Saturday, October 22, 2011

Texture

Natural Texture


Dog Blog Post #484 Dogs were out of pocket most the day, so I relied on a late afternoon sunbeam and an easy prompt:

Our Daily Challenge - "Natural Texture"
111 Pictures in 2011 - "#59. Texture"

That's the top of Henry's fuzzy head, of course, after I'd pet it the wrong way a few times with a slightly damp hand to get the hair as up-on-end as it was going to get.

It's a trick that works well for Henry (but not at all for Zachary) and I've used it several times, like these...

ds428 - Soft
Six Months old


ds475 - Low Contrast
8 Months old

ds513 - Texture
Extreme closeup at 9 Months old

With the boys out of the house, I focused (cough) on my LAST Scavenger Challenge shot, and the one I had been dreading the most:

"25) This month's Education Center topic is Simplicity. First, you must find a piece of old wood (driftwood, for example). Display it on a dark background with no other obvious visual background element. You may use some small accents (a flower, a stone, etc.) to create interest, but attempt to create a still life with the style and elegance seen in Japanese art."

Simplicity


I don't care for still life shots, because (a) I'm never satisfied with how things look and (b) lighting is a pain.

Today, I was outside around 1pm taking pictures in full sunlight of piece I filched from the tan bark under a Crape Myrtle tree in front of an office building.

The background was the stretchy black velvet, which was a total pain to work with as it was extremely reflective in that light unless you positioned it "just so" compared to the sun - and even "just so" I still had sparkles. The fabric was draped over a kitchen chair, and held taught behind the chair with a butterfly clip.

The flower is a Lantana - one of the few things still blooming in my yard.

I took over 80 pictures, and of those 80 there were only two that I would even consider uploading. The other one is below, with a few of last years Crape Myrtle seed pots added for interest. Alas, I blew out the highlights on that one.

Simplicity


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4 comments:

greygirl25 said...

He looks so soft, I just want to nuzzle my face down into him.

I don't enjoy still life either.

houndstooth said...

I love that soft look of his! I still find myself wanting to reach out and run my fingers through his fur.

I've actually wanted to try that still life, but I just never seem to have time to look for a stick. I've done terrible at keeping up with that one this month and I just have to vow to do better next month at this point.

Sue and Doug said...

great texture shot..but you know of course all that lovely golden fur winds up in the vacumm bag!!

Greyhounds CAN Sit said...

Henry always looks cute and fuzzy even when he's trying to be all suave and sophisticated:)

I think still life would be very frustrating as it's such an individual thing. I like what you've done.