"Hark The Angels Have Arrived" - An Angelic Photo Composition.

After a considerably long absence, I have finally found the time to get back into my still life. For a time I have been suffering from a bit of “artist’s block”. I just haven’t been able to come up with a clear idea in my head. That all changed last week when I was suddenly struck with the greatest idea, flying paper angels. Yes, it was so simple. 


For the better part of four months now I have been trying to do something with a few of the really old books I have lying around. For a while I was trying to make something that kind of resembled and alchemist's workshop. After a few months of that going nowhere I decided to scrap that project and use the props to create something different. The idea was simple, lay a book out on a table and make some angels come out of it. I wasted no time, as soon as the idea was in my head I set out to get supplies. 

In total, I think I spent two days looking for the right books. The main book in the center of the image is my 19th century edition of the New Testament and Psalms. If you are interested in the books themselves, I cover them in detail in my upcoming post on my other website http://topshelfbookclub.com. The other three are some equally old books I found at my favorite used bookstore. Once I had the main element, it was time to find some angels. The angels I used were from several clipart sites I found using google. The most prominent being, freepik. I cut each angel out using an exact-o knife and strung them up using some thin sowing thread. The candle sticks and the glassware were all found in goodwill.

The trickiest prop to get though would have to be the wooden table. I made the table from several scraps of reclaimed wood that I found in the woods behind my house. I spent an entire morning pulling apart what appeared to be a wrecked pool deck with nothing but a crowbar and a hammer. This was probably the most fun part of the entire project. 

Once I had all of my little goodies ready, it was time to put everything together. The resulting image is composited from several images. The main sources of light were my two soft boxes and my trusty off camera flash. The background however, is an old landscape of mine that was swapped in to give off more of an angelic glow. The only thing that really bothers me though is that background. If I could do this again I would have chosen a better setting. 

It took a considerable amount of time to combine all these images together. I was especially happy though, that I got to learn a few new photoshop techniques. Overall, I am really happy with this image. It gives off a warm feeling of happiness and joy that I relate to listening to piano music in church. Quite the change from my original intention of making an alchemist’s dungeon. 



After finishing up my original image I decided to use some of the leftover props to shoot a little still life. I call this one, “A Bowl Full Of Apples”. 

Well, that’s what i’ve been up to as of late. I had a lot of fun making these images. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do. Have a safe and happy day everyone. I will see you the next time I get back to the studio. 

Here is a "Picture Of a Bedtime Story" - 3/1/18

Here is a picture that i've had in my head for quite some time now. As I was looking through my local craft store in search for a valentines day present; I stumbled upon this familiar looking glass case. As soon as I saw it sitting on the bottom shelf I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I've always loved fairy tales and other little fables. I admit I have a large collection of books that I read every night before I head off to sleep. This image is a combination of multiple items that remind me of bedtime stories. Now this particular piece is meant to tell a story, however that story is up to the imagination of the viewer. 

As for my usual technical explanation. I shot this against a black backdrop using a single soft box and my off camera flash. 

Personally I had a lot of fun taking this image and I hope you enjoy it. 

As always feel free to leave any feedback you want. I hope you all enjoy and have a great day. 

New Photos - Winter 2017

Here is a collection of photos I took all through the winter of 2017. I haven't had much time in the studio for the past few months due to various circumstances, however im hoping to get back in the swing of things sometime soon. 

The first is a recent project. Here is a simple product shot of some Pomegranate juice. I have always wanted to do a project with a pomegranate, and I may revisit this shot in the future to maybe add some splashes or something cooler. This could be the start of an interesting set of product shots, so expect more in the future. 

The second set of images is a little project I made for someone very special. Over the past few months this person has been struggling with severe depression and was even hospitalized for an entire month due to various different conditions. During her stay she informed me about Project Semicolon, this set of images was my way of providing support. 

The final composition is made out of about a dozen different shots of different colored liquid frozen in mid air. We achieved this result by applying food coloring to heavy cream and tossing it in the air, freezing the image with my flash. This project was incredibly fun to shoot, and we had a lot of fun producing the raw images. I will include the final image as well as two of the best raw images in the slideshow below. 

[Photo's] - Cards and Dice - 1/18/17

For todays project I wanted to focus on the theme of dice and playing cards. The goal was to create a few simple images that could be used as some kind of backdrop in the future. I wasn't trying to be too serious with this project, it was mainly just for fun. 

The following images are what I came up with. 

Watch Photography Study - 12/28/16

Today I decided to practice some watch photography techniques. The main goal of this project was to create an image that would resemble a magazine ad for a wrist watch. 

The setup for this shot was pretty simple. I attached my watch to a tripod and placed my camera directly above it. As for the lighting I used a single flash which was diffused by a white sheet. Additional light was provided by a flashlight held at arms length in various positions to fill in additional details. 

I ended up with around five shots with lighting set for specific areas of the shot. The shots were then combined in Photoshop in order to create the final image.

There are two different versions of the final image. One with just a plain black background, and the other with a fabric background superimposed in the background.

This project was a lot of fun, and I intend to expand upon it in the coming weeks.

As always any feedback is greatly appreciated. I hope you all have a great day and a great new year.  

Final Image With The Fabric Background.

Final Image With No Background.

"The Energy Of The Forest" - Photo Manipulation - 10/12/16

Today I decided to experiment with some new photo manipulation techniques. The goal was to create an image of a jar radiating what would appear to be mystical energy. The entire purpose of this project was to gain experience with creating artificial light sources during post production. 

Overall I am very pleased with the resulting image and hope to use this technique in future projects. 

If you are interested in a tutorial on how I achieved this effect, feel free to leave a comment down below. As always any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

"Kaleidoscopic Psychoactivity" - 9/21/16 - [Photomanipulation]

The initial idea behind this photo was to create a colorful poster using the same techniques used in last weeks image. 

This particular composition is made up of two photographs combined together, along with extensive amounts of photoshop manipulations.

Take a look for yourself.   

I eventually plan on selling large prints of this image, so definitely let me know what you think.

If you have any questions on how the final product came to be, I would be more than happy to elaborate in a video tutorial. 

"Orange Mango" - 9/14/16 - Photo and Video Tutorial

After receiving positive feedback on last weeks photo, I decided to build on the concept and create something a bit more exciting.

The following image is the result of several hours of experimentation. The photo itself is made up of two exposures, one for the background and one for the bottle. Both of which were processed in Adobe Lightroom, and later combined in Adobe Photoshop. The splash effect was later added in the post production process, by liquifying the bottle and than adding several layer masks comprised of various paint splashes.

The final product is shown below. 

In addition, I have also produced a video tutorial detailing the process for creating the splash's. 

[Photo] - "Blue Beer" - 9/5/16

I spent most of the day testing out some new ideas for some lighting setups. The main goal was to use a setup that was mostly different to what I am used to in order to manipulate the background of the image. The following image is the result of todays experiments. Hopefully in the upcoming weeks I can use this technique to get some nice results. 

[Photo] - "Gone and Still Forgotten" - Re Edit.

Recently Google has made the popular Nik suit of photoshop plugins free to download. I have been looking at this particular plugin suit for quite some time, and now that it's free I figured it's time to give it a try.  

I decided to re edit "Gone and Still Forgotten" to practice using the Silver EFX Pro plugin. 

The following image is the result. 

[Photo] - "A Splash Of Blue" - Final Edit

About a month ago I posted an image titled "A Splash Of Blue". I was not happy with the initial results of the image which has prompted me to revisit it a few times over the past few months. After re shooting the bottle I can now say that I am happy with the final results. 

Below is the final version of "A Splash Of Blue". 

[Photo] - "Strawberry Sundae" - 3/17/16

The following image is another shot for my upcoming senior portfolio. I decided to stray away from my current trend of photographing beverages, and focus on food photography. For this weeks project I figured I would try photographing deserts. The initial process of taking the image was a bit harder than I expected, mainly due to the fact that studio lights cause ice cream to melt a lot faster than normal. However despite the problems I had while shooting I am still happy with the result. 

Below is the final image, as well as some alternate versions. I am still having a hard time deciding which version I like the best so I decided to include the alternate versions. Feel free to let me know which one you like the most.  

Above: Final edit as of 3/17/16

Below: Alternate versions. 

[Photo's] - Experimenting With Macro Photography

I've been wanting to get into macro photography for quite some time now. The following images are my first attempts. Both photos were taken using a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens attached to the camera with a few macro extension tubes. As of writing this post I have not purchased a macro lens. I've found that the extension tubes tend to distort the image and produce results that are rather fuzzy. I can only get better with practice and who knows, perhaps i'll buy a proper macro lens in the near future.

As always any feedback is appreciated.   

[Photo] - "A Splash Of Blue" - 3/3/16

Here is another photo taken as a part of my portfolio evaluation class. 

I had a bit more trouble with this one than normal. I ended up with at least three versions of this photo that I was not happy with. After getting some feedback from my professor I finally decided on this version, which was a lot different than my original idea. 

The entire image is a composite made out of at least five photographs. All the images were combined within Photoshop to create the final effect. 

As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am currently looking for ways to improve this one, so it will likely change a few times before the semester is over. 

[Updated Images] - "Sparkling ICE" - "Passing Time"

All of the projects I have posted over the last few weeks have been taken as part of my final portfolio for my photography major. After getting some feedback from one of my professors i've decided to revisit a few of these images. Below are new and improved versions of "Sparkling ICE", and "Passing Time".