weekly Elaine's 52 for 2015 - Christmas added - finished!

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Elaine
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Thank you to everyone for commenting and encouraging me in my first year. You all made me feel really welcome and I no longer feel like a stranger here so I've dropped the "Xenos" from my thread title :eek:

I think I've managed to catch up with commenting on all the 2014's who are still standing, but apologies to anyone who I may have inadvertently missed. I was quite a bit behind, so I kept them brief and I promise to try and do better in 2015. I also know that I need to get my flickr account back up and running properly for linking back to, but for now I'm stuck with Tinypic :oops: :$

Having just looked through all my submissions for 2014 for Andy's pick your favourite thread, I think I've managed to improve a little over the year, but I still have a long way to go, so here's my warm-up for 2015 -

Patterns

I started off by doing lots of macro shots of natural patterns like woodgrain, flowers and shells, but in the end I chose this plate from my collection of similar style pottery that I've been adding to over 30-odd years of Greek holidays. Not sure about the black bg - I think white or a pastel colour might have complemented the colours of the plate better - but I wanted to emphasise its spikey edges and black seemed to do that best.

16l07bs.jpg
 
A lovely shot. An unusual take on the theme. I actually like the black background as i feel it brings out the colours better.
 
Hi, and welcome back :)

I thought it was a snowflake at first :)

Just to add, the first few weeks of the TP52 can be mental, trying to comment on 80+ submissions can be very taxing. What I intend to do is for the first few weeks comment on what I consider to be the best submission for the previous month. Once numbers dwindle, which they unfortunately will, I'll comment on more. Of course, I would not expect you to comment on all my submissions (y)
 
A nice warm up image Elaine,
nice colours and textures :)
 
The black background works for me. I like your choice of composition too. It would have been easy to plonk the spiral (for example) into a square crop and tick the theme goodbye. Giving the viewer clues as to what the object is helps to develop interest in the image.
 
Hi Elaine - nice first shot for this year's. Blackest of black background (tick) and the lighting direction helps show off the texture on edge of the plate thing (and another tick). Composition looks good to me and although the main spiral seems a bit flat, that could well be because... erm... it's flat! Not sure holding the plate at an angle or anything would have worked as well, so I think as you have it is ideal.

Well done on week 0!
 
welcome back Elaine (y)

was just about to say I've seen enough black/white BGs bring on the fairground

but this is very clean and very nice contrasty.
 
Brilliant start I do love that.
Good Luck for your 2015 52 challenge.
 
Week 1 - Bliss

Some of you who did the 2014 52s may have realised that my idea of bliss is being on holiday :cool: Unfortunately, the first theme for 2015 has come about 4 weeks too early for a "live" entry, so I decided to attempt something I've never tried before and combine an archive shot as bg with a new foreground that includes a few of the essentials which I'm starting to gather together for my next bit of bliss at the end of the month. It's more of an experiment than anything else, but I suppose that's what 52s are all about!

j6jvgp.jpg
 
Works for me too, Elaine,
it has very much a straight out of a brochure feel to it (y)
 
Neat idea Elaine ... well executed ... don't normally like light reflection but gives a sunny feel here.
 
Really nicely done - you could sell that as it is to Boots for their summer window displays! Great job [emoji4]
 
great shot and well done for you trying something new. it has worked. Enjoy your holiday when it comes around.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I shot the accessories in a darkish room with several layers of tissue wrapped around my flash to give a fairly soft overall light, and then added a tad more light to the yellow bottle in pp to bring out the sunny effect. The top curved edge of the bottle isn't quite as good as it could be, but I think my use of the lasso selection tool is slowly improving and I'm reasonably pleased with my first effort at a composite-type image. At least I've got a whole new year to practice :p
 
Two fantastic images there Elaine, you must have a great collection of plates judging by your patterns image, I think the black background works really well, certainly brings out the spiky bits. :)
Your Bliss shot looks wonderful and very inviting too. (y)
 
Nice shot Elaine background works well I think it would have worked even without the sun cream and the tree top left.
And the answer to your question re my thread is Hillsborough.
 
Hey Elaine :)

Glad to see you back in for another year... apologies for getting around to your thread a bit late, had so many joiners seemed to spend all my none editing time doing the spreadsheet over christmas :D

Pattern - I agree the black background works really well, love the detail of the crazing glaze on the pottery, a nice bright pastely object, fits the theme nicely :)

Bliss - You have put these shots together nicely, got to echo everybodies comments, a lovely bright image and a great idea, A real good start to your second year, I look forward to seeing the rest of your 52 :)
 
The black background works fine in pattern, in fact I can't imagine a softer background being any better. Lovely colours and detail on the plate.

Bliss is a nice idea, and nicely shot. The tree sticking out over the top of the money draws my eye a little, but not to any great extent.
 
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