Valentine Portrait Ideas

Valentine's Day is coming up and thought I'd share

some ideas for some LOVEly portraits.

If you live in an area with snow, try trampling out 

the shape of a heart to frame a little one as in the photo above.

Here's an idea for a little boy:

I found this great heart-shaped mug at the thrift store,

but you can use a red or pink cup.

My steam overlays are available HERE in my Etsy Shop.

Include any fun Valentine props you already have in 

your home.

I found the little bucket of kisses a few years ago at the Dollar Store!

If you don't have props...just show love in your photos.

To keep it simple, photograph your subject in front

of a white wall, or hang a white sheet,

then add one of my heart bokeh overlays.  They come in four colors

and are available HERE in my Etsy Shop.

Dress the kids in Valentine colors!

I dressed these adorable sisters in pink from the thrift store.

Try adding a texture or wallpaper with hearts to the background:

Or add a pop of hearts with a frame!

Learn how to create a frame by watching my

video tutorial.

Add some whimsy with my Blowing Hearts Overlay

you can purchase HERE in my Etsy Shop.

Or add some of my Heart Glitter available HERE.

Jazz up a photo with my Heart Frame Overlay

you can get HERE!

With all the love in the air at Valentine's Day,

it's the perfect time to capture special portraits of your loved-ones!

iPhone Macro Water Droplet Photography

In my last post about iPhone Macro Photography,

I showed you how to photograph snowflakes.

Read that blog post if you are new to iPhone macro work

to see what lenses I used and to learn my trick for easy focus.

Now, I want to focus on water droplets

because they pose so pretty and make GREAT subjects for

iPhone macro photography!

I could NOT stop experimenting with water droplets!

To get firm drops, I used glycerin from the tip of a toothpick,

but you can also try an eye dropper.

Look around your house for various textures

to attach a water or glycerin droplet.

Here I used a white feather that was on a Christmas ornament!

Capturing a scene inside the droplet is exciting!

I found that by placing the scene or subject from a few inches to a foot behind the drop,

I could capture it in the droplet.

First, I tried various patterned fabrics.

I love how the fabric comes into focus within the droplet,

and blurs to art in the background!

In these next few photos you see tiny drops on the droplets.

That's because I tried spritzing the glycerin drops with water

for a different effect.

Be creative and try lots of different ideas!

I sprayed these next drops with water and got an etched glass effect.

This first photo is shot with the 14X lens.

To get a wider view to include more drops...

Use the 7X lens like this next photo.  You will also get a bigger depth-of-field.

It took me forever to get all these droplets to stick

in this next photo.

Would you believe that is teensy thread?

This is where the glycerin worked much better than water.

Try tilting your camera various ways. 

You can even change the angle with the crop tool in editing.

Try using different color thread.

I also tried a thicker string and

 wanted to capture a specific object in the droplet like this:

Here was my set up.  I created an entirely white surround

using a tri-fold white foam-core board and two 

boards I found at the dollar store for the top and bottom.

Because the droplet picks up it's surroundings including the ceiling,

I wanted to keep the area all white so my subject was clear.

See my stack of colorful fabrics?

They are napkins, pillow cases, etc. I found at thrift stores.

I clipped them to the back board.

This was facing a large picture window in my kitchen for natural light.

I used two clips to stretch the string or thread .

See my spritzer bottle of water?

Then I taped my subject, the pink daisy on the white board behind the droplets.

I put glycerin in that little black cup

and dipped my toothpick into that to create the droplets.

It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how close your subject

needs to be, and the best angle for fitting your subject into the droplet.

Perfect example of the subject becoming the blurred background!

Pay attention to how you include the background in your composition.

Here are two examples:

Using my focus method from this blog post,

I concentrated on getting the subject in focus rather

than the droplet.

                                    In this next photo, I put the droplet on a pine needle

and was thrilled to capture this just as the droplet was falling!

Here is an example of getting the droplets in focus...

Here's that same shot with the subject in focus.

Both make for a pretty photo...so you get to choose which you like best.

I was determined to capture a snowflake!

This is not a real snowflake, 

I taped up a Christmas ornament against blue fabric.

Shooting in the BURST mode,

I was able to capture this great shot of

the droplet just beginning to fall!

I also wanted to photograph some hearts for Valentine's Day

and that's when I realized that the droplets act much

like a crystal ball...they turns the subject upside down.

So, I taped tiny hearts upside down so inside

the droplet they were right side up.

Notice the taped-up heart in the background is upside down!

I picked up a pot of pink daisies from the grocery store,

and played with the water droplets.

Look!  There's a daisy in the water droplet!

I purposely placed the daisy in the background.

I wanted to explore different lighting, so I took these next

photos on the desk in my office with the light from

a lamp.  I used a black piece of paper in the background

 for a different mood.

The glycerin was too heavy for the fragile flower petals,

so I spritzed with water and love the roundness of the droplets!

While shooting this next photo without my

all white surround,

you can see my desk in the droplet and it's not that interesting.

So I moved one of the daisy heads behind the drop and this is

much prettier.

Be aware of what you are capturing in your drop.

Try different angles, backgrounds,

and lighting!

It's SO MUCH FUN!

With the narrow depth of field,

don't worry about getting the

entire drop in focus.

Let the lens create art by

revealing just a hint of focus.

I moved my photos into Photoshop, adjusted saturation,

contrast and sharpened a bit.

I love playing with textures! 

The textures really turned my macro photos into art!

Macro iPhone photography is addicting!

I can't stop photographing water droplets!!!!

I love that I can macro indoors with just a few props from around the house

and any lighting will work.

Enjoy this creative venture!