Floral and Scenic Photography for Students – Part 3:
Floral and Scenic Photography for Students -Part 3
All of my Mentees from Westlake High School.
Regarding Floral and Scenic Photography for Students, Some of my male students roll their eyes when I suggest shooting floral, including natural light as well as lighted still life and light painted floral arrangements. However they quickly realized how complicated it can get when we get into lighting and light painting arrangements. Chloe and I hung this orchid cluster from a cross bar and painted it with a flash light over about a 10 second exposure and then we masked in the spot lit areas in Photoshop.
Chloe Orchids Master fine art photography austin
Eleana and I drove to the Austin Botanical Gardens to photograph water lilies in natural light. The sun was just low enough to cast the edge of shadows to give this lily a bit of POP. In photoshop we duplicated the base layer and changed the blend mode to soft light. We duplicated it again and change the blend mode to multiply. Then we selected the flower, reversed the selection and masked in a water and lily pad background from a different shot.
Elena’s Lily master floral photography in natural light
AFTER EDITING Elena’s Lily master floral photography in natural light
The reason I like roses and orchids so much is because the petals are translucent, so they let light through them. This make them prime candidates for back lighting. This rose that Morgan and I photographed, is a great example. There is no front light. It was lit only from behind. You can see the flashlight Morgan was holding behind the rose in the first shot.
Morgan back lighting orange rose floral photography Austin
After editing Morgan back lighting orange rose floral photography Austin
I introduce my students to the different rules of composition early on. In this Gerber Daisey photograph, we used one single flash with a soft box on the right. Morgan did a great job of cropping the images so that the flowers fell perfectly into the 45 degree rule.
Gerber daisy one light cropped to 45 degree rule of composition
Nolan and I also photographed some blue orchids. This image is a combination of 3 different front spot lighted areas and two backlit areas. He did a great job of honoring the rule of thirds when he did his final crop.
Blue Orchid spot lighting for floral portrait
Blue Orchid spot lighting for floral portrait
Blue Orchid spot lighting for floral portrait
Blue Orchid spot lighting for floral portrait
After Editing Blue Orchid spot lighting for floral portrait
And one more Orchid arrangement with Krishan. He also did front and back lighting and masked in spot lit areas to create his master image.
Purple Orchids by Krishan for masking
Purple Orchids by Krishan for masking
Purple Orchids by Krishan for masking
Purple orchid final after editing
Nolan and I attempted to emulate the still life floral style of Paulette Tavormina. I shopped at Central Market for the props, and my wife Samantha Stevens carved out some time from her Austin based job coaching day and built this gorgeous arrangement. Actually there is very little editing in this final image, just a couple of spot lit area on the right that the key light on the left could not reach.
Samantha Stevens building still life Floral arrangement for photograph
Floral still life photograph after editing
One of my favorite locations for introducing my students to landscape and scenic photography is the Pennybacker Bridge over Lake Austin. It is iconic, and the students always have something special to print up and take home with them. With Elena and Jake, the lesson involved learning how to evaluate a panoramic scene, leveling the camera to shoot 5 or 6 bracketed exposures and overlaping each shot so that Photoshop would be able to merge them all together into one scene. Here is what they came up with. Elena was delighted when friend of mine offered to pay her $100 for a 30 inch print of her panorama.
Elena’s panoramic scene of the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin Texas Floral and Scenic Photography
Jake’s panoramic scene of the Pennybacker Bridge in Austin Texas Floral and Scenic Photography
Morgan and I photographed a City-scape of Austin. You can tell that this was a few years ago – 2014 to be precise because the Frost Bank Building is featured and visible. Today, it is hard to find an angle where you can see any of that building.
Frost Bank building Austin cityscape circa 2014 Floral and Scenic Photography
Emulating the still life photographic style of Paulette Tavormina
Emulating the still life photographic style of Paulette Tavormina
One of my Westlake students for whom I am a photography mentor for the Independent Study Program at Westlake High School wanted to shoot a still life. I have always admired the work of Paulette Tavormina. Her fine art photography rises above the crowd of fine art photographers. Here is an example of her work.
Paulette Tavormina Roses+and+Figs_2013
My student, Jake and I moved some furniture around in my living room and built a black backdrop to cut out the ambient light. We lit the scene from several different angles with a Westcot mini strip light and painted in the lit areas in Photoshop.
Set up for Floral Fine Art photography austin Johnny Stevens
Set up for Floral Fine Art photography austin Johnny Stevens
Here is what we ended up with.
Floral still life Fine Art photography Austin Johnny Stevens
Light Painting an Orchid
Light Painting an Orchid.
For his lesson today, Nolan who I mentor in the independent studies program at Westlake High School, we light painted this orchid. We lit the plant with a small led flashlight and looked at each image on my ipad by using the Cam Ranger system plugged into the Canon 5d Mark 3 camera. We ended up with 10 different images of varying lighting on the orchid that we layered and masked together to create this final image. We back lit the flowers and front lit the flower buds. The back lighting helped pop out the dramatic edges of the flower petals.
Light Painting an Orchid by Nolan and Johnny
These are some of the light painted images that we blended together to make the final Orchid image.
Light Painting an Orchid
Photography
- At July 22, 2014
- By Johnny Stevens
- In Aerial photography, aerial video, austin architectural photographer, Austin photographer, beautiful, composite portraiture, family, Floral, headshots, lifestyle photography, light painting, Photography, portrait photography, professional, student housing, student lifestyle
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Professional Photography in Austin
As one of the best photographers in Austin, and certainly the easiest to work with, Johnny Stevens has a versatile portfolio of photography that can be seen below. Browse through the architectural photography, aerial drone photography, portrait photography, fine art photography, and scenic photography galleries below, or use the above menu.
Scenic
Beautiful scenic landscapes, sunrises and sunsets. Johnny has traveled internationally to find these captivating scenic shots. Giclee or canvas prints of his scenic photography are available for purchase.
FOR GICLEE OR CANVAS PRINT SIZES AND PRICES PLEASE CLICK HERE
Fine Art
Johnny’s Abstract / Photographic Fine Art gallery is one of his most captivating of his collections. As one of the most popular photographic art photographers in Texas, he masterfully transforms images of common elements and nature into art via creative editing techniques in Photoshop.
Johnny’s fine art images are also available for print and licensing. His most popular fine art collection is the “Rust Rapture” series, which was recently featured in Austin’s O2 Gallery and the Caldwell Arts Council, garnering rave reviews from various art enthusiasts:
“I am fascinated with Johnny’s Rust Rapture photographs. They are mesmerizing amalgamations of movement, color and organic patinas. Bravo!” – Francine Affourtit
This art can be purchased with original signatures (limited availability). Please contact Johnny for more information on customization or commissions.
Click here for print options and ordering!
