Abstract Photo - 10/15/14 - "Ruined"

NF Photography prompt: Abstract Photo

"Ruined"
this image was decayed so much that it was
almost an abstract by itself. I only
enhanced it to bring out textures
and add some color.

I like taking photos of old, run-down, or even decaying things. Unlike items that are shiny and new, these items have "character," even when crumbling to ruin.

One morning I set out to take photos in some car wrecking yards.  I didn't want to call ahead because I thought they'd refuse to let me take photos if I asked, but figured that once they saw I was a harmless older woman, they wouldn't refuse me.  I didn't realize that most auto junk yards in this area have very limited hours. I stopped at five and they were all closed, behind locked gates.  I was able to take only a few photos through the spaces in their chain-linked fences.

Why the owners even kept some of the decaying vehicles is beyond me.  Before they became piles of rust, they may have been able to sell them for recyclable scrap metal. Now, many are worthless.

Original photo of front end
of rusted-out car.

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.

Abstract Photo - 10/1/14: "Dried Flowers"

NF Photo: Abstract Photo alternates with Digital Art.

Find a Photoshop Tip under my photos.

I snapped my original photo a couple of years ago along a walking trail at a state park. The image is of wildflowers that have lost their petals while the seed pods in the middle of each flower has dried to a pale tan color. I wanted the image to have more of an autumn ambiance and look more like art than photo, so I added yellow, orange, peach, and brown, overlaid a texture and added a little bas relief to the foreground flowers.

"Dried Flowers"

Original photo, 10/13/12,
Moraine State Park, PA

Photoshop Tip: One of the problems with digital (vs. film) photography, is that images often have a little bit of a hazy quality. If you have Photoshop CC, you can now go into Camera Raw filters from the filter tab. For most photographs, I find that by moving to the right on the Clarity scale and also on the Vibrance scale, I can improve almost any photo. Sometimes that's all I need to do to bring out the details, up the contrast, and up the color a bit.

I've been enhancing old Kodachrome slides that are 45 years old. Many have spots, are scratched or dirty ---and those need a lot of work  But a lot of them are just badly faded.  By upping the  Clarity and Vibrance, I can make most of them look pretty good and some even look great.

Abstract Photo, Good Fences, Wkend in B&W - Sept 3-6: "Wrought Iron"

NF Photography Abstract Photo prompt alternates with a Digital Art creation every other Wednesday

Good Fences asks us to post fence photos each Thursday.

Weekend in Black and White is a prompt to post a black and white photo each weekend.

SIMPLICITY:

Simple can be unsophisticated, but it can also be elegant. It is usually basic, straightforward and uncomplicated.

My original photo is simply a small section of wrought iron fence and the shadow it casts on a sidewalk.

ABSTRACT ART attempts to achieve an aesthetic effect with lines, shapes, colors, and textures without depicting objects as they really are. It may be representational  or nonrepresentational. It can be simple or complicated.

My abstraction was created by taking parts of my black and white photo, rotating, scaling, overlapping, and coloring them. The abstract is much more COMPLICATED than the original photo.  It is not as straightforward, but it is more interesting visually.  

Some people prefer one over the other, but simple and complicated both have their merits. 

I'm taking a 2-week break.

I hope to have a bunch of new photos by the time I return the week of Sept 21st.

"Wrought Iron"
original black and white photo
taken at North Park, Allegheny County, PA

"Wrought Iron"
abstraction created from the photo above

Digital Art - 8/27/14 "Dissonant Doors"

NF Photography prompt: Digital Art


For those who think they aren't good at creating abstracts, I have created 3 easy lessons on creating successful abstract designs in any media.  If you are interested, you can find "Lesson 1: Color" by clicking HERE.   Lesson 1 has a link to "Lesson 2: UNITY" which has a link to "Lesson 3: ADDING VARIETY."  
 

"Dissonant Doors"
Although I create dozens of abstract designs from my photos each year, once in a while I come up with something I really love.  I think I like this one because it has more of a painterly feel to it than some of my other digital creations. Of course, I made five or six versions before I came up with this one.  I love digital because I can experiment without wasting materials.
Of course that says nothing about the TIME I waste.
And, of course, I make great use of the undo button.

Keep scrolling down to see the images I used and the steps I took to create this image  in their captions and why I chose this title. (Click on any image for larger views of all images, then click the X in the upper right to return to this page.)

First, I decided to close my eyes and randomly select a folder from my photo files. I landed on "Doors." I previewed the photos there and noticed that I had about 6 photos with red doors and black and/or tan in or around them, so I chose those photos and narrowed my choices to three.

THE TITLE: It just so happened that all of these photos were taken in the quaint historic village of Harmony, PA or nearby. At first I thought of calling it something like Harmony or Harmonious, but I didn't think that fit my final image. So I looked up antonyms of harmony and chose "dissonant."  I decided "Dissonant Doors" fit the image and I liked the double D alliteration.

This building is now a private home
but used to be a bank.

I liked the old-fashioned screen door
on this old house.

An old barn, now used for storage at a golf course.

I chose a part of each photo, scaled it,
moved it around, duplicated and rotated it,
and upped the saturation of the reds,
until I had my basic design.

I merged all my door layers together, then I
used the Photoshop filter gallery (cutout, poster edges,
paint daubs, and underpainting) to give the
image a more abstract ambience.  I also used the
shadows/highlights tool to up the mid-tone contrast.
I then duplicated that layer, changed the mode to overlay,
and used the bas relief filter. 

I still wanted more texture, so I looked through
the royalty-free background textures I have
and decided on this grunge image.
I added it to a new layer and resized it to completely
 cover my existing image. I selected the lightest parts,
feathered the edges and erased them.
Then I moved the opacity to about 50%.
(I could have changed the mode to overlay, instead.)
Using a large soft brush, I erased a few additional parts. 
Finally, I used the shadows/highlights tool to increase
the mid tone contrast on this layer to achieve
the final result at the top of this post.

Weekend in Black and White & Abstract Photo - 8/15-8/20/14: "WINDOWS"

The Weekend in Black and White asks us to post a black and white photo each weekend ---no sepia, no spot color, just black and white.
During the last few weeks, I've posted photos of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh for this meme. Today I'm hopping over to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, just a few minutes walk away.

NF Photography posts an Abstract Photo prompt and alternates it with a Digital Art prompt every other Wednesday. This week is Abstract Photo.

My abstract image was created digitally from one of my photos, so it is both an Abstract Photo and Digital Art.

SCROLL DOWN to see a tip for replacing colors in Photoshop (near the bottom of this post.)

Find links to three free online photo-editing sites.

Also find tips for saving photos in various versions.

"Library Windows"
This photo was taken from the stacks in the main
branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Looking through the window, I could see other windows
in other parts of the library.  Including the one I was
shooting the photo through, I count parts of ten
different windows.  I thought it made for an interesting
abstract design in and of itself, but then I used this
photo to create another abstract (below.)

"Distorted Windows"
(black & white version)
I copied the above photo several
times, then I rotated and scaled
each image to fill the space.
Then I copied each image once or
twice, making each smaller to
fit over the image under it.

"Distorted Windows"
(colored and enhanced)
I upped the shadows/highlights in the medium range so the
stone blocks on the side of the building would be more
apparent. I then used bas relief to add texture and depth.

I chose the very darkest areas , then filled them
with red on a new layer. I made the red transparent so
there was a hint of red in the  black areas. 
I chose medium tones & filled them with a warm tan on a
new layer in color mode and did the same for the lightest
areas with yellow orange.

Color mode doesn't work well with black or white,
so the lightest areas remained white and I had to use
a transparent normal mode (in red) over the black
rather than a color mode layer.

"Distorted Windows"
(blue version)
When you have your various
colors on different layers, it's
easy to replace them with
other colors. (See instructions.)
Scroll down for more versions.

PHOTOSHOP TIP - REPLACING COLORS 
There are several ways to replace colors in Photoshop.

First I made this version.  When I wanted to change colors to make different versions, I did this:

In this case, because I made separate layers for the red, tan and yellow orange, it was easy to do it this way:

 I went to the red layer and hit control and A (command and A on a Mac.)  That selected everything in that layer, but I only wanted to select the red parts, so I hit the up arrow once to select only the red, but that also nudged the red up a notch, so I hit the down arrow once to put it back into its original place.


I filled the selected areas with a royal blue on that same layer to replace the red.
An easy short cut for filling a selected area is to hold the shift key and hit F5. (Make sure you have already selected the color you want.)

I did the same for my tan and yellow-orange layers.

It took less than a minute to create a new color scheme using three shades of blue.

FREE ONLINE PHOTO-EDITING SITES:
I wanted to see what I could do on several free online photo editing sites.  I tried Fotor, PicMonkey and Pixlr.  I liked Pixlr best because many of its actions have names similar to the ones I am familiar with on Photoshop.  With a click of the mouse (or 2 or 3) I was able to create the images below. I used my original photo for one and the design I created from it for the other two.

If you don't already have or use photo-editing software, you may want to try all three to decide which one you like best. It is possible that there are actions you can do on one site that aren't available on the others, so you might want to use all three for different effects.

I suggest trying the three I mention above. (Some have basic free actions and then you have to pay if you want to use more sophisticated tools.)  Or search for other free online software.

Note: if you save your image on Pixlr, it saves to the Pixlr site. If you click the X in the upper right, it asks if you want to save your image before exiting and then you can choose a title and location to save it to your computer.

SEE IMAGES CREATED WITH PIXLR BELOW.

SAVING SEVERAL VERSIONS OF THE SAME PHOTO:
When saving any version of your original photo, keep the photo number in the title.  I don't use the letters that identify the camera in my title (such as DSCF or DSCN.) Because I have had several cameras over the years, it's possible that two different photos will include the same number, but I can easily determine which is the correct one.

Today I was searching for a photo I knew I had enhanced, but couldn't find it because I couldn't remember the title I gave it.  So, I found the original, told my computer to find the number of that photo (the one the camera assigned) and discovered I had mistakenly placed the enhanced one in the wrong folder months ago.

For the photos in this post, I titled my original photo "LibraryWindows" but the abstract version is "Distorted Windows."  These are some of the titles I used:
DSCF4108.jpg (original photo) I always keep a copy in case I want to start over.
LibraryWindows4108.psd (enhanced photo in photoshop)
LibraryWindowsBW4108.psd (black and white version)
DistortedWindowsAbstract4108.psd
DistortedWindowsAbstractBlue4108.psd
Notice the one constant is the photo's number, 4108.

Besides the psd (Photoshop) versions, I always save a jpg version of each.
I recently began to save a second jpg in a smaller size ---big enough to see online, but too small for anyone to copy and make a good print. The word Blog at the end indicates it is the size for blog posts. (DistortedWindowsAbstract4108Blog.jpg)

That way, it is ready to post online sometime in the future when I won't have to create a special jpg version because it is already done.

Experimenting at pixlr.com

Experimenting at pixlr.com

Experimenting at pixlr.com

Abstract Photo - 8/6/14 "Step Change"

NF Photography prompt: Abstract Photo

"STEP CHANGE #1"

I copied the left side of the original photo,
flipped it to create a mirror image.
Then I just played with modes, colors, and filters.

"Step Change #2"

"Step Change #3"

Original Photo
Stairs to a high school
football stadium.
I took this photo after dark
under halogen lights, so
it was a ghastly green
which I changed to
black and white.

Digital Art - 7/30/14 "Metallica"

NF Photography prompt: Digital Art

For those who think they aren't good at creating abstracts, I have created 3 easy lessons on creating successful abstract designs in any media.  If you are interested, you can find "Lesson 1: Color" by clicking HERE.   Lesson 1 has a link to "Lesson 2: UNITY" which has a link to "Lesson 3: ADDING VARIETY."  

An Oldie, but Goodie
This is something I created a long time ago.  Instead of using a photo, I scanned an object and then manipulated it into an abstract creation.

"METALLICA"

I was ready to box up some old jewelry to see if my nieces would
want it, when I came across earrings that were about 1-inch
square and looked like they were made from thin flat pieces of
tarnished brass that had been scrunched into 3-D folds. On a
whim, I decided to see what would happen if I scanned one. To
my surprise, that dark, tarnished brass came out in shades of
orange, rust, turquoise, green, and purple.  So I manipulated
the shape (copied it, resized it, flipped it, rotated it) added
a shadow and a background.  This piece won a first place
award in the "other" classification at a local art center's
juried exhibit ---the category for art that didn't fit
into drawing, painting, crafts, etc. 

This represents the scan of one earring. If I still
had the earrings, I'd take a photo so you
could see the original object.
If you have a scanner, try scanning shiny
things like wrinkled aluminum foil,
gold wrapping paper, and jewelry.
Some scans will disappoint, but a few
will surprise and delight you.

Abstract Photo - 7/23/14: "Screened In" 2 versions

NF Photography prompt: Abstract Photo

"SCREENED IN"

After an evening event at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh,

I noticed a new, large, screened structure behind the museum.  With lights on

inside the structure, which appeared to be a storage area for large equipment,

I liked the designs created by the dark lines, screens, and lights, so I snapped

a few photos.  I wondered why some of the structure (black pieces) were

closer together and why there was a diagonal piece and a very thin one with a

curved corner. But that made the design more interesting than if the black

lines had been the same width, all vertical and horizontal and evenly spaced. 

I decided this image made a great abstract without any

enhancement at all. But, of course, I decided to have a bit of fun with it.

"SCREENED IN #2"
á la Mondrian

Because of the geometric design created by black lines in the original photo,

I decided to make this image resemble a Mondrian painting using primary

colors, black and white.  After making the image more vertical and horizontal

with Photoshop's distort tool (to undistorted it) I created 4 new layers above
the original photo, one for each color and white. On the red, blue, and
yellow layers, I changed the mode from normal to color. I selected
the sections I wanted red and filled them with red and did the
same for blue and yellow.  I left the fourth layer in normal mode

and filled in the sections I wanted to be white, then made the layer

transparent enough to see some of the texture of the screen. Using color

mode doesn't allow very light or very dark areas to accept color, so for the

very lightest spots, I used 3 more normal mode layers for the primary
colors, colored each and then made them transparent so a hint of
color would be visible on those very light areas.

Digital Art and Summer of Color - Week of 7/14/14: "IMPRESSION"

NF Photography prompt: Digital Art
NF photo alternates a prompt for a Digital Art creation with a prompt for an Abstract Photo on alternate Wednesdays.


Scroll down for the Summer of Color version:
Week 6's colors are:  Raspberry, Tangerine, Lemon



This is one of the pieces I originally created when I was first learning Photoshop, 25 years ago.  At that time I was experimenting with shapes, textures, gradients, and colors. Photoshop didn't even have layers then, so if I added something and then didn't like it, I could undo only that one step, but after that my change was permanent. (I ended up saving each image after each change and adding a new number at the end of the title.)

In 2001, I recreated it with a more sophisticated version of Photoshop when I needed a gift for a coworker named Mark.  When I'm trying to come up with a title, I often use my computer's thesaurus. When I entered "mark," one of the words that came up was "impression," so that became the title for Mark's gift. At that time I had found some great ink jet paper with a silver sparkly texture, almost like a holograph.  Some images didn't work well on it, but this one looked terrific, so I printed it on the special paper, matted and framed the image for my friend. (Unfortunately the paper is no longer being made, but I had purchased several packages of it and I still have some.)

I also promised Mark that I would never print another one just like his gift. His had only red, black, royal blue and gray in it. The sparkly paper had no ink on it where the image was white.

This image has been reworked numerous times over the years and I reworked it again for this Digital Art prompt and then reworked it again for Summer of Color.  Because I don't remember how many times it was reworked and I lost some of older files when a hard drive crashed, I chose to add a X  and XI for version 10 and 11.

SEE INFO BELOW THE IMAGES FOR A SPECIAL DEAL ON PHOTOSHOP CC, THE LATEST VERSION, PLUS LIGHTROOM.

"Impression X"
Created completely in Photoshop.

"Impression XI"
Summer of Color version: essentially
the same design with color changes, but
I changed a few design elements, too.
Raspberry, Tangerine, & Lemon are the colors
for this final week of this year's S.O.C. meme.

ON SALE:  Photoshop CC and Lightroom for $9.99/month, plus local taxes (regular price is $19.99/month for Photoshop only.) You can set up an automatic monthly payment to a credit card. Requires a one-year commitment. Because it is a subscription, you will receive automatic updates.

To put this in perspective, a new version of Photoshop CS6 costs $699.00, so it would take 5.75 years paying $9.99 each month to match that and wouldn't include automatic updates nor Lightroom. You can try it first with a 30-day free trial.

For more info or to download a trial of each program:
https://creative.adobe.com/plans/photography?trackingid=KMAZI

I can't find info on how long this sale will last. (Last year the sale began the day after Thanksgiving and ended on Dec 31st.) I got mine during last year's sale and was told by the representative that as long as I keep the subscription, the price will not rise. That, of course, may change.

Note: Even though the CC stands for Creative Cloud, you will download the program to your computer, therefore if you are on a computer at work or a library, you will not have access. I think you can add it to 2 devices (desktop computer, laptop, iPad, iPhone) for this price.

You can download it immediately and start to use it right away.

Abstract Photo and Summer of Color - Week of 7/7/14: "Barred WIndows"

NF Photography prompt: Abstract Photo
Beginning July 2nd, each week NF photo is alternating a prompt for Digital Art with a prompt for an Abstract Photo. Most of my digital art is also abstract, so many of my creations will work for both.


Scroll down for the Summer of Color version.
Week 5's colors are: Red, Royal Blue, and Light Blue.


I opened my file that holds photos of textures. The two main elements I chose were my kitchen curtains and a rusty old grate from a local park. Initially I chose a second photo of a different grate, but later decided not to use it.  I purposely chose images that I thought wouldn't go well together, to challenge myself to make them work in one abstract piece.

 I also wanted some background texture, so I chose 3 overall texture photos to add to the background. (I take lots of texture photos so I can use them in artistic pieces.) I made my main elements transparent enough that the textures show through, although in the final piece it is difficult or impossible to determine what they were originally.

"Barred Windows"
The first thing I did was use the distort tool in Photoshop to UN-distort the grate photo
to make the bars vertical. I upped the red saturation a little and created more contrast
with levels (because the photo lost some definition when I made it transparent.)
I basically kept the original colors: gray, ecru, orange, and rust.
There is one complete photo of the curtains (again transparent) but I also duplicated
just the lace and placed it in several locations. I added patches of 3 textures under
everything else.  If you look at the photos below, you will see what they were and be
able to identify them in this image, although I was using them for visual interest so
it doesn't matter what they are. I chose the title "Barred Windows" because the
only reason for bars and curtains to be together seemed to be on windows.

Summer of Color version:
Week 5 colors: Red, Royal Blue, Light Blue

My kitchen curtains and other photos
I used to create the above design.

Grate over storm drain at a local park, with
sunlight brightening some of the bars.

Linoleum

Asphalt parking lot

Small white gravel stones applied to
the outside wall of the municipal
building close to my home.