Well, fall came in with a bang today. As in, loud thunderclaps, bright flashes of lightening, gloomy skies and pouring rain. It reminded me
that I really need to learn how to use the light box that I bought last year
and never got around to using.
In between downpours, when the sun peeked out, I managed to
snap some shots of this pumpkin soap I made. Pumpkin soap is one of my
fall/winter favorites to make, I love using pumpkin and heavy (whipping) cream
in my soaps. I am picky about my pumpkin fragrances though, I tend to like ones
that are more pumpkin than spice. This one I used is a new pumpkin fragrance
for me and it’s not too heavy on the spice at all and actually has a maple note
to it, which I really like. The maple was unexpected, and next time I will try adding
some maple syrup to the soap to carry through with the pumpkin maple theme:
PS - do any of you know of any good tutorials for learning
how to use a light box? The one I have is a ‘studio-in-a-box photo tent’, and I
really need to learn how to use it before the shorter, gloomy days set in! Or,
I would love any any gloomy/dark day photo tips you could offer!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great week!
It looks luscious! My Maple syrup soap fried and the scent faded. LOL. Maybe next year. Try Greenpix blog for lighting tips. He has a great post on lighting, another on white balance.
ReplyDeletehttp://gpix.wordpress.com/category/lighting/
I use a light tent in the winter (rainy summers, too!) and the Alzo lights he recommends. I got mine on Amazon. Good luck :)
Wow, what a great blog...lots of practical photography tips - thanks so much for sharing that! Your blog pictures are wonderful too, I can see that you have mastered the lightbox! I'll have to check out the Alzo lights, I bet it makes a huge difference to have the correct type of lights.
DeleteI have to admit, my recent honey soap fried also so I'm a little hesitant to add any additional sugars to my soaps at the moment - fried soap is not a pretty sight...lol!
They sound and look lovely! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Signe! :)
DeleteI can almost smell the pumpkin and maple! And looking at those soaps makes crave for some pie or cake :) Do you think that the fragrance will make the soaps darker?
ReplyDeleteI have not tried pumpkin in my soap. Found a can of Libby´s pumpkin puree, but it was so expensive that I can buy 5 whole pumpkins for the same price.
Oh, that's expensive pumpkin for sure :( I suppose you could cook it down yourself, but it's a lot of work! The prices on our canned pumpkin really goes up and down here too, so I have to be careful when I buy it!
DeleteYes, the fragranced portion of the soap will turn darker...I wish it stayed this pumpkin color though!
Your soap sounds so good! I bet it smells heavenly! I really like the way you compose your photos. They look like something from a food magazine. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Silvia, that's a real compliment! =)
DeleteI like the textured tops and marbled look inside the soap. I only wish I could smell it!
ReplyDeleteI used to edit my pictures with PicMonkey,but it has very limited free fatures,so I gave it up. Now,I use iPiccy,it gives you all features that picMonkey does,but for free! You can adjust light/darkness, as so many other things very easily! Hope you will like it!
You are a superstar! PicMonkey just hasn't been the same experience for me since we lost so many of the free features. I checked out iPiccy, and I LOVE it! I would even go out on a limb and say I think I like it better than PicMonkey, just from what I've seen so far. Thanks so much for sharing Maja!
DeleteYour soap looks good enough to eat! I have a hard time finding a pumpkin I like, but even if heavy on the spice and light on the pumpkin no one ever complains about a pumpkin soap. :)
ReplyDeleteI have to agree Stacie...I love all pumpkin soap; fragranced or unfragranced, spicy, warm or buttery...I love them all! :D
Deletelooks so creamy! I love the smell of fresh pumpkin..wish there was a fragrance for that. The Pumpkin Maple sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is one out there...we just have to find it!
DeleteDid you guys get hit hard with the storm? We only got a smattering of it until much later at night. BTW I love your background of leaves, it's beautiful and so fall-like.
ReplyDeleteYou have teenagers at home, how do you keep them from eating all your soaping ingredients? ;) Love the colours, so caramelly (is that a word?) and warm looking. I can almost smell the soap and it's making me want pumpkin pie.
I agree with SoapJam, is that your daytime job? Arranging food for food magazine photo shoots? ;> I've found a lot of helpful hints on Pinterest, not that I've put any of them to practice yet. ;)
Yeah, the storm came out of nowhere..it was nasty! I'm glad the worst of it missed you guys.
DeleteI WISH my daytime job was food styling! My job is soooo the opposite of creative...lol! Pinterest is a great place to find photography tips too, I should make a conscious effort to follow more of those boards.
For the record, I have found bite marks in my cupcake soaps before, but no one will fess up!
You certainly make up for your day job's lack of interesting with your soap and cake making though. That's hilarious! See you do way too good of a job with your soaps; it must be your kids in their half asleep teenage mode eating anything in sight. ;)
DeleteDon't get me wrong - I loooove my day job, but there is just no room to be creative! ;) And teenagers DO eat a lot, don't they? What the heck is up with that?! lol
DeleteThat is a beautiful soap! I'm surprised you don't find fork prong marks all over it.
ReplyDeleteLol! I've been tempted!
DeleteAs all your soaps this one also looks so creamy and mild! I can not share any tip with you regarding lighting box since I do not use it. I ussually take a pictures early in the morning on my terace. But since winter season is coming I would also like to learn how to take good photos in my room :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Gordana! Hopefully we'll find some good tricks to make it through the winter...if I find any, I will share them here!
DeleteSuch a pretty pumpkin soap!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Anne-Marie! :)
DeleteBeautiful pumpkin soap, Cee! The pumpkin and heavy cream will make it extra luxurious. Pumpkin and maple sound awesome together. I like sweeter pumpkin scents, too. My nose has trouble picking up spicy scents sometimes. I remember one year I had a Pumpkin Spice FO that everyone said was really strong, but I couldn't smell it at all. Now I use a Sweet Pumpkin FO. I wish I had some advice about light boxes, but I haven't used one myself. Your photos still turned out lovely despite the dark and gloomy weather!
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny, the Sweet Pumpkin FO sounds like one I would really like. Had you tried Pumpkin Lager too? I've heard good things about it as well.
DeleteBeautiful soap Cee....sounds very yummy!! I have a light box but it is such a pain to put up and take down. I just tweek my photos in Photo Shop.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a pain to set them up and take them down. Perhaps I could find a dedicated space to leave it set up for the winter, it would definitely be much easier! I haven't played around too much with Photo Shop, but perhaps I should give it another try, thanks!
DeleteLove the new look of your blog, Christine, so autumn!
ReplyDeleteAnd your soap looks delicious, very creamy! I don't know why but I can't think yet of autumn soaps, even if it's been raining for several days...
Hmm, your question is kind of difficult for me! I was thinking of following photo course or at least of reading more about how to take nice photos especially now, when we have so little sunshine. In the meantime, I will read what the others have to say about it :)
Thanks so much Nat! A photo course would definitely be worthwhile too!
DeleteWell, those look fantastic. I love the last photo of them lined up all crisp and fancy in paper.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried a pumpkin scent yet but I think maybe it would pair well with beer - what do you think? Like a dark ale or something sweet and dark. Would make the soap naturally tinted towards a creamy dark caramel color, too...
Now you got my brain all working....
You're definitely on to something Lindsey! Brambleberry actually has a fragrance called Pumpkin Lager...I haven't tried it, but I've heard great things about it! Pumpkin and ale would be a wonderful combo, and think about all that creaminess from the natural sugars...yum!
DeleteLooks like a lovely autumn soap! How very Canadian of you Cee with the maple scent ;)
ReplyDeleteLol, I thought so too..eh?
Delete:)
DeleteLove the soaps Cee!. I bet it smells amazing. I love pumpkin soaps, too bad I am the only one around here that enjoys them. I still have some left from last year :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Roxana...it's surprising the pumpkin soap isn't more popular :(
DeleteThey are lovely....What a coincidence :) I made pumpkin soap last 2 weeks as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you Angel! It definitely seems to be the time of year to pull out the pumpkin recipes ;)
DeleteWhat a wonderful pumpkin soap! Also, I really like a colour of it! )
ReplyDelete