Project 365: Week 26

Welcome to another week of my 365 project!  A few weeks ago, I adopted two Guinea Pig boys from SA Guinea Pig Rescue & Rehome.  Since then, they have gradually grown bolder and more confident, until I finally decided it would be okay for me to photograph them.  I spent the latter half of the week experimenting with different ways of portraying their quirky personalities.

21 June

Chequered  – I have to confess that this image was a bit of a cheat; I took the self-portrait at the end of May, and then simply took a photo of the bottom of our pool.  The real work was done in Photoshop, using the Photoshop action I bought.

22 June

Faerie tales and pixie dust – I shot this with backlight, against a dark background.  To create the ‘pixie dust’, I simply sprinkled dust over the book while the flash went off.  I later pulled up the black tones in the Tone Curve in Lightroom, to create a slightly vintage feel.

23 June

Venosus – I have taken so many photos of backlit leaves, but whenever I am slightly stumped as to what to photograph next, I return to the subject; they are my muse.  I loved the interesting composition that this large leaf, and its stem, provided; lines to draw the eye, and then a slight cocooning of the stem.

24 June

Spike – This is Spike ( so named for his mohawk). I lit the image from camera-left, and bounced the flash off the ceiling; thereby lighting the entire image but retaining highlights of his whiskers and nose.  Though I think Spike normally looks great in colour (he is tri-coloured), I preferred this image in monochrome.

25 June

Rusty – This is Rusty (so named for his rust-coloured hair).  Half-way into the shoot, I decided that he looks better with very soft lighting, and so all of the light was bounced off the ceiling.

26 June

Nose-first – Though I think both of my boys are equally gorgeous, there is no doubt that Spike is more photogenic, and more ready to perform for the camera (especially if there is a promise of an edible reward!).  In order to get the distortion-effect, I used my +10 macro filter, and set my lens to its widest focal length (18mm).  All of the flash was bounced off the ceiling.

27 June

The magician’s protégé – Though I had my doubts about whether he would pull it off, Spike was very eager to sit in an old hat of mine, as long as I kept the treats coming.  I positioned a blue tablecloth underneath the hat, and sprinkled decorate stars on top of it.  I felt the scene needed another hint of colour, preferably one which would complement both the theme and the background, and so I placed a little red scarf inside the hat.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on my images. Have a good week!