It's been a while since I last posted. That's because my old computer finally gave in and I had to get another one. I've been loading my new PC with all of the software that I need and also getting used to Windows 7 against Windows XP. I'm getting there but very slowly. Must be my age I think.
Anyway, just before Christmas I decided to make a Festive scene that could be used as a Christmas card or simply just something to display around the house.
I was very lucky in that a friend at work gave me a slice of Christmas Cake that she'd made and that really was the inspiration for the image.
Using the Christmas cake, a Brandy Glass filled with cold tea, some baubles, a decoration in the shape of a penguin (tea light holder) and tinsel I set up the image. I set the brandy glass in the centre of the image with the cake to the right and the penguin to the left. I put the baubles at the back and placed the tinsel all around the scene. At the back of the set up i used a piece of black card so that the individual parts of the scene would stnad out.
I required two shots for the final picture. The first shot was taken with a large aperture F4.5 so that the baubles would be slightly out of focus. I used a Nikon SB600 flash through a 24" shoot through white umbrella to soften the light. The second shot was taken at the same aperture but with no flash and the small candle lit. The idea was to capture the flame.
Once inside Photoshop CS5 I blended the tow images together so that I could see the flame on the candle. I also warmed the image up slightly in Camera Raw so that there would be a warm festive glow about it.
Finally I added some festive text saying a simple "Merry Christmas" and a small white stroke for a border.
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| Picture in CS5 with adjustment layers |
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| Final Image |
