1/26/12

PAF: abstract, again

Hope you're not getting bored with these photo processing experiments. I just find the process fun and interesting and endlessly surprising - working with my images and transforming them into something appealing but not recognizable....the unrecognizable is easy, the appealing, not so much! :)

Here are the images I started with:

Outside the Summer Palace, Beijing, China

Purposely blurred dahlia

Pipe at a construction site

This week I tried something different to show the process; let's see if it helps...


You can see from the steps above how changing the blending mode (that's the hard light/difference, etc notes) dramatically affected the color tones from one to the next.  Even though I didn't care for the blue green colors that I got from "difference", I kept going and the addition of the hard light mode brought back the warmer colors from the dahlia.  Though the work palette is too small, you can see I have 3 flower images stacked & erased, then I have the 2 tube pics layered on top of that and finally the two textures over everything.

Here's my final image - I kept the face sort of clear but I like the layers of color and shapes - almost like an actual collage.  Bonnie's two free textures Heavenly (enhanced the blue tones and warmed up the overall colors) and the dramatic Etched in Stone (added text) really contributed to the finished product.  That Etched one really blended all the colors together beautifully.

See how creative others are this week by visiting Pixel Dust Photo Art.....even better, try it yourself.  No harm, no foul....it's just for fun and to help improve your photo editing skills.

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful piece, Terrie. I stood by that image and did t'ai chi in the garden/park at the other end of the palace when I was in Beijing, Nov. 2007! It was fantastic - and, lots of images to work with from that trip for sure. This one is amazing - like your choice of color which suits the main statue along with the flowing "mane" of dahlia. Very much enjoy it. Thanks, Karen

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  2. Congratulations on a beautiful abstract.

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  3. I love this! Great choice of images to work with - it's amazing how well things fit together, isn't it?!

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  4. Awesome piece! I love the pipes , they gife such depth, and the final texture is fabulous, makes me want to know what it might feel like.

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  5. This is great; I would have never thought of using the pipes.
    You and the other posting at Bonnie's site
    are making me think "outside the box".
    Thanks for the process steps.
    The end result is amazing.

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  6. Terrie, this is beautiful. Yes, the word "collage" came into my mind, too, and I really like that effect. The photos on their own are stunning as well - those pipes are great!

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  7. Wow! - This is so much fun. I love the pieces you chose to put together. The pipes make for an unexpected choice but work so well. Love that you muted the face of the statue enough that you can still see it but yet not recognize what it is. The colors/textures are fabulous together. Great piece.

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  8. Such good base choices, especially the pipes which add a great local texture.

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  9. Such a great and sweet work of art. Nice to my eyes :)

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  10. Love the textures in your photos! Valerie

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  11. Amazing transformation Terrie! And, please don't apologise - it's YOUR blog!
    Thank you for sharing your process - I really love that photo of the pipes - brilliant!

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  12. I love the effect of Bonnie's etched in Stone background, great editing!
    Blessings Suzanne

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  13. Nice finish and interesting to see how you got there

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  14. amazingly rendered!

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  15. Never bored! I love seeing your abstract collages and all the steps you take to get to the final image.

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  16. Great combinations making a fabuIous piece of art :)

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  17. au contraire - I find your experimentation fascinating.

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  18. Wow this is fiery and really sets a sinister tone! Nice.

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  19. Excellent post-processing.

    Regards and best wishes

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  20. Wow...great editing. Thanks for sharing your steps. Very artistic.

    Kathy

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Thanks so much for taking the time to add a comment. I value what you think!