Digital Art - 10/8/14 "Blue Skies"

NF Photography prompt: Digital Art

I created this abstract quite a while ago so cannot remember every filter I used to make it. But it was actually a very simple idea and if you would want to make something similar, you would probably want to choose your own filters anyway. I recently pulled it up and reworked it slightly.

APOLOGY: Sorry I didn't get back to add comments on many of last week's posts.  I had an emergency medical situation, was in the hospital for a few days and now I'm catching up.   I had already set up automatic posts for several memes up through the next couple of weeks, so I didn't have to create those, but it will take me a few more days to catch up with this week and last week, too.  I'm fine now, just tired.

"BLUE SKIES"

I started by viewing lots of my photos that had large patches of sky
in them. I took horizontal blocks of many photos, finally choosing 12
of them. I made sure some were lighter or darker than others. some
grayer, some bluer, and that some had light or dark areas for variety.
I scaled each to stretch across my new canvas and scrunched or
expanded the height so that the design would be interesting. Although
I can't remember everything I did, I probably used levels to up the
contrast, saturated the colors, and added bas relief in an overlay layer
to create the appearance of texture.  I wanted the result to be rather
minimalistic and monochromatic, yet have enough variety
to make the final image somewhat engaging to look at. 

Composition created from pieces of sky
before enhancing them.
I take lots of sky photos so that, if I end up with
a photo with a washed-out sky, I can replace
it with a better one.  This was the image
after I chose all the individual sections of
sky, scaled and arranged them into my
basic composition, before enhancement.

The idea for my abstract was inspired by minimalist
artists such as Donald Judd who created many
versions of this style of wall sculpture in a variety
of colors.  His is, of course, made of evenly-spaced
geometric pieces, all the same size, all the same color.
I wanted mine to create more interest by changing the
sizes, dimensions, colors, and textures.

Imagine Sol DeWitt's minimalistic creation turned sideways.

PHOTOSHOP TIPS: 
• To make your image fill the available space while working on it, you can hit the control key and the number 0. (On a Mac use the command key and the number 0.)
• To make your image larger, hit control and the + key (command and + on a Mac.) Each time you do that it will increase in size. (See alternate method below.)
• To make your image smaller, hit control and the - (minus) key (command and - on a Mac.) Each time you do that it will decrease in size.

WHEN A SMALLER IMAGE IS USEFUL/NECESSARY:
Let's say that you are working on an image and decide to overlay it with another image that is larger. You go to the Transform>Scale tool, but the edges of the larger image are outside of your work space. By using the instructions above to decrease the size of your image as many times as necessary, you will be able to see the outlines of the larger image and grab the sides or corners to scale it down to the size you want.

I also make my image smaller when I have to straighten it by using the Transform>Rotate tool. 

Sometimes, I like to make my image smaller so I can, in a sense, stand back from it, to get an overall impression of what I've created.

Once you've completed your task, you can use the instructions above to fill the workspace or make your image larger again.

WHEN A LARGER IMAGE IS USEFUL/NECESSARY:
I usually enlarge my image to check for flaws or to see if things I've superimposed are in exactly the right place.  I check one section at a time, then move a little to the right or left, up or down to see the next section. I'm often sure everything is perfect until it has been enlarged several times.

If you are doing things just for fun, it might not be necessary, but when you are creating something for a client, exhibit, shop, or juried show, you don't want it to be filled with flaws.

Alternate enlargement method: use the zoom tool (magnifying glass) from your tool bar. Click on the image with it as many times as necessary.