Tea and Flowers

Tea and Flowers

Teresa Pople is an English photographer living in Kos, Greece.

French Kiss Textures

I’m always delighted when I see Teresa’s art appear on RedBubble and the Facebook Page. It’s such an honor and pleasure to see my textures used so creatively. Although I can often recognize glimpses of the original texture, she truly uses them in a unique way. The textures become a paintbrush flourished to create a delicate, harmonious, vision with colors that are absolutely delicious.

French Kiss Textures

Tell us a little about yourself, Teresa.

Teresa

I’m an Englishwoman who has lived in Greece for the last twelve years with my husband, Chris and two ancient cats and a dog. I love the whole process of photography from the anticipation of grabbing the camera to the final save of the finished work—and the wonderful feeling if it goes right.

Centre Stage

Centre Stage

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How long have you been photographing and what drew you to photography? Do you also have traditional art skills? Did you go to school for photography or are you self taught?

Teresa

I don’t have any traditional art skills. I have always wanted to be able to paint but I find a blank page very intimidating. That’s the beauty with photography, the page is filled with something I’ve chosen and I can take it from there. I became interested in photography about 25 years ago when I saw a photograph of a field of poppies with a magical depth of field and wanted to be able to create something as beautiful. This was pre-digital and to be honest it was too expensive to be able to experiment as much as I needed. With the onset of digital a whole new world opened up but it wasn’t until about three years ago that I really began to get absorbed by the whole thing. I didn’t go to photography school but have obtained as much information as I can from the internet and books, particularly on the basics, so that I began to feel comfortable with a camera and could concentrate more on what I wanted to photograph rather on how the camera works.

Mellow

Mellow

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What inspires you or moves you?

Teresa

I love the natural world and that’s where I get my inspiration from. There’s so much beauty and intricacy that is so easy to miss with the naked eye but when it’s captured on a photograph the detail in the smallest flower is incredible. Photography has made me see things in a different way, the way light shines through a petal for example or the different stages of a flower opening — it’s like an extra dimension has been added to my life.

Rose Meringue

Rose Meringue

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What makes you want to grab your camera?

Teresa

A calm early morning before the light becomes too harsh when there are flowers in the garden or in the fields and the sun is shining through the petals and leaves.

Three’s A Crowd

Three's A Crowd

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Do you tend to shoot with natural light, flash or a combination? Is there a certain kind of light you like most? Do you shoot with post-processing in mind? In other words, do you shoot any differently if you know you will use textures?

Teresa

I always shoot with natural light even if I photograph flowers indoors I always place them near a natural light source. I think that flash photography is a separate skill and one I haven’t got around to mastering yet.

I love the early morning when the light is bright without being too harsh and everything is fresh. I know people talk about the golden hour before sunset but for the photography I love, the early morning is best. Fortunately we live in an isolated area because I’m often out and about in my pajamas and dressing gown with my camera and can frequently be found sat on the ground trying to get the perfect angle.

I don’t shoot any differently if I know I will use textures, I just try and take the best possible shots of the subject. I don’t think of the texture as hiding anything in the shot but rather bringing more prominence to the parts that are revealed so the photo has to be the best that I can take.

I also shoot Raw, it’s much easier for me. Red flowers in particular are difficult to get right as the red often becomes over-saturated and is blown out. When I shot jpegs I always had to adjust the saturation in the camera and underexpose to get the red right but with Raw there’s no problem I can get it just the way I want it during post-processing.

Blooming

Blooming

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What equipment do you have in your Camera Bag?

Teresa

Two DSLR cameras the Sony A55 and A200 and 3 lenses. Sony 18-55, Tamrom 55-200 and the Tamrom 90mm macro. I also have a Panasonic Lumix TZ6 which I keep in my handbag so that I can capture those unexpected  magical shots.

Drippylicious

Drippylicious

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What Photo Editing software do you use?

Teresa

I use Photoshop Elements 9. I would love to have the full Photoshop but I haven’t been able to justify the expense. I used to use Paint Shop Pro X1 but decided to make the switch when I started to work more with textures as there are lots of tutorials that use Photoshop and Elements. I did about a weeks work on the internet (all free) when I changed and I’m glad I did. Actions become second nature after a while and I am able to concentrate on what I’m doing rather than on how to do it. I’m not an expert by any means though.

Full Bloom

Full Bloom

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Do you regularly use any 3rd Party filters & plug-ins? If so, what are you favorites?

Teresa

I love the Topaz Labs Filter plugins* and use these regularly, particularly, Adjust ,Detail, Simplify and DeNoise I’ve also started to experiment with Redfields Fractalius filter.

Busy Bee

Busy Bee

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Are you a gardener or do you find your florals and macros out in the world — or a bit of both.

Teresa

I really don’t enjoy gardening, I’ve tried but I get no pleasure from it, which isn’t to say I don’t like gardens, I do, I love being in a garden but I do have a secret weapon—my husband Chris who is a Landscape Gardener. He loves creating beautiful gardens and I reap the benefits.

It is much more difficult to garden over here in Greece as we get no rain from May to at least the middle of September so there is a barren time in the summer, that’s when I go out and about and photograph other people’s flowers. My friends sometimes tip me off about flowers they’ve seen which they think I might enjoy. However, on the plus side we do have the most wonderful wildflowers in the Springtime so that makes up for the dry summer.

Sunlit Anemone

Sunlit Anemone

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What creative path would you say brought you to such a soft, painterly vision?

Teresa

I would have loved to have been able to paint, particularly watercolours where there is a wonderful harmony of shape and colour. Using textures is way is my way of creating something that seems to me to be beautiful and harmonious. I particularly love colour, it’s very important in my life and my work.

Clouds of Petals

Clouds of Petals

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It looks as if you often blur the textures to work as color washes. Is this correct? Do you have a favorite method for blurring?

Teresa

Yes I often blur the textures but usually don’t do this until I have used several layers of the texture in various blend modes. I then blur the layers individually to obtain the look I want. I usually use the Gaussian blur filter but sometimes run the Topaz Simplify filter to smooth the texture rather than blur it.

Dainty Daisies

Dainty Daisies

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Do you ever use Photoshop filters? If so, do you have any favorites?

Teresa

This is an area I would like to explore in more detail as I only use the Gaussian Blur filter on a regular basis

French Kiss Textures

What tips would you give someone beginning to use textures?

Dancing Daisies

Dancing Daisies

Teresa

I think the best tip I can give is to get to feel comfortable using layer masks. It’s rare that I will use a layer of a texture without making adjustments using a layer mask as it gives me the ability to create the variation between texture and detail that I find very appealing.

Also experiment with the different blend modes to see the effect on the texture these can produce dramatically different effects and remember that the opacity slider is a real friend. Something that looks awful at 100% can be stunning at 20%

If you have several layers of texture try and see them as all working together, sometimes it’s not until the third layer of a texture for instance that I will make more changes to the first layers mask. This is when it gets exciting and often becomes to come together. Also when there are multiple layers, turning off a layer can give an unexpected result.

I often do a “quick and dirty “run” of the texture to see if it will work. By this I mean that I quickly use a couple of layers of the texture with a little masking, which doesn’t have to be accurate, so that I can see if the texture is going to work. I used to spend a lot of time on the first layer mask only to find that the texture didn’t really work. This way I can get a feel of what is going to work very quickly . Sometimes there’s a moment when the first layer of texture has been overlaid on a photo and the opacity slider is pulled back a little and the photo beneath starts to be revealed—sometimes, not by any means always, that merging of the colours and the shapes is quite magical and I know I’ve got something potentially lovely—I love that moment.

Don’t become disheartened if things don’t work as you’ve imagined and above all enjoy yourself, you’re creating something that only you can create.

Peaceful

Peaceful

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Any advice to new Artists for finding their own vision?

Teresa

I am a great believer in viewing other peoples work as much as I can, that is why sites like Redbubble, Flickr etc are so valuable. The work I see there inspires me to try new techniques and quite often leaves me in awe but above all it makes me realize that I am an individual with a way of looking at things and expressing myself that is unique. So as much as I am able, I want my work to be a reflection of who I am. So the best advice I can give is be yourself. You have a viewpoint and style that is unique and that will naturally evolve just enjoy the experience and don’t put yourself in a box.

Beautifully Blue

Beautifully Blue

See more of Teresa’s Art and connect

Teresa’s Blog: Snap Happy

On RedBubble

Teresa Pople Photography on Facebook

Floating

Floating

* Topaz Labs Filters is an affiliate link. I get a small commission from any sales resulting from a click from this site (at no extra cost to you.) I really do love these filters. Nearly all of my own images use one of these filters. Thanks for supporting the site.

Leslie Nicole
Leslie Nicole

American Photographer and Designer living in France with my French husband, 2 Weimaraners and Cat Rescues. Camera, Mac, studio, garden.