Beyond Layers II - Day 30

Today's lesson was street photography.  Kim says that black/white is good for most street photos as there usually is a lot of distraction in the background.  I cropped this photo to eliminate most of the distraction and I do like the b/w effect.  I adjusted to black/white and also used my Topaz Black/White Effects filter.  

I used Sebastian's technique for sharpening and together with the Topaz filter, it really brought out the details in the dog's coat.  This was a photo I shot with my iPhone in Venice Beach. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Grand #1 is a sophomore in college - in the school's nursing program.  She is preparing a report for an assignment.  It's pretty much on the order of doing an intake for a patient entering the hospital.  The info is to be on a senior person.  So of course she called me.  We decided to have breakfast and I would supply all the answers to her questions.  Quite extensive I must say.  Another piece of the assignment was to do some sort of art/craft project with the person.  She also has to submit a log 

of the individual's (my) food intake for a day.  Yikes!! 

My art group was hosted by Jacki this month, and she gave us all journals to play in.  She had us do a couple exercises, one of which was drawing a face.  The only tool we could use with the acrylic paints was a credit card.  

So I suggested we do a credit card painting for Kiana's project.  She did one too but left with it before I could scan it :(

Blessings and joy to you all on this day of Thanksgiving.

Day 34 Beyond Layers II

Kim showed us how to make a "magic" texture.  I wanted a canvas look for the finished image.

 I like the white grunge border but it's difficult to see the edge, so I added a bit of a stroke.  I'm happy to be back in Beyond Layers and participating.  I plan to backtrack and pick up some of the lessons I missed.  Kim's classes are chock full of information and I always learn something new.  

Hard to believe the holidays are almost upon us.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours will be quiet this year….just three of us, but it will be lots of fun and good food!

  

Day 32 Beyond Layers II

Just like me to work backwards!

I forgot to post this.

First the original which I still like best…..  

and the edit for a fall look…..I cropped out the annoying fence in the foreground.

Eyes Plus Imagination

Sounds like an interesting post…..well it kinda is.  It's two versions of an image.  The first image I did sometime ago. Today I did some tweaking and used a filter on it to get a different look.

I had experimented with different texts and warping them.

The next image was practice for working with shape layers.  I added another image on a layer below the shapes and moved it so the eye would show in one of the rectangles.  Fun exercise.  

Just so much to learn.  Every day is truly a gift and I have such gratitude for people who share their knowledge.  They have certainly enriched my life.

Tomorrow I will try to post Day 32 of Kim's "Beyond II".

 

Day 33 Beyond Layers II

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post.  I guess I've just been immersed in my artistic activities and got sidetracked.  

I have been particularly involved in Sebastian Michael's Photoshop Grunge Art class and Phil Steele's Lightroom Made Easy.  Also trying to organize my photos and "keyword" them all in Lightroom, no small task!!!

Anyhooo….Kim Klassen posted her Day 33 assignment for Beyond Layers II.  I have been AWOL from that 

class for a while, so decided to do that project.  Result below.  I first processed in Light room and then into Photoshop for text and a few additional tweaks.

I'll see you soon.

Remember Hats??

That's what this reminds me of.....an old fashioned girl with a hat and a boa.  It's really just a texture and some fancy blend modes. 

 

I quite like the results and I find myself looking at it over and over again.  Do you ever do that when you're pleased with 

something?   Maybe you have just finished cleaning your house, and you're really pleased with how beautiful everything looks.  You keep going from room to room to admire.  

I do this with art.   OMG reminds me I have to do some cleaning this week-end or my house will run away!

 

Photoshop Artistry

Seems I have played the week away and just now have come up with a result I actually like.  This Photoshop Artistry is a fun class and there is just so much to learn!  I have created my own brushes now and previously, but I must admit I get so confused when saving them.  I now have a duplicate drop down of my brushes sets. Cannot figure out how that happened or how to fix it.  I think I have the standard brush sets and more in PSE 9, and the same with a few different brush sets in PSE11.  PSE11 is misbehaving, so I reverted to PSE9.   Somewhere in that process I think my saving sets got messed up.  

In this image I actually started with a texture and added lots of grunge brushes in different analagous colors.  I added an image of some type of wheel or gear and an image of a woman.  I also added a vector.  Many blend modes and images later this is what I ended up with.

There's a  thin white border which is not visible on this white background. It may show up better in Flickr.  Also used my stroke selection around the text. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!! 

Time Worship Continued.....

I played with this image some more today.  The wonders of Topaz Adjust and Restyle are just incredible.  I practiced layer selection and copying to get the three boxes.

And again.....

There is just no end to the editing and each one is more fun.

Mike is on vacation this week, so we are going to hang out.....go to our favorite restaurants for breakfast and lunch and take in a movie or two.  He's putting his front yard to sleep for the fall/winter  season. 

Have a great week-end!!

Time Worship

Recently I was reading a photography blog and someone who left a comment said that they did not consider digital edits photographic art when all the photographer does is a composite of a couple images and run a couple filters and claim it is art.  This is merely an opinion, of course.  I have always thought of digital edits as artistic photographic expression.  
In this exercise I worked with shapes, both Photoshop shapes and custom shapes.  The image is from Tray Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs.  It's part of his "Burning Man" collection.  You can find the original here.  I added the clock image from Morguefile.com and created the shape to surround the woman.  I also added a PS shape which I skewed.....and a brush.  I ran Topaz Restyle and Adjust filters on it and framed it.  Today I'm going to play with it a bit more and I'll post the results hopefully tomorrow.  Now this, my friends, I consider artistic photographic editing.  I call it art...... 

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was 

more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

~Anais Nim~