End of Summer

This picture was created using techniques I've already mentioned previously. So I post this as a farewell to a good summer and motivation for me to blog more.

Pasta Straight Up

I recently made some colorful pasta necklaces for a design project I have been working on. While photographing I became slightly obsessed with the colors and angles. Proof is above. There's no Photoshoping on this picture, just straight up the original photo.

Celery Photoshoot

A few mornings ago, right before I rushed out the door, I took a moment to photograph an experiment as part of a design project I'm working on. Thus emerged the celery photoshoot, complete with walking around the living room, celery in two glasses of colored water trying to find the best natural light. My favorite picture, the one above was nicely side lighted by a 2nd story stair window.
Then in Photoshop, I just slightly bumped up the color saturation then added a small gradient to the corners and sides of the photo.

Rug Details

Wow, it's been a while since my last entry!
I took this photo detailing part of a rug I really like. I applied a few filters to change the colors. Then I applied canvas texture to the whole thing.

Sharpie Tattoos

I recently discovered a new hobby while spending some time at the beach, sharpie tattoos.
I was very proud of how this one turned out, so after it was documented via photo, I took the photo and applied a sketching filter to it.
Sharpie Tattoos anyone? Maybe I need to transition over to Henna, I hear there's money to be made. Perhaps I'll just set up shop on my front steps.

Catching a budding photographer

This photo was taken during an outing to the National Arboretum. Although the original photo was very colorful, I decided to apply some filters and mute the colors to almost monochromatic to focus in on the camera and the photographer's face. This particular photographer often wandered away from the group to use her old faithful Cannon Rebel G. So I decided to document this annoying/funny occurrence.

Foliage

At the request of a friend of mine I broke out my water colors, sadly they haven't seen the light of day in a while. In the quest to develop my Photoshop Godessness, painting was pushed aside. I have had a little more time lately so I'm starting to put those painting and drawing skills to use! I am not the greatest foliage painter, but I tried a different approach (lots of little washes, instead of wet into wet). Having not painted in a while, I was happy with the result. The line from a childhood song 'In the leafy tree tops' comes to mind when I look at the tree in back of the hosue. Now I'm on the lookout for my next subject...

The Tele

In honor of the rain, here's a painting I made while in London. My sister took the photo I used as a reference. Apparently the phone booth smelled pretty awful inside. Perhaps someone used it as a loo?

Keep smiling...it's Photoshop Express

I recently came across some pictures I had scanned 4 years ago. However I wasn't on a computer with my beloved Adobe Creative Suite. Then I remembered the Photoshop Express webiste https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html. It's basic and it's free and lets me play with photos. It even has a few "Pink Flamingo" functions (see text bubble above) that could provide hours of enjoyment if you like pink flamingos, happen to be unemployed or an admin assistant with some time to kill.

York Minster

The year or two following a semester spent in London, my artwork kept me reminiscing about my time there. This painting is of York Minster as seen though the city of York.

The Window

Due to some recent circumstances, this blog is going to take a different turn for a bit. I'm going to focus on paintings with a few digital creations here and there for the time being. The image above is a watercolor based on a picture I took of a window of John Ruskin's home in the Lake District of England. The image was painted on my return to London.
I have a slight obsession with architectural details. To spare the people around me I usually don't go around pointing out everything I like. But if you've spent some time with me in I've probably pointed out a fanlight, sidelight or mansard roof to you.

Green City

This image is made from stock photos and illustrations from istockphoto.com.  I copied and pasted parts of the illustrations from Illustrator into my stock photo in Photoshop to make the city.  Then I applied filters and layer styles to give the image an illustrated quality.  

Shoes at the Movies

I really liked the original color contrast of this photo.  So I used a few filters and a scan of old paper to play up the shoes and the color of the screen.

Sunglasses?

I was the photographer for this little 'photo shoot'.  This picture is a combination of three pictures.  I am practicing selecting objects and realistically combining them together. 

Finishing Touches

I normally like to use Photoshop to save an otherwise hopeless photo, or change or combine photos so the result is something completely different.  But sometimes the photo is fine and all I think the photo needs are a few finishing touches.  Below are 3 techniques I frequently use.  All are used in the photo above.  

Browntone:

There are lots of ways to achieve this effect in Photoshop, but this one is my favorite.  

1. Duplicate the background layer, command-J (PC:Option-J)

2. Desaturate the layer, Shift-Command-U (PC: Shift-Option-U)

3. Colorize the layer with Hue/Saturation, press Command-U (PC: Shift-U) , check the Colorize Box, set the Hue Value  to 38 & Saturation Value to 15, click OK

Soften a Black & White or Browntone Photo:

1. Select the layer you want to soften

2. Press Command-L (PC: Option-L) to bring up the Levels Dialogue Box, move the middle slider value from 1.00 to 1.30

Glow

1. Duplicate the background layer, command-J (PC:Option-J)

2.  Go to the Filter menu and choose Blur>Gaussian Blur,  set the Radius to 20 pixles and press OK. 

3. In the Layers Palette change the layer from normal to overlay.  Then adjust the opacity.

I use this effect to bring back a little color after I have desaturated a photo.  It gives an old quality to the photo, which I like.   

*There are more ways to achieve the effects above in Photoshop, but what I have listed above are my main & favorite methods. 

Original Photo

Mansard Roof

I've been intrested in architecture since I was 10. Somewhere in the middle of college, most likely in History of Interiors, I learned what a Mansard Roof was and I've been in love with it ever since. The music clip comes from Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend.
For the photos, I made the 'age progression' on different layers of the original photo, then used the export layer comps to files option in Photoshop.

Serious Hometown Glory

The title of this image is a combination of two song titles Serious by Duffy and Hometown Glory by ADELE. I found the image of the TV on iStock.com.
To the image of the TV & the people I applied some of my usual favorites: brown tones, HDR, glowing & threshold filters which where then blended together to my liking. Then I combined the two images together, added text and cropped the picture.

Orginal Photo

Orginal Photo

Hoping for a Strike

I like this photo because of the moment it captures. How many people sit down in front of their lane at a Bowling Alley? However the original photo (see below) was very yellow due to the lovely florescent lighting. So I went to work.
First for the background I applied a Split Toning process, then I applied the Paint Daubs Filter selecting the shinny brush.
For the main subject I used layers of split toning, sketching, threshold & Gaussian blur which I then blended together using layer options and opacity.

Original Photo

Floating

There's too much going on here to explain my entire process.  A few things that were used are the Lighting Effects filter (for the frame), Liner Burn blending modes & smart objects.  Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously I've banded minimalism from my work.  

Inagural Ball Polaroids

As part of the Inauguration Events this year, I was able to attend an Inaugural Ball at the Smithson American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery. Lots of pictures where taken. I really liked the contrasting colors in this photo and the 'stopped' action of the people walking. 

The original photo was slightly blurry, which I actually liked.  To play this up in Photoshop, I used three filters, HDR, Fresco & Film Grain and added a layer of Gradient Shading to focus the focal point of the photo.  Instead of just posting the photo, I wanted to do something more with it. I have had an image of image of blank Polaroids just waiting to be used.  I changed the background and 'cutout' the blank Polaroid so I could add my image.  To finish, I added text with a scripted handwritten typeface.  

Tracks

A little nod to my roots and something I use everyday.  This image is composed of 3 layers.  The bottom, the photo of the tracks with an HDR Filter process applied.  The next scan of an old sheet of paper, with the layer mode set to overlay.  On top, I've used a gradient to darken the corners and focus the viewers eye. 

Abstraction Number ?

In my option making an abstract work of art is a game of opposites.  For me there is often little methodical thought of composition, yet in the end the product is complex.  It's normally a process with lots of  experimentation and small output.  In this case, I was taking pictures at night during the Holiday Season.  It was hard to hold the little point & shoot camera still, and after a few blurry pictures, I started playing around with shaking the camera to see what would happen.  Fifteen pictures later, I have one I like.  

I've applied filters & techniques that I'm a fan of, which I have listed in previous postings.   

Complimentary Phone

This image combines two photos.  On each photo I copied the original layer, desaturated it, then colorized it with brown tones.  I then set the brown tone layer to multiply.  The color of the frame was changed with the Hue/Saturation sliders before the this process was applied. The photo of the phone has a texture filter applied to it, so it appears like canvas.  

Just incase you didn't notice there's a little color theory lesson going on here and I also happen to like red and teal tones together.   

Christmasness

This post builds upon the last post.  I've been working on Christmas stuff for work and not work.  These two pictures where the rejects from a card I was working on.  I happen to love them.  I was trying really hard to incorporate my recent obsession with faces in clothing forms into a Christmas card.  It didn't meet the approval of all parties, so instead I'm posting them here.  Who wouldn't want their face hanging off a clothesline in their Christmas card?

Outline Obsession

I am currently obsessed with object outlines, specifically clothing outlines.  I like the idea of framing objects with other objects.  In this picture it's a face within a jacket.  Why this appeals to me, I am not entirely sure.  But it most likely has to something with the fact that I like clothes.  

Recently I read an article in Photoshop user about using filters to design with.  Two of my favorite filters, Threshold and Cutouts where used.  I applied a couple of the steps in the article to my original photo with the face.  Then I copied and pasted an object from Illustrator, selected, inverted the selection, moved it to my liking and then deleted the rest of the image.  

As I mentioned, I'm currently obsessed with this idea.  I've been working hard, but haven't officially completed anything yet, too may ideas.  So to move past this, I'm posting this image in hopes that I'll have a deciding flash of creativity and finish the other projects.  In the meantime, I sure am having fun experimenting.