There and back again

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There and back again

So my last post was a bit traumatic. I wrote it, I lived it and I never want to revisit it. A few months on and I am much stronger. Life is still challenging as I am doing dialysis four times a day and sometimes its painful, sometimes its gruelling and sometimes its just over with no fuss. Fortunately there is a bit of light in sight. I am going to the overnight machine, which will give me my days back. I cannot wait, as I literally feel tethered to the house at the moment. They are also changing the fluid. Apparently it is less acidic and so will reduce the pain quite significantly, I am genuinely really excited about this new fluid.

After I started the dialysis, my body went into shock and my hb fell through the floor, because of this and because my weight was so low they decided I would not be strong enough to go through a transplant. So, 4 months ago I was suspended from the list. I was absolutely devastated about this. Transplant is my goal, my lifeline. So to be taken off was a blow, (even though I knew they were right.) Three weeks ago I thought they were going to let me back on the list. The meeting was scheduled to discuss my case and my consultant (who had to make sure I was strong enough) told me that he was sure I would be put back on. But I got the call and they told me that because I had been so poorly I still was not strong enough for the operation. So, I needed a bit of extra time and I needed to put on at least 2 kilos. I hadn’t put any weight on in 6 weeks. So for me this seemed like an impossible task. But, three weeks on and I am half a kilo away from my goal. I cannot imagine how I am going to feel when they put me back on the list. Elated springs to mind.

I have continued to work as much as I can. Shoots are still a way off. I get tired so quickly and shoots require such a continued burst of energy, which I just don’t have. I can though work on my digital backdrops on photoshop. I sold one to a photographer I really admire last week and I was chuffed to bits. I am also still doing my stock work. The two combined aren’t bringing me in a wage, but its enough to pay a few little bills and buy Darren a guinness every now and then. Plus, its kept up my skills in photoshop which would have been quickly lost had I not been regularly working in photoshop.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Digital Backdrop, fluffy sheepskin and teddies

Above is one of my backdrops and here is the backdrop with my niece composited into the image…

 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Digital Backdrop, fluffy sheepskin and teddies

 

The one below is one of my most popular backdrops at the moment.

 

Digital backdrop, wicker basket and white fairy lights

I really hope that my next blog is even more positive and you never know that transplant call might be just round that corner. I don’t think there will be any stopping me then. I am going to grab life and celebrate everything. I am as before so grateful to the people in my life that have got me through this time. Their support means everything to me and it will not be forgotten.

 

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

Easter is fast approaching, although as the weather has been so cold it certainly doesn’t feel like Easter. Etsy has its ‘Etsy on Sale’ over the next few days, and I have decided to join them. Therefore between the 22nd of March and the 25th of March my Etsy shop will be having a 20% sale. The sale is for all of my digital backdrops, and all the backdrops are high resolution. Digital backdrops, primarily are for newborn and baby photographers. But I am toying with the idea of offering a service where after receiving an image of a baby I composite them into the backdrop. There are multiple issues with this though, primarily that if you haven’t got studio lights or good natural light then it will be very difficult to make the baby look anything but superimposed. I certainly need to consider this in more depth.

 

Digital Backdrop Easter Sale
Digital Backdrop Easter Sale

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

 

I had a Christmas sale, which went well, so thought I should try a digital backdrop Easter sale. I have added a few more backdrops since Christmas, although not for the last couple of weeks as I have been working on my stock image portfolio. Both the digital backdrops and stock imagery have enabled me to work on my photoshop skills. This has been very valuable and are skills that can be applied to my outdoor photography portrait shoots.

 

Digital backdrop/background
Digital backdrop, bluebell flowers in a woodland setting with a baby basket

Hopefully, the weather will start to warm up soon, as I am itching to start updating my outdoor digital backdrops. But for now I just have to keep thinking of new ideas and improving my photoshop skills.

Link to my Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

Digital backgrounds/backdrops

Digital backgrounds/backdrops

 

Digital backgrounds/backdrops 

Spending more time at home over the pass month I have been able to really get to grips with photoshop, using blending modes and gradient maps. Something which I have stayed away from out of fear. But actually, like anything, once you know how to do it, it’s not that difficult. I have also been trying to make sure I create Digital backgrounds/backdrops every day, keeping the Etsy shop active. I have applied the skills learnt and I’m happy with the results. You can see the new work added to my shop here https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops

Rocking the greys…

gray-background-and-nest

gray-background-and-nest-wb3

Digital Overlay

Developed this week, an overlay of fairy lights and white wooden floor. At various times in my studio career, I needed an overlay like this. Fairy lights, as most studio photographers will know are difficult to photograph, as studio lights often blow out the fairy lights, (so that they can no longer be seen). Here is an example of the overlay added to this pure white background. This overlay will work particularly well at Christmas and you can change the opacity, so you can change the subtlety of the overlay.

overlay-fairy-lights-three

Digital Backdrop, newborn nest with Teddy:

Parents would often bring little teddies to their newborn photo shoot. The teddies often had sentimental value, but also provided a sense of scale. The brown tones of the flooring and the nest match the teddy so well, and the fluffy sheepskin adds to the earthiness of this image.

wood-floor-with-teddy-and-nest

Here are a few of the other Digital backgrounds/backdrops created in the last couple of weeks. I even had a go at creating an outdoor landscape digital backdrop, which has really highlighted how difficult it is to get the lighting to match the baby.

basket-and-white-floor

basket-and-white-floor-wb

white-floor,-nest-and-roses-wb

Digital backdrop/background
Digital backdrop, bluebell flowers in a woodland setting with a baby basket

 

Easter Digital Backdrops

My Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/518847367/easter-digital-backdrop-a-digital-prop?ref=shop_home_active_1

 

Easter Digital Backdrops

 

Here are a couple of my Easter digital backdrops. I sell my digital backdrops on Etsy in my Etsy shop, and I also use them in my shoots if they are requested by the parents. I’m using my nest again, but I figured I don’t own anything that says Easter like my newborn nest prop! I added some euphorbia flowers, that were taken from my garden and of course I had to use daffodils. The green/yellow combo is particularly nice against the red/browns of the wooden nest.

easter nest 2_

We photographed the nest on a wooden floor with a damask background. The reddish colours of the wood (in the nest) pops against the wooden floor, I hadn’t really noticed those tones before. I also left a well in the nest so that I could fit a baby inside and it worked beautifully.

easter nest 2 with baby_

I then decided I wanted to do an image that would allow a baby to sit in the nest. I changed the damask background as I didn’t want it to overpower the baby sat in the nest.

easter nest 3_

easter nest 3 with baby_

 

I’m looking forward to Easter now, and I have to admit I had some mini eggs yesterday. Photographing digital backgrounds for Easter just made me think of chocolate!

 

Digital Backdrops, on Etsy.

Digital Backdrops – Link to my etsy shop –  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops?ref=hdr_shop_menu

I’ve added more digital backdrops to my Etsy shop. One of my clients wanted a Christmas image with fairy lights. A simple request, but it took me a little while to get right. My studio lights are brighter than the fairy lights and so I couldn’t get the lights to show on camera. The image was so bright, so you couldn’t see the fairy lights at all. I realised, after some thinking that I needed to use my continuous light and a reflector. It worked well. I just had to make sure I was back as far as I could go, zoomed in, on my widest aperture and voila I could see the fairy lights! I’ve had fun thinking of ideas and creating backdrops with the fairy lights. I have also already used the fairy lights backdrop (from the bottom image) as a background on some of my sledge shots.

img_2647
Christmas Present digital Backdrop
img_2647-with-baby
Christmas Present digital backdrop.

Christmas Present Backdrop – With baby composited into the shot. The backdrop for sale on etsy, has an overlay (the front of the box) so that you can correctly position baby. The backdrops are ready to buy as an instant download through my etsy shop.

img_2612_
Digital Backdrop. Fairy lights with red baubles.

Etsy Shop Digital Backdrops

Here are the digital backdrops I’ve created over the last month. I’ve used a few for myself, for my own galleries, and I’m sure I will be using the red sledge Christmas backdrops very soon! (My Christmas Shoots start in September.) I’m updating and adding to my Etsy shop each week, and I’m really enjoying the process.

I started doing the digital backdrops after one of my newborn shoots. My clients desperately wanted a certain setup, which I said was of course no problem. It wasn’t a complicated set up. The first hour of the shoot was a breeze and the newborn slept like a dream. We did the beanbag pictures, which all went smoothly. The beanbag pictures are flow posing the baby on their back, side and tummy and then we did the parent and baby images. For what ever reason, it could have been wind! she woke up and didn’t want to do any more pictures. But I hadn’t done the setup the clients wanted! I knew we’d already got great images in the first half of the session and I didn’t want to upset or distress the baby in any way. So we called it a day. After the shoot I photographed the setup without the baby and then was able to composite an image (from one of the earlier beanbag shots) When the parents saw the setup they bought the picture and were very happy. My brain then started to whirl, if for whatever reason this happened again, I could just composite the baby from the beanbag into a prop shot. It’s been fun creating digital backdrops, and I have many more ideas!

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops?ref=hdr_shop_menu

white background and brown long bowl
Digital backdrop, Newborn dark wooden bowl
red sledge 1
Digital Backdrop, Red sledge, snowy background.
red sledge with teddy
Digital backdrop, red sledge with teddy

 

red sledge 1 with baby
Example of what the digital backdrop can look like… composited baby onto the red sledge.

 

red sledge with teddy and baby
Example of what the digital backdrop can look like… composited baby on the sledge with the teddy behind

 

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