Old Friends and New Ones

Today I spent some time with some old friends--some of my first flower art cards. They have traveled a long photographic road. My first pictures, taken last summer, were taken outside in the shadiest sunny spot I could find--often using my own shadow to lessen the extreme brightness. In October, I built my first lightgbox and retook all the pictures. I thought my new pictures were amazing--the clarity, the detail, the trueness of colors! It wasn't long though, before I wasn't satisfied with just that. My pictures were still dark--frustratingly so as no amount of light seemed to help!

Later, I learned of my camera's exposure setting (and a handful of others like macro and white balance) and my pictures became the bright, crisp, delightful images I was chasing after. However, being crunched on time, only my newest listings benefited from my new-found skill. So today I started in on the long slog of replacing all my old photos. I didn't get too far (I'd had a soda and between my own excitement and the caffeine and the sugar I was too jittery to have the patience for photographing) but I took those first few steps.

And wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! I relisted this card simply to showcase the stunning new photography. This is the carrot I needed to entice me to retake more of my pictures. Just amazing.



Given my sugary state I decided to move to something a little more tangible--working on my newest Great Idea (my new friend)! I spent over an hour playing with layouts debating composition and color placement. What's shown below is one of the potential layouts. I couldn't quite find that optimal placement that vibed just right so I am going to sit and think on it a bit more before permanently adhering anything.