A Few Days in Southwold

As mentioned on my Project 52 page last week I spent a very pleasant few days away in Southwold with my daughter. Camera in hand I tried to capture some different shots of a well photographed town. I decided, when I returned, that I would edit them in a similar style and used the Fractalius plugin, followers of my blog...all two of you - sorry I exaggerate ;) - will know that I have used this program several times over recent months, sometimes it is successful in improving an image but sometimes it is just a gimmick, I hope these are the former rather than the latter! I hope to produce a painterly effect, apologies to those who have just seen some of these on the Project 52 page, there is some duplication.

Then of course there are always those candid shots - couldn't resist this one!

To edit or not to edit, that is the question.

We all know that digital photographs require a certain amount of basic editing, especially if you shoot in raw as I do, and that infra red has some additional work which needs to be done. My question is really to do with how far we need/should go. Of course the answer will always be it depends on the photograph and why the editing is being done. As I have said before filters, conversions, use of plugins etc will never rescue a poor image so we are assuming a basically decent start photograph.

The reason I am musing over this is because of the last image in my previous post, I kept going back to it believing there was something more in the image which, with some careful editing, could be coaxed out. In my mind I was imaging something a bit whimsical, prompted by the flowing clothes of the ladies mirrored in the billowing trees, also the idea of childhood being carefree and fun, how would these children remember this day?

Anyway I started to edit and came up with this version, created by cropping and adding some fractalius.

This is the original version for comparison

I think the reworked version is better, for the reasons stated above, but realise that it is sometimes difficult to be truly objective about your own work so any other opinions would be valued and taken on board.

Photos Everywhere

Anybody who knows me will know that one of the things I particularly enjoy is finding a picture in unusual places. Over the Christmas holidays I spotted a photograph whilst pouring myself a festive glass of wine.

One of our three ceiling lights in the kitchen had blown, this led to some interesting shadows and as soon as I poured a glass of my favourite red I knew there was a photo opportunity. After a little bit of Photoshop magic, this is what resulted. The shadows were enhanced by Fractalius.




I enjoyed the effect and sent it to a few friends for a bit of unbiased feedback!!!

Most seemed to like it although some found the out of focus glass stem somewhat distracting, my personal viewpoint is that it is needed to explain the image, without it it would become an abstract.

Following on from the wine glass I tried my hand at some different versions, including this one.......

....and this one. Personally I am not as happy with the beer picture, may be something to do with the angle...or maybe just that I don't really like beer!!

IN THE ROUND

I enjoy exploring the possibilities of Photoshop and creating an image from a photograph. I always try and start with a technically good photograph. I think it is a mistake to think that using a Photoshop filter can rescue a poor image.

Today I have been using the polar coordinates filter under distort. In all of these images I added a Fractilius effect and used layers to create the image I had in my head.

This image started off as a picture of three trees which are in a straight line,  I have used them several times in different photographs, they are a 5 minute walk from my house.

This picture is a combination of two images, the tree was positioned below the horizon on which the people and the dogs were so that the trunk disappears into the centre of the circle.

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Finally an image created in the same way, but then cut in half to create a different image. Also you will notice that the people and the tree are inside the circle, rather than on the outside. This is dependant on the image you start with, you simply flip the image vertically to create the different effect, and no they are not the same people as in image two!

I hope you enjoyed looking at these and that you are inspired to try some for yourself. One tip if you are going to try this, look at the edges of your image before you add the filter. When the image is bent to create the circle the edges come together, if they are not similar you will get an odd joined effect in the middle.

SHADOW CATCHERS

Happy New Year to any blog followers watching, I hope it's a good one for you and yours.

This post is a continuation of the V&A pictures. During my walk about I looked down from a balcony to see the entrance to an exhibition called Shadow Catchers, I could just see in and recognised the potential for a picture. I have learnt it is always a good idea to look up, down and behind as well as in front, often the best image is not where you think it's going to be!

I have tried a few ideas in Photoshop, but I don't think I have yet got 'the picture'. The lighting conditions meant a longish shutter speed which gave the opportunity to give a ghostly effect to the moving people with one sharp stationary figure, the green tint adding to the ghostly effect.

It's probably a good idea to view the larger version of this image. Please feel free to make suggestions as this is definitely a work in progress. Thank You

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW...

OK so here is my first real post.

I chose this because of the seasonal links and the location of the shot. I am a great believer in the fact that there are always photographs to be taken and this was snapped in my garden during the recent heavy snowfall, when I was limited to photography within walking distance of my home.

This does have a small amount of cropping applied, to remove a plant stalk from the right hand side of the image, I then played around with levels and curves to get the white snow as I wanted it. Finally a small amount of fractalius was added to enhance the graphic effect of the leaves.