Winter’s End

Just a couple more winter images before it’s springtime!

This one is another intentional camera movement shot from Eklutna Lake in Alaska- with a bit of Photoshop magic:

The image below is a composite of a few iPhone shots from icy Alaska- and snowy Prescott- edited with iPhone apps:

Alternative Landscapes

Editing photos for creative expression, relaxation, and just plain fun is an essential part of my photography life.  I don’t paint or do crafts- so I create with the camera and the computer. I respect and enjoy traditional photography, but I sometimes like to tiptoe a bit onto the photography wild side.

Yesterday I revisited some of last summer’s photos from Alaska. At the time, I was fascinated with the stark shapes of the rocks and peaks jutting out of the sea, but I was disappointed in many of the resulting shots when edited traditionally. But I had so much fun creating the “alternative landscapes” below.

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Red Cliff Echoes

arc20141020-dsc_5986_melinda_anderson-edit-editI woke up way too early this morning and got up to have a play with some images from our Utah trip back in 2014. Last weekend I had been re-editing some Moab shots for class and to possibly use in an upcoming show- so these red cliffs have been in my subconscious waiting to be turned into some photo art just for fun. I have been playing recently with some phone apps (Fragment and Tiny Planets), which take chunks of your photos and re-arrange them, and wanted to see if I could do something similar in Photoshop in a more controlled way. Fun!

Wiggling the Camera

I have spent perhaps 4 days editing the photo I’m using for the final in my photo group. It is sharp, sharp, sharp- but, other than that, the project was pretty much a disaster.  The editing time was basically spent trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. More cloning than anyone should have to do in their entire life! I am hoping the result is adequate. No, I’m not yet posting it.

To recover, I spent an hour in the land of blur, producing some ICM images- abstract or impressionist landscapes, I’ve discovered they are called- achieved by long exposures and camera wiggling.

Here are two edits of my across the street view. I think the black and white looks like an ocean view.

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Morning Blues

The other morning I woke up early and looked out the window to see blue stripes of clouds in the pre-dawn sky. I threw on some gym pants and slippers, grabbed my camera, and headed out to the driveway to shoot some pictures before the sun came up. I ended up crossing the street to get this view of the peaks and hills in the distance. I took multiple exposures as well as intentional camera movement shots and had a great time- until I realized that the sun had come up and I was across the street in my nightclothes, with a wild bedhead- and was waving my camera around like a madwoman. This is how I am earning my reputation as the neighborhood crazy person!

Below is what looks like a multiple exposure- and I guess it is- but it was shot by moving the camera around during a long exposure (intentional camera movement).

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