Flowers in Egg Tempera

[Alexandra van Cruyningen]

Have been painting some flowers in pure Egg Tempera. They are my first attempts, so please give me your comments.

The portrait is pure Egg Tempera with an oilglazing.

With Regards,

Alexandra

http://www.alexandravancruyningen.nl/gegevens%20tijdelijke%20alexandra/forum/roos%202forum.jpg

http://www.alexandravancruyningen.nl/gegevens%20tijdelijke%20alexandra/forum/hortensia%20%283%29_gforum.jpg[/url][/URL]

[mona]

Do I sense that the photos might show faded color compared to the original art?

These are both nice renderings. I especially like how you articulated the leaves in the bottom piece (I garden, but am not sure, is this a begonia species?). The small flowers could use
more contrast so that they pop out more from the leaves, which seem a more developed, but
again, it could be the photograph.

Keep going!

[mona]

Hydrangea? You can tell I am a gardener by how bothered I am that I can't pinpoint it.
No reflection whatsoever on the accuracy and beauty of the painting.

[Alexandra van Cruyningen]

Thanks Mona for your comments, also about on becoming a novelist. I really take all your comments to heart. The photographs of the flowers are terrible and I asked on the forum how to photograph egg tempera paintings. In real life they are so much better, with deeper colour and contrast. I am not good at photoshop either, all those things you can do with such a program dazzle me. I am a painter but all the other things involved with painting...well?
greetings, Alexandra.

[RobM]

Photoshop can be a minefield but some simple pointers.........
Image > adjustments........
Brightness/Contrast......have a play with these settings to alter the contrast and brightness.
Colour Balance......you play around with altering the amount of colour weight with the sliders....
These are really the only 'controls' I use in trying to balance up the image after a scan or photo. Have a go and experiment........
As for photographing works........there are so many ways.......my preferred way is to lay the work on the ground outside.....set up the tripod and camera in the opposite direction of the light source and click away. A bright day with clouds is good......I watch the sky and start clicking as the sun starts to disappear behind the cloud. You do not want direct sunlight......just really good diffused light from the sky. I use a 'through the lens' digital camera, I guess any digital will be fine, but just keep shooting as the light changes.....nothing is wasted. Not like using a film camera having to send off the film for processing and then getting a load of disasters back.......
Rob

[mona]

I know what you mean about how frustrating all the tech stuff can be Alexandra. I am riding my dinosaur along, but gradually picking up on things. On the off chance that you have an
iMac, there is a nice super simple photo retouch program in iPhoto, which comes with Intel
iMacs. I learned on that first, (it's simple enough that you don't even need instructions) and then gradually picked up on Photoshop, but for quick color balance, contrast, and color saturation, iPhoto is still fastest.