Pink Roses Photoshoot

Behind the scene: pink roses

Yesterday I did a photoshoot with pink roses. In this blog I try to explain which items I have used, how I did my setup and what I did in the post processing. The last part is a short explanation about the blurry background also known as bokeh. 

''Oh No!''

Introduction

In this blog I will explain which items I have used for this setup, how I set it up and the post processing proces. At the end of this blog I will explain something about how to get 'bokeh', the blurry background. 

How I made the setup: 

The set up cost me about one hour to complete. The hardest part was to get the roses in a nice bow around Mieps and Archie. At first I took some shots of Mieps with the roses around her.

My mum came up with the great idea to use an old wooden house as a base to attach the roses to. We used tape to make them stick to the house. 

I used my regular setup with the clothing rack, the roll curtain and my reflective screen to light up shadows. 

I have used:

- Old music books (1) from my dad
- Pink roses from the supermarket (1)
- Glass table top from IKEA (2)
- Black roll curtain from IKEA (3)
- Glittery decorative fabric (3) bought at a budget store
- Fairy lights on battery (3) bought at Action and HEMA
- Round wooden house (4) bought at a petstore


Post processing


I used the program Photoshop to edit the photos from this photoshoot. 

I started with selecting the images I liked the best, I prefer doing this with Adobe Bridge. You can easily give stars to photos you like, so you can find them back later. 

When I start editing I begin with adjusting the RAW file in the RAW converter. With the photos from this photoshoot I adjusted brightness, white balance, shadows and I added some brightness to Mieps and Archie's eyes. 

When I finish with the RAW converter I open the photos in Photoshop to start editing. 

Step 1: At first I adjusted the colours with Nik Color Efex pro to make the image more moody. You can download this plugin for Photoshop for free. 

Step 2: After I was satisfied with the colour corrections with the Nik collection I cloned away the spot where Mieps her abscess used to be. 

Step 3: To complete the image I adjusted the brightness and contrast, I applied colour correction to make the roses more pinkish. At the end I made Mieps her eye a bit brighter by placing a white dot on it with the layer blend mode 'overlay'.

Step 4: The final step is adding my watermark and save it to a jpeg file so I can share it on Instagram.

The original photo

After cloning the lights and adding the Color Efex Pro adjustments

I cloned the spot away where her abscess was



Settings: ISO 400 - F2,5 - 1/320 sec. Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Editing software: Photoshop and the NIK collection

How To Get Bokeh


I often get the question how I get the ''blurry background''. The blurry background is called 'bokeh'. I try to explain how you can get bokeh in your photos in the video below. 

A few tips to get pretty bokeh:
- Make sure there is enough distance between the subject and the background
- Use a low aperture (like f2,0)
- Bright light helps to get nice bokeh. Wait for the sun to shine on your background or through your background if you work with a natural one like trees or use fairy lights in a indoor setup. 

Enough distance between the subject and the background helps


Settings: ISO 400 - F2,5 - 1/250 sec. Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Editing software: Photoshop and the NIK collection


What do you think of this photoshoot? Leave a comment below!


Write a comment

Comments: 4
  • #1

    Agathe (Thursday, 16 February 2017 19:35)

    Hello Marloes, thank you for your great article. The explications are very fine ;) I will try to use Photoshop well ! Bye �

  • #2

    Corneliet (Friday, 17 February 2017 12:36)

    Dank voor de heldere uitleg en leuke "behind the scene" foto's. Ik heb weer ideetjes opgedaan ��! Gr. Corneliet/Lilly

  • #3

    Pam M. (Friday, 17 February 2017 17:23)

    Always such beautiful photos, but when you explain your process, it makes us realize how incredible your artistic process really is!!

  • #4

    Saskia Chiesa (Wednesday, 17 February 2021 08:17)

    Lovely photo shoot!!!!