Marilyn Botta Photography

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Oranges, Lilies, and Blue Vase

April 28, 2025 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

 


A vibrant arrangement features orange lilies in a blue vase, accompanied by a woven basket of mandarin oranges and three lit candles. The calm composition is enhanced by the contrasting colors and soft lighting. The orange and green candles add to the calming atmosphere.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: basket, beauty, bloom, blossom, blue, bright, ceramic, ceramic vase, creative, dark, flame, flora, floral, flower, flower vase, flowers, glass, green, green candles, lilies, lilly, lily, lily flower, mandarin oranges, orange, orange candle, orange flower, orange lily, oranges, petals, porcelain, still life, summer flowers, vase, vintage vase, yellow

Pine Cones

April 14, 2025 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

Where I live, there are many pine trees. I always see the standard pine cones all over the grass and wooded areas, but I never knew what they look like before they mature. I was out walking when I noticed these interesting growths on the pine trees and I wasn’t sure what they were. They were skinny and some very long, so I did a search and found out that these interesting yellow and green cylindrical growths were indeed baby pine cones. I came back with my camera and macro lens and took many shots. The wind was whipping the tree around but I managed to get a few good images.

Since the hurricane in September in Augusta, GA, there are so many downed pine trees. These have mature pine cones–the kind I am familiar with. The second picture is a macro shot of one of these beauties.

 


Filed Under: Macros Tagged With: background, blurry background, bokeh, botanical, branch, budding, close up, closeup, cone, cones, flora, forest, green, growth, macro, nature, needle, needle leaves, needles, new, outdoors, pine, pine cone, pine forest, pine needles, pine tree, pinecone, plant, seed cone, seed cones, tree, woody cone, yellow

Lilies, Apples, and Limes

March 31, 2025 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

I always feel that a black background adds a dramatic flair to a composition. This still life creation features a blue vase with orange lilies. Green apples sit at the base of the blue jug. I had a martini glass and added four limes to match the apples. I added a thick orange candle placed on a pewter candle holder. The orange in the candle offsets the orange in the lilies. The black background enhances the reflections.

This still life creation features a blue vase with orange lilies. Green apples sit at the base of the blue jug. I had a martini glass and added four limes to match the apples. I added a thick orange candle placed on a pewter candle holder. The orange in the candle offsets the orange in the lilies. I placed green apples at the base of the jug. The composition is set against a muted background, highlighting the vibrant colors of the objects.


 

 

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: art, artistic, beautiful, beauty, black background, bloom, blue, candle, candle holder, color, composition, fine art, flame, floral, flower, flowers, fruit, green, green apples, jug, lilies, lilly, lily, lily flower, limes, martini glass, nature, orange, orange candle, petal, pewter, photography, reflections, still life, the blossom of lily flowers, vase, vintage vase

Mini Carnations and Green Pears

January 13, 2025 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

I decided to do a still life using mini carnations and green pears as the theme. I put the carnations into a pear-shaped brown glass vase. I also added the carnations to a small black-and-shite ceramic vase. I added a green lit candle to a metal holder and placed two green pears beneath it. I placed all the elements on top of a wooden board. I added an orange texture as a background to bring out the beauty of this composition which have complementary colors.


Filed Under: Still Life Photography, Uncategorized Tagged With: area, background, beauty, black and white ceramic jug, bloom, blossom, board, brown vase, candle, carnation, carnations, ceramic jug, closeup, composition, floral, flower, flower arrangement, flowering, flowers, food, fresh fruit, fruit, fruits, green, green candle, green pears, greenery, juicy, leaf, leaves, pear, pears, petal, pewter candle holder, seedlings, still life, substrate, table, texture, vase, warm, wood, wooden, wooden board

All About Orange

November 25, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

This still life features mostly shades of orange with some green and yellow on the side. I found a lovely peach and cream vase. I added some gorgeous orange lilies and some mini yellow carnations to a green vase for some contrast.I added some mini orange pumpkins and a wide orange lit candle in keeping with the orange theme. I feel this arrangement speaks Autumn. A delicate blue texture was added which give this composition a soft easy and relaxing feel.


Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: arrangement, Autumn, background, beautiful, beauty, bloom, blooms, blossom, blue background, botanical, burning, candle, candlelight, candles, ceramic vase, closeup, colorful, cream, flame, flora, floral, flower, flowering, flowers, fresh, green, green ceramic vase, leaf, lilies, lily, lit candle, mini carnations, orange, orange ceramic vase, orange flowers, orange lilies, orange vase, petal, petals, pewter candle holder, pistil, plant, pumpkin, stem, still life, vase, yellow, yellow carnations

Halloween Fantasy

November 3, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment


I chose a scorpion, and a teradacyl to accompany a small skull. I placed the skull atop a green glass vase and I chose three mini pumpkins, resting under a ceramic green vase. I added green hydrangeas to the vase and place them alongside a red vase with pink lilies. I photographed this against a white backdrop but added a blue-green texture as a background to accentuate the whimsical scene. The setup creates a quirky contrast between the natural and the macabre in a harmonious composition.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: abstract, artistic, background, banner, bone, bones, ceramic vase, colored background, colorful, cranium, extinct, Fall, floral, floral decoration, flower, green, green glass vase, green vase, Halloween, halloween pumpkin, happy halloween, head, horror, human, human skull, hydrangea, mini pumpkins, october, orange, pink, pink lilies, poster, pumpkins, red glass, red glass vase, scorpion, scull, skeleton, skulls, spooky, still life, teeth, teradactyl, texture, white

Crepe Myrtle Buds

September 4, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

 


I came out last Sunday to go walking and I just couldn’t resist going back into the house and getting my camera which already had a macro lens. It had rained the night before, so the buds were so new and sparkling, ready to become blooms. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was just beginning to shine through the foliage. The bright natural light enhances the the vibrant color and detail of the buds.

Filed Under: Flowers and Trees Tagged With: backyard, beautiful, beauty, blooms, blossom, branch, bud, budding, buds, close up, closeup, color, colorful, crape myrtle, crepe, Crepe Myrtle, dark green, flora, flower bud, flower buds, foliage, giant crape myrtle, green, green buds, leaf, leaves, macro, macro nature, macro photography, myrtle, natural, nature, outdoor, plant, pretty, queen's crepe-myrtle, sparkling, sunlight, tree, Trees, vibrant

Reading by Candlelight

July 24, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment


I enjoy combining many seemingly unrelated objects into a cohesive composition and telling a story too. The theme is reading by candlelight so, in addition to the candle and books, I added a red candle holder, an alarm clock, and pears. I felt that his creation needed some lovely pink lilies to bring it together. The pink glass vase matched the pink lilies. This arrangement has a classic, still-life feel with a soft, blurred textured background.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: alarm clock, background, beautiful, blue clock, blue texture, book, burning, candle, candlelight, candles, clock, composition, coziness, decor, decoration, flame, flowers, food, fragrance, fruit, glass vase, glasses, green, house, indoors, light, lily flower, lit candle, natural, open book, pear, pears, pink lilies, pink vase, red, red candle holder, still life, table, vintage

Baby Elephant in Wonderland

July 16, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment

 


I came upon a baby Lenox elephant while looking for inspiration at Goodwill. I wanted to create a serene scene by using soft muted colors of green, blue and beige hues.I added two candles of green and beige, matching the color scheme. Light yellow/white carnations, in a green glass vase, added to the serene and peaceful atmosphere. In addition, I added some pretty rocks surrounding the elephant. It is abstract, something one would not normally find in nature, but that is my interpretation. I enjoy placing objects that don’t go together in a beautiful cohesive scene. It is amazing how that works to create a lovely and unusual fantasy still life.

Filed Under: Still Life Photography Tagged With: abstract, animal, art, baby elephant, beautiful, beige candle, bloom, blossom, blue beige background, blue green texture, botany, calm, candle flame, candles, carnations, color, colorful, cute, elephant, elephant ear, elephant sculpture, elephants ears, flame, flora, floral, flower, flowers, gardening, glass vase, grass, gray elephant, green, green candle, green vase, rock, rock garden, rocks, serene, stone, texture, thrift, vase, yellow flowers

Raindrop on Flower

July 9, 2024 by Marilyn Botta Leave a Comment


As I was leaving to go walking on Sunday morning, I noticed raindrops on my Crepe Myrtle tree. I knew it rained Saturday night so I thought there may be some pretty droplets on the delicate flowers. I just so happened to have a camera with a macro lens upstairs luckily. So I went back in and grabbed it, came out and started shooting. It was so hot and steamy that morning that my lens was getting fogged up. But I kept wiping it off with my cloth and managed to actually see what I was photographing. The background is softly blurred in shades of pink and green which highlight the beautiful droplet on the flower.

Filed Under: Flowers and Trees, Macros Tagged With: background, beautiful, beauty, beauty in nature, bloom, blooming, blossom, botany, card, close up, closeup, color, colorful, delicate, drop, droplet, droplets, drops, flora, floral, flower, fragility, fresh, green, green color, in bloom, leaf, macro, natural, nature, outdoor, outdoors, pastel, petal, petals, photography, pink, pink color, plant, rain, rain drops, raindrop, raindrops, raindrops on flowers, rainy, soft-focus, stem, tree, water, wet, white

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