Hidden Elements

Our challenge for Photo Art Friday this week is hidden elements in plain sight.  I came up with several versions, some with hidden elements in plain sight and some not so easy to see. I used Nancy Donaldson's geometric texture on the image below.

 It's fairly easy to see the hidden faces here but look at these next images.......................

In the image on the right I used Bonnie's  French Boudoir Blue texture. The image on the left uses one of my bokeh
textures.










I used the wave filter on the image above and selected randomize.  I like this effect.

and on this one below I used the distort filter (spherize)

See if you can find the hidden elements in plain sight.  

Beautiful Freesias

The weather has been so gorgeous here over the past week-end and even today -- high 70's near the beach where I live.  I sat on the patio today and soaked up the sun for about 45 minutes.  It was truly a luxury.  So in my effort to invite Spring into my home I purchased some snowy white freesias at Trader Joe's last Friday.  I thought I would use one of the images for my Texture Tuesday entry.  

This photo was processed using two layers of Kim's "Happy Heart", Topaz Adjust and Photoshop Essentials 4.

Doesn't this just scream Spring???

It would have been great for last week's white theme too.

Hook up with the rest of the artists here, in fact why don't you consider participating.  It's really simple.  You can read the instructions on her blog.

PAF Day

Here it is Friday again, and I almost forgot.  I had prepared my image earlier in the week and got busy.....you know how that goes.  I decided to go for a realistic look rather than abstract.

I love Bonnie's new Flash of Gold texture.  I used two layers on this image (actually two images blended together), one on darken 100% and one on vivid light 100% and then removed most of the texture from the flowers.  I tried a couple different finished looks -- one included a frame from Picnik

and the other I framed with a grungy frame using my Photo Essentials 4 plug in.

I love what Bonnie did this week, her collage, the portrait of her granddaughter and the gorgeous abstract.  Be sure to check it out and while you're there check out all the entries for this week.

Have a fabulous week and we'll meet again next week.

More White

I played with this as a possibility for Texture Tuesday but I liked "Purity" better.  I'm trying to take advantage of Picnik while they are still available.  I know I can make collages in Photoshop, but somehow they seem more 

tedious to do that way.  Maybe I just don't have the hang of it.  I seem to have challenges getting my images to fit in the boxes.  If anyone knows the way to simplify it, please email me or leave a comment.

Anyway, here is my Picnik collage in white.  I also used their "gritty" effect and I like that.

It removed some of the color so it looks a bit desaturated.  I also got this simple museum frame on Picnik.  Yes, there are other ways to achieve the frame but they make it so easy.  I'm starting to look for other fast, easy, fun online editing sites to add the little fun touches.  I probably just need to spend more time on Photoshop Elements to see what "fun" things I can do with it since I work in it all the time.

  

Goddess of Purity

The challenge this week for Texture Tuesday was the theme of white.  When I think of 

white I  usually think of innocence or purity.  I chose this beautiful goddess 

for my subject and then went about 

changing everything.  I used 2 layers of Kim's "Ben #2" texture to subdue the busy 

background.  I also added her "Graydayslate" 

so I would have a bit of a frame around my subject.  I must have played with fonts

for an hour and I'm still not thrilled.  I don't have one that looks Greek or Roman enough. 

Hope you all have a fun week and be sure to stop by and see the many other 

wonderful expressions of white. 

Just Do It!

This week for Photo Art Friday we had our choice.....

We could do either

Any piece of photo art

A piece using a layer mask

A piece using an original image of something not generally considered pretty.

My first image here is of something utilitarian (not generally considered pretty although it might be considered a fashion statement).

The running shoe was processed using PSE 9,  Bonnie's texture called Smokin' and a texture by Nancy Donaldson which I call "geometric" and various filters.  I also used this for Nancy's texture challenge.  Check out her blog to see those entries.

I decided to do another piece below.  The original image is from a retail display at Z Gallery.   

I processed this using Bonnie's Touch of Gold texture and various filters.  I'm really liking the "cutout" filter these days.  Thanks, Bonnie for giving me that idea.

The world of Photoshop offers so much to learn.  There's always a new tip, technique or idea.  I think that is why I never tire of it.

Days of Mums and Roses

It's 3:40 PM here in Southern Calif. and I am finally finishing my image for Texture Tuesday.  I have used Kim's Felicity, 2 copies of Graydaystone and one of Inspired Magic. 

Hope you are all having a great week.  

Word Verification?

After seeing Blogger's alert on spam detection today, I just thought I would put my two cents' worth in.  I love comments as I think many of you do.  If you're involved in one 

or more weekly "challenges", you know what you're up against when you attempt to leave comments on many blogs.  This past week-end I 

spent so much time trying to figure out word verifications which now have two (not one) words to decipher, I was ready to give up on leaving comments.  

It's doubly annoying because I never know until I've finished my comment that I'm going to have to do the blasted word verification!  Think how much more time I would have to leave comments if I didn't have to decipher the verification.

  
 It is possible to prevent spam comments by going to comments settings and checking "always" under comment moderation and unchecking "word verification".  
Then you will see "comments awaiting moderation" on your dashboard and you can check them before you okay them for publication.  Don't forget to check the "spam" tab on your comments tab too.  You want to delete those and help Blogger 
do a better job for us.  They do try to eliminate what appears to be spam.
This must be an issue with a lot of people because I've seen more than one post today on this subject.
So if you notice you're getting fewer comments, it's might be because we're having to deal with the verification!!

Oneness

For my Photo Art Friday entry I was searching through my photos and found this one that I had taken at a local nursery in their gift shop.  It was during the holidays.......they had so many beautiful Christmas trees and so much "eye candy" to look at, it was almost overwhelming.  This photo called out to me (you can see the original by running your mouse over the image)......I decided to use Kim Klassen's "Annabelle" texture as well as Bonnie's "Ephemeral" texture.  I used a layer mask to remove texture from my subject.  At the last minute I decided to add one of my new transparent overlays from French Kiss.   The final result is really different and I love the colors.   But then those of you who know me know I'm partial to analogous combinations..... 

He who is rooted in oneness realizes that I am in every being;

wherever he goes, he remains in me.

       ~ The Buddha~

I often go to First Sip in the morning for quiet time and inspiration.  She has some wonderful writing of her own as well as beautiful quotes from others.  Check it out.  You will feel soooooooo serene.
Do look at all the other wonderful entries here......the talent is outstanding.

Color Enhanced Sketch

I loved Pat's color enhanced sketch so much and asked her how she did it.  She was so kind and sent me a pdf document with instructions for Photoshop.  The end result rests a lot with the beginning image.  I think I will try again with a different image.  There were quite a few steps but I love the end result.  This is the original image

I edited with Pat's instructions to get this

and then for fun I used Topaz Adjust filter to get this

It's supposed to look like a sketch.

 I think the middle image using Pat's instructions has more of a sketch look.  Again I think a different image will give a more distinct painterly result.  I love hers.