This latest photograph is of one of the many shells I purchased from Etsy recently.  Isn't it pretty?  It's called a "Spotted Tun", otherwise known as an Indian Tonna Tessalata.  (that's a mouthful!)  I rested this little guy on the sand during my last trip to the shore for a simple, minimal shot.  I want to go back for another trip to the shore but haven't had the time so I've been resting some of my shells on sand from the craft store out in the backyard.  I'm trying to make it appear in the photos as if they're really taken at the beach but I know it's fake so it doesn't mean as much.  Fingers crossed I can get to the shore again soon!

This print is now available on my shop here..."Seashell Voices"

Have a great day!  Until next time...

Carolyn  :)

If you're a fan of my photography, you know I mainly shoot flowers, beach scenes and birds.  Lately I'm starting to have more of an interest in still life photography.  I'd like to explore this genre a little more, you know...mix things up a bit.  I LOVE shooting flowers and my usual subjects but sometimes I feel like I've "been there and done that."  When my creative juices stop flowing, different ideas really get them going once again.  I bought this cute little (fake) bird nest with robins eggs from Etsy to take a picture of it for my shop.  Isn't it cute?  The simplicity of this really speaks to me.  I think this would look so cute in a nice white matted frame.

I'm brainstorming lately for still life ideas.  I recently bought some cool vintage cameras from eBay that I'm planning to take pictures of.  Stayed tuned for those!  I also want to work on some fruit photography soon.  If you have any fun still life ideas, please suggest them in the comments.

Have a great day and weekend!

This print is available on my shop here... "Robin's Nest"

Carolyn  :)

I mentioned a while back on my blog that I got a special lens from my husband for my last birthday called a "LensBaby."  It creates neat focus effects where you focus on a certain area and then the rest of the image is blurred.  See the effect in my new photograph above?  I focused on the seagull and as you can see the ocean is blurred out.  Doesn't this create an interesting effect?  This lens is definitely not an easy lens to use.  There's no auto focus and you actually physically swap out a little ring to change the aperture on the camera...very different from what I'm used to with a normal lens.  I LOVE the focus effects it gives though, I think it creates such a cool mood.  Soooo...I'm going to keep experimenting and will post the results here.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Carolyn  :)

Every time I go to the beach to take pictures I'm always looking for pretty shells to shoot but wind up getting frustrated because I don't find much.  I finally bit the bullet a couple weeks ago and bought a bunch of shells from a cool Etsy shop I found called the Seaside Store.  They have just about every type of shell this beach bum could want.  I placed a big old order and got my delivery last week.  They are all so beautiful, I couldn't be happier and believe it or not, nothing arrived broken.  I was surprised since some of them are so fragile.

The photo above is my first new print with one of the shells...a conch shell.  My hubby and I took a spur-of-the-momet ride this past weekend to the shore so I had the chance to start shooting!  I'll be posting more new shell photographs here as I finish them.  

I'm calling this one "Paradise" because the beach is paradise to me.  It was so beautiful and calming on the weekend...ahhh....I love it.  I'm praying one day I can make my dream of a beach house come true...fingers crossed.  If I made that happen one day, then I could walk on the beach all the time looking for shells!  :)

This print is now available on my shop here... "Paradise"

Have a great weekend!

Carolyn  :)

If you follow my blog or know anything about me as a photographer, you know that I LOVE color and usually play it up BIG TIME in my photographs.  Since it's important for all of us to step out of our comfort zones once in a while, I figured I'd try to finally edit some photos in black and white.  Here are some of my results above. 

So what have I learned from my little experiment?  Well, since I'm always so used to grabbing the viewers attention with my splashes of color, I learned that by taking the color OUT, I really had to pump up the contrast in my photos.  The contrast was pretty much my only tool for trying to make each image "eye-catching."  The other funny thing is when I'm always editing my photos with color, I have the hardest time deciding what shade of color to use, etc.  I didn't have to worry about that with these!  ha.  :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my results above.  What do you think?  I'm a little torn.  At first, I thought they looked pretty dull since I'm so used to looking at vibrant color in Photoshop.  Now after adjusting my eyes a little, I think they're growing on me.  I definitely think black and white adds a classic, sophisticated feel to a photograph that can't really be accomplished when editing with color.  Another plus to black and white that I find cool is they're so easy to create coordinated sets for your walls!  I'm thinking of maybe framing a few of these in a grouping in my house, maybe I'll like them even more if I do that.

I've added the prints above to my shop.  Depending on the reception they recieve, I may be adding more black and white photographs in the future. 

Carolyn  :)