Self-Reflecting Queries –
I’m finding it interesting to note my freely playing with editing programs and publicly sharing this. During the first few years of Picture to Ponder I was very rigorous about showing photos, aside from cropping, “exactly” as they were when I downloaded them from my cameras. I even wrote about it quite often, probably with a smug pride at times.

This leads me to invite you to look at your life. Can you find any areas where you are feeling, or felt, very righteous, rigid and even self-important about doing something exactly the way it is/was “supposed” to be done?

You may even have created the “rules”, as I did, which is even more interesting. If the latter is the case, how often did/do you impose your expectations on others?

Lastly, can you see any areas where you have grown, moved past those often self-limiting beliefs? If so, I invite you to acknowledge yourself for this, even publicly, here or to another person, further empowering yourself and others.

As always, have fun, and please share in the comments below what comes up for you.

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March Through and From The Lens Telecourse Now Open –
As we concluded last night session of Through and From The Lens, one participant said that she’s now found her camera to be the “best relaxation tool ever.” She finds “150% relaxation” in taking and editing pictures.

Another stated today that she is now much less judgmental about her work and can allow it to be whatever it is.

There was pride and new enthusiasm for the possibilities they added to their lives.

One of the things that has added to the vibrancy of the course is that I am now able to share my desktop, so each participant can all see at the same time, each other’s works plus other links that I share. Watch your mail for a possible introductory session where we use FreeSee to get a more complete picture.

In the meantime, I’d love to have you join us. Enrollment is limited. See TFTL March for details.