Saturday, July 18, 2015

Winners of "Photo Skillz Part One"

So you shook it up and I am beaming like a mama bear.

I asked you to shut off your flash, move around your soap and step out of your box and you all trusted that it could work and it did!  Every picture was interesting and creative and there's no way I could choose the best.

I will choose three, as I promised, but there were dozens that I wanted in the trio today. 

These are in no particular order....


Amanda Wolf


Amanda Wolf, you stepped right off that box and added an interesting and relevant background image for your soap and it works!  In fact, the movement of the water makes in work.  If it were just on a sink next to the faucet, it wouldn't work because it would look posed, but this with the straight on perspective feels like someone's prepping my bath.  MY bath.  It makes it intimate and not a show.  Well done!


Tanya Rasley of Canard Labs
The pearly light peach splatter of color in this background of varying whites, draws the eyes attention to the detail.  It transforms the soap into a creative blast of wonderment.  Flickering images of shooting stars, Pollack's flick of the paintbrush or bioluminescence.

wonderment:  the rapt attention and deep emotion caused by the sight of something extraordinary 



Bee Iyata
 Bee has taken soap making to a new level with her artistic hand molding and scene creations.  This one is one of my favorites, but it's not just the soapy birds and eggs that made me choose this photo.  No...  It was taken on a different angle than all others.  It's an overhead shot but askew instead of straight down, which adds a depth I ever noticed before.  It works especially with the subjects and the nest of eggs in the natural light.  It's breathtaking and it is focused perfectly.  Bee used the light to make her creation pop.


These are three very different soaps with different angles a vibes.  Each one of them speaks to me in a different way.  Thank you, Amanda, Tanya and Bee for the inspiration.

I do hope that you continue to shoot around your subject, turn off the lights and shut off your flash!  Natural light makes for better photographs of objects.  Flash photography has its place in the world, but with soap, it is much harder to get that intimate feel.

Which leads me to the next Soap Challenge.  But that will have to wait.  I have something secret I'm working on that needs a little time to get ready.  Keep shooting and stick around for the next fun game to play with your soap.

WELL DONE, EVERYONE!!!!

Love,

Joanna


11 comments:

LittleCritters said...

To see all the spectacular soaps in this challenge was such a treat. Congratulations to our winners!

Beth said...

Each of these soaps is spectacular, as is the photography. Well deserved, Amanda, Tanya and Bee!

Amanda Wolf said...

Congratulations Tanya and Bee, your pictures are wonderful! Tanya, you soap makes me think of fireworks and all the fun and warmth of summer nights. Bee… wow, the fact you took the time and have the talent to hand mold all those birds, just blows me away.

Thank you so much Joanna for picking mine as well. I am so honored to be picked. I have been making soap for 2 years and have overrun my spare bedroom and my family and friends ability to store soap. I started my soap business just a few months ago. This is just want Manda Wolf Soaps needed and I got to learn a skill that I had not be taking advantage of… good photos. Thank you so much!!!!

Soapmaker51 said...

These photos were great. I loved all the entries. They were truly inspiring. Thanks so much for your blog posts. I'm learning a lot!

Joanna Schmidt said...

The photos were all so beautiful. I think we have ourselves a lot of talent among us!!

Little Critters and Beth: It was, wasn't it? So astounding.

Amanda Wolf: I can keep going with the photo challenges. You can take a look at the photography on my website: madoils.com
I do all of my own photography there!! <3

Soapmaker51:I am always learning!! Read this whole blog (the relevant topics....there's a lot of personal stuff too.) And thanks!!!!

-joanna

Anonymous said...

Apart from learning from seeing the way everyone took their photos, it was further learning listening to your appraisals, Joanna. Cause I do MP and am aware that it is not making soap from scratch, I have been doing the challenges but not posting and I'm enjoying the challenges ever so much. Thanks again.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Joanna Schmidt said...

Anon: MP is an art. In fact, I don't have the patience for it because it sets up so quickly and it ends up all over me. This doesn't sound right because I've been making cold process soap for years and I find it to be fun, not a chore. For those who are MP soapers, I applaud them, YOU. Thanks for your comment. :) My heart is warm.

Godrej No 1 said...

I had never seen so much creatively or variety in soap, am glad to see this , they are so pretty , I will just want this soap , let me know where can i get this in India .

Anonymous said...

How are those splatters made?? I would LOVE to try it.
Thanks,
Anna

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