A view of beautiful late afternoon light shimmering on the trees caught my eye during our stay at Oak Creek Canyon. Somehow the straight out of camera image didn’t match my memory, so I had fun turning this shot into a little photo art piece that looks nothing like what I saw, but is interesting in its own right.
We have an assignment in our photo group to emulate an old master. I think he means Ansel Adams or Edward Weston- or perhaps a painter. I’ve been contemplating trying Georgia O’Keeffe- but, when I took this photo of a field of flowers near our house today, I thought of Van Gogh.
This is actually two- or three?- photos of the same field. One was a standard photo, and the other a multiple exposure/intentional camera movement attempt. I layered them, using parts of each, and then did some editing in Topaz Simplify and Impression at low opacity. Fun!
Here is another version of my yellow daisy/sunflowers with almost the same edit as yesterday.
Photoshop, textures, Topaz Simplify and Impression- so fun!
I don’t know if there will be a Part 3. Time will tell.
It is feeling so good to get back to doing a little still life photography! Now that the house is no longer torn up, I have some space and time to set up some stills. I’ve been especially eager to try out a birthday present I got from my friend, Debbie- a vintage window! It’s been piled in the garage with everything else, but now I can get to it, along with some of my other still life props that were covered up.
I propped up the window on a table outside in the 95 degree heat and had a great time composing this image. I edited it using Kim Klassen’s darkday preset (desaturation, a matte tone curve, and split toning, among other adjustments).
As usual, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I took it into Photoshop and Topaz Impression for a painterly look.
Here’s another Topaz Impression version- a new one called Wispy Sketch. Love this!
It was too hot to create any more still life vignettes- but look for this window in the future! Thanks, Debbie!
I realized that I never did post the photo I used for my photo club’s self-portrait theme. So here it is:
I love trying to create impressionist effects with my Lensbaby.
I took the photo above a bit farther by editing it in Photoshop and Topaz Impression.
I had fun yesterday giving this butterfly a painted look with three textures and two different Topaz Impression filters. It somehow satisfies my childhood desire to be a painter.
I’m back among the land of the living again! I haven’t quite returned to photography as yet, so today’s photo is a reworking of one I took last summer in Tucson. I played with it in Photoshop and added some textures to create a painterly look.
Another flower- this time an orchid.
Edited with Topaz Impression- with added texture.
Happy Tuesday! Just a couple more flower abstracts. . .
I never get tired of flower abstracts!
More branches in a jar. This was shot with the Lensbaby Edge 80 again, but then I used an oil painting filter in Topaz Impression and a Flypaper texture after that. Yup- just playing with sticks. . .
Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
-Hans Christian Anderson
melinda anderson photography 