The end of another theme has come. This marks the halfway point of our year long project. How is it going for everyone? Have you diligently been shooting every week? Or maybe you've missed a few? Hopefully if you've fallen off the wagon a bit, you're finding your way back.
I personally struggled this past winter with my inspiration, but I perservered and am finally (oh-so-slowly) re-emerging with a new perspective regarding my creative journey. Everyone struggles--even if the outward appearance tells a different story. I urge you to find what works for you to overcome these ruts and come out on the other side happier for it.
So....onto the final highlights of our layering theme! If any of you struggled, it definitely was not apparent, evidenced from the beautiful images in the photo dumps on our Facebook group!
xo Angie Mahlke
Gear: Canon 5DIV, Sigma 35 mm f/1.4
Settings: 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 125
The Shot: I wanted to capture a layered image of the lovely bluebells so I got very low to the ground and used a wide aperture to give some blur. I asked my girls to do a clapping game to get them to interact.
Post Processing: In Lightroom I straightened, cropped slightly, adjusted white balance to even out skin tones, and used the HSL panel to alter colours. I increased contrast and used a radial filter to increase exposure on my girls. In Photoshop I removed a few distracting objects and took some yellow out of the bright spring greens.
Gear: Fuji XT3 with Samyang f2 12mm
Settings: ISO 400, f/8, 1/250 with manual focusing
The Shot: I realised I hadn't used this lens for a long time so I wanted to have some fun with it this week. My daughter kept going on the slide head first and I wanted to show how much fun she was having.
Post Processing: Used Elena Blair outdoor preset in LR, adjusted the exposure and added texture. I placed a radial filter over her face to lighten it up and a linear filter over the sky to add contrast and clarity.
Gear: Canon R5, 24-70mm
Settings: ISO125, f/.8, 1/640
The Shot: I was taking pictures of the scene, and suddenly saw a bubble coming my way. I was lucky to have time to readjust the focus on the man and the sun was shining through from my back.
Post Processing: I used LR to highlight the people and bubbles. A radial filter was used to darken the background.
Gear: Canon EOSR6, 28-70mm at 28mm
Settings: 1/200 f8.0 ISO 51,200
The Shot: I'm always trying to capture the regular routine moments of our day, and I love when I can find a new way to show a slice of our life right now. I decided to do some pictures of bedtime routines and this one is taken of my daughter after a shower, through the shower door. I always come in after her shower to squeegee down the door I noticed how cool it looked with her through the water drops so I made a note to get my camera ready for after her next shower. It actually took a few times to get this shot because I try not to direct my daughter too much and she kept leaving before I got in there with my camera to take the picture. And one time I took pictures at f4 but the drops were too bokeh for the feeling I wanted for the picture. I love that my kids are so used to their weirdo mom that they think nothing of me bringing my camera in the shower for several nights in a row just to get the shot I want.
Post Processing: Minimal edits in lightroom. Adjusted exposure, decreased highlights a bit and lightened shadows. Increased luminance to reduce grain since I had used a high ISO to compensate for a more narrow aperature.
Gear: Nikon D750, Sigma 135 1.8
Settings: ISO200 f2.8 1/1000
The Shot: Found a wish field so grabbed my daughter. I was very low to the ground when I shot.
Post Processing: I applied a preset as a base, did some small hand edits to skin, dodge & burn and added some light.
Gear: Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm macro
Settings: ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/500
The Shot: Cloudy day in early May and the bees were flitting around. I looked for a plant that had a bunch of layers and just waited until the bee landed. Burst mode helped a lot to get the right position.
Post Processing: Chose the image where the bee minimally interesected with the background to highlight the subject. LR edit. Lowered texture, increased clarity and dehaze. Used a radial filter to use increase exposure on the bee a touch and used built int sharpening.
Gear: Sony 6500 Macro Lens FE 2.8/50 mm
Settings: ISO 250, f10, 1/160
The Shot: Droplets on a spiderwort that hasn't bloomed yet after it rained all night. I love the extra layers that the refraction provides.
Post Processing: Basic edits done in Bridge including Mickie DeVries's Pansy spring preset. A little dodging in PS.
Gear: Nikon D850, 35mm Sigma Art, Outex underwater housing
Settings: f/2.5, 1/5000 ISO 125
The Shot: I shot this in my pool in the middle of the afternoon in full sun. I created bubbles close to the camera and shot through them to create the bokeh.
Post Processing: I edited this in photoshop. I first cleaned up any specs and unwanted bubbles in the water. I used a color balance layer to adjust the overall color of the photo, then used several curves layers to brush in skin tone adjustments. I desaturated the blue tones of a the water a small amount, and added a little light at the top with the gradient tool. Finally, I sharpened with a high pass filter.
Gear: Nikon D750. 24-70mm lens
Settings: This photo was shot at 70mm, IS0 4000, 1/500s @ f/10.
The Shot: I shot this frame from a shaded area although the subject was lit with a beautiful pocket of light shining from above.
Post Processing: I did minor color, contrast and clarity adjustments in LR. I further worked my selective colors in photoshop, I brought the photo back to LR and added 2 different gradient filters to adjust exposure in the top and bottom half of the frame.
Gear: Canon 6D Mark ii, Sigma 35mm
Settings: ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/1000
The Shot: I shot this standing on a ladder directly across from my front window while my son looked out. I shot from slightly below to try to keep myself out of the reflection and focused on his face in the window.
Post Processing: I edited this in LR using a Baby Rose preset and transformed to square the lines of the window. I brightened and increased clarity on my son to make him stand out.
Gear: Nikon D7100
Settings: f 2.8, ISO 500, 1/250s
The Shot: My daughter called me from the bed to read a book with her. When I came to the bedroom I found her like this so I ran to grab my camera and capture this moment.
Post Processing: In post i put a slight vignette, increased contrast by Dodge &burn and adjusted skin tones.
Gear: Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 35mm f1.4 lens
Settings: 1/400sec, f/1.8, ISO 100
The Shot: This photo was taken during a trip to a local lake. There was a woodland play area and a stack of wooden pallets. My son Remy was fascinated by them and after standing on them decided to shoot at me through one of the gaps (with his 'shooting gun' which was essentially a stick!)
Post Processing: Lightroom. Subtle editing - I added some contrast in Tone Curve.
Gear: Nikon D810 Nikkor 24-70 shot at 24mm
Settings: ISO100 f/22 1/5s
The Shot: My son started playing with the umbrella (he never stays still) so I switched to slow shutter speed under the light rain in order to capture the movement and the breeze on the pond. Also kept the f stop high to get a good depth of field for the layers.
Post Processing: Some adjustments to try to create a moody look. More blacks, more white starting from a rather toned down palette (rainy day as you can see).
Gear: Canon 6D Mark ii 50mm
Settings: 1/400 sec f2.8 iso 4000
The Shot: I was getting ready to go out with my husband and she asked to get some of my makeup. Little does she know I have I have no idea what I’m doing. Camera is on the bed next to us on a timer.
Post Processing: Edited in Lightroom with all my usual tweaks and exposure adjustment.
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