Paul's Photo of the Month

[Iggy]

Hi Paul,
Nice and colourful.
Are the petals placed on your LED light panel, or just lit by the panel?
Kind regards,
Iggy

[Paul Heester]

Hi Iggy

I placed the panel on the floor and put the petals and rose on top. There was ambient light in the room but the panel does help shine through petals to get a translucent effect. The Clematis shot was with the panel upright though.

Hi Paul,
Nice and colourful.
Are the petals placed on your LED light panel, or just lit by the panel?
Kind regards,
Iggy

[Paul Heester]

Here is July's image, taken at Wally's lovely BBQ. I used a Lensbaby Composer Pro, which Ive found gives nice bokeh and suits flower photography.

Pollen by Paul Heester, on Flickr

[Paul Heester]

Been low on inspiration lately so this was a snapshot of a sunhat that didnt get much use over this summer

Summer Hat by Paul Heester, on Flickr

[Iggy]

Hi Paul,
Good to see that you are still posting your POTM which is an encouragement to us all.
We have 4 weeks to shoot our September images, which I haven't given any thought to yet.
Also need to think about the next TPR set in PhotoSharing.

Your sunhat is another interesting image featuring texture.
In some ways similar to your lovely feather images.
This one could possibly benefit from contrast adjustments of the crown which is perhaps a little on the light side??
Just a tad really so that it still stands out from the brim.
What do you think?

Kind regards,
Iggy

[Paul Heester]

Thanks for the reply Iggy. I did apply a subtle vignette which - given the square format - probably looks like the flatter part is intentionally darker, which wasnt intended. Im thinking increased contrast may just blur it all back into the same texture, although that could make it more abstract I may play around with it some more!

Hi Paul,
Good to see that you are still posting your POTM which is an encouragement to us all.
We have 4 weeks to shoot our September images, which I haven't given any thought to yet.
Also need to think about the next TPR set in PhotoSharing.

Your sunhat is another interesting image featuring texture.
In some ways similar to your lovely feather images.
This one could possibly benefit from contrast adjustments of the crown which is perhaps a little on the light side??
Just a tad really so that it still stands out from the brim.
What do you think?

Kind regards,
Iggy

[Paul Heester]

Found another use for my light panel with this months image. I brought these home-grown tomatoes into the house, rested them on some black felt and angled my light panel around until I had pleasing light. I ended up taking numerous shots and then stacked the ones I liked and used the Lighten mode for each layer. This shows the brightest part of each shot so it looks like I had multiple light sources. Did some dodging and burning as well plus processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Tomatoes by Paul Heester, on Flickr

[Paul Heester]

No light panel this month! Found a green leaf from a creeper tree at work and decided to ignore the autumnal colours and go for the textures, which of course B&W tends to bring out. I like how its got a leathery look to it. Lit from window light with white card reflector and dodged and burnt in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Veins by Paul Heester, on Flickr

[Iggy]

Amazing leather look!

[Iggy]

Hi Paul,
Your last two images would have done well in the Bamber Competition!
Regards,
Iggy