Beyond Layers Day 73--When Inspiration Hits

On Monday, in Beyond Layers, Kim showed us an image on the cover the book A Beautiful Disaster that she found to be inspirational. It was an image of a textured and very blue butterfly in a jar. The image can be seen here.

Kim urged us to use that image as inspiration only and create our own unique image. She also gave us a couple of lovely textures to try out.  I really liked the blue and the texture and the light of the book cover image.

At first, I was not going to process any of the photos I took of these dandelions (yet again) on this particular morning's shoot. Dandelions are not unique for me as a photographic subject. I love them and I cannot get enough. When I first went through the images of this shoot, though, I did not think anything was salvageable. I was a little disappointed because I had done everything technically 'right': I used a tripod; I used early morning light; I had on mirror lock up; I turned off my image stabilization; all of the things I should do. But I felt like the images did not work out. I wasn't sure about the focus. There was obvious movement (which was likely from a bit of breeze), etc. It was just not what I wanted to see with these images, I guess--not what I expected. However, after seeing Kim's post and wanting the inspiration to hit (and also just wanting to complete an exercise in this class because I have gotten myself terribly behind, again), I took another look. I decided this one could work as something to add a lot of processing and textures to . . . go a little overboard; have a little fun.

Below is the image I came up with. I did some cross processing, used Lightroom, Photoshop and Radlab and went heavy on both of Kim's new textures: 'steelish' and 'naturally'. I was a fun exercise.

 

Texture Tuesday--Free and Easy Edition

A photo of some rain drops on day lily leaves. I used Kim's 'take heart' and 'nesting' textures on this.

Texture Tuesday, Partings eDition

For Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. The challenge was to use one layer of her 'partings' texture.d a

I call this one 'don't shed a tear'.

I used two layers of Kim's texture--one at multiply and one at soft light blend mode.

Texture Tuesday--The Not-Necessarily Textured Edition

This week for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, there are no restrictions . . . anything goes. The image can be textured or not, processed or not--any image. But me being who I am and this being called 'Texture Tuesday', I still have to stick with linking up with a textured image.

This photo was taken at Raquette Lake, NY in the late afternoon sunshine this summer (July 5 to be exact). I so want to go back there right now . . . if only I was closer. It's a 13 hour drive, though. We have a place there--a sort of investment property (but how good of an investment, I don't know--more of dream for the future, I suppose). My parents and brother and his wife are going to stay there this weekend for a little getaway. I am a tad envious that I cannot join them but also happy that they can go there for another fun time at Raquette and also happy to share this place I hold so dear with vacationers who choose to rent from us and are always back in touch with news of an enjoyable and peaceful time at our 'camp' in Raquette Lake.

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I processed this image in Lightroom with basic adjustments and a preset and then in Photoshop and Radlab. I added three of Kim's textures ('dream-it', 'take heart' and 'the way' at different blend modes and not too heavy).

Beyond Layers Day 64

I am really behind in Beyond Layers. I have skipped lots of lessons and exercises. I did not participate in the pieces of me scavenger hunt at all and as interesting as that sounded, I think I will skip that at this point.

I have not yet started on the shape exercises, but I do think that will be a valuable exercise and I want to do that. For me a lot of the problem is I only spend my free time (sometimes) doing photography (usually after work and when the light gets a little better) and I do not ever use a phone camera for spur of the moment photos. I don't have an iphone and my android devices does not have a good quality quality camera, so I don't see the point. I prefer to always use my dSLR and for that, I need to be a bit more deliberate. For certain, there is no taking photos at work or on the way home from work and such.

I can do the shape exercise in time  . . . the important thing is the idea and the understanding of what it can do is there.

Overall, I am realizing I have to relax about the Beyond Layers course and realize that, really, just reading the emails and prompts and watching the videos is enough. I have learned a lot  . . . so much about Photoshop that I never knew and even if I stopped now, it was well worth it . . . and on top of that, I've learned about myself.

I won't stop, but I will relax and do what I can . . .

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For the above image, I used Kim's 'Jay' texture and followed a lot of her tips and tricks about masking. I did not need to as much with this as I would have if my image was different, but I really loved the backslash trick . . . that was helpful. How would I ever find out about that if it were not for Kim?

'Laundry Mat'

I saw this sign in Indian Lake, NY. It tickles me. I cannot help picturing a big, black mat with laundry spread out on it, drying in the sun.

Texture Tuesday--Free and Easy

For Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. This is a  photo of the sunset over Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced ponderay) in Idaho. My husband's family has property there and we go every summer for a visit.

I changed the look of the photo with some cross processing in Lightroom, Photoshop and with Radlab and then applied the texture. I don't honestly recall which texture I used (I think it was 'take heart'), but I know it was Kim's because I always use hers.