Photo Art Friday/November 18-20

Almost fell asleep and almost missed this weeks Photo Art Friday!

And in my haste, I misread the challenge, which was to post and link a piece of photo art that illustrates one of your favorite, "go-to" edits.  Next week's challenge is to post a "piece of photo art from your archives that never got the spotlight and attention it deserved".  That being said, I ended up doing a little bit of both. 

A couple of years ago I bought a "point and shoot" Olympus as I was on the road so much, and carrying around my Canon was somewhat of a chore.  Have never really done anything with the photos taken with the Olympus (prejudicial maybe), I'm just kinda like the bells and whistles I have with the Canon, but the Olympus does take a good photograph!

Also, I am so new to editing in PSE, that I don't have a "go-to edit", but I did admire an edit that used the "poster edges" filter, and Bonnie had mentioned in the explanation of her edit.  I'd tried it a few times, so I used an "unused photo" and while not a "go to edit", an edit whose results I liked, but haven't used frequently!

"DC" PSE Poster Edges w/Light Dust Texture on Overlay@100%

"DC"/ PSE Poster Edges w/Fanciful Texture on Vivid Light @39%

"DC"/Combination of both textures used above with the same blending mode settings

Original Photo/Olympus FE-210

The textures used were generously gifted by Bonnie on her blog Pixel Dust Photo Art.  

Thank you Bonnie.

Addicted . . .

I am, and becoming more and more addicted textures and all of the different variations using the same photo, same texture, different combinations of blending modes, percentages of opacity . . . amazing!

Nancy Donaldson introduced me to using textures via an internet art group, and provided the first texture used in my introduction.  The texture has become a favorite, "ecaustic background" which I have used in both renderings below and a new texture she created, which is a combination of several of her newer textures, "W3_6W" (go figure). 

Above is an example of the same photo, using the same textures and adding just a different gradient tool . . .the photo at the top is in hues of light oranges, greens and yellows, and the bottom photo is with the gradient tool in hues of soft pinks, yellow and green with a tad bit of purple. (The photo used in this example was a download from "stock-xchng".)

ONE MORE, before I bore you to tears, is a composite piece of several photographs that I did for an "Advent Calendar Challenge" (still don't know if what I did fits the challenge).  

There again, same composite, same texture, just set on different blending modes . . . 

I am grateful to the women that I have met via the internet who so willingly share their talent and their knowledge; the quote below I hope expresses my many thanks . . .

“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.”

Ruth Reichl         

Week 30, 52 Photo Project/A Time to Share

The prompt for Bella's  52 Photo Project is "A Time to Share {Something Borrowed}".

I'm not a big borrower, nor a big lender, nor is there much that I covet . . . BUT, my sister did loan me (gave me?) an old push mower to use to keep the weeds/grass down on the side of my house where a dirt driveway once existed . . .

Having had minimal rain fall this past spring and summer, the weeds in my garden were minimal, so the old push mower sat leaning against the stuccoed garage, unused and unloved . . . until a crop of volunteer morning glories found a place to call home!

Unused, But Not Unloved

The old push mower has now become "yard art", and the big discussion next year will be, "something borrowed" or "something given"!

KK's Texture Tuesday/The Phoebe eDition

Today is Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday; the challenge was to use her texture "Phoebe" and for my subject, I chose altars.

I love altars, nichos, and dichos, (colloquialism for roadside remembrances in northern New Mexico).

When I was in India, altars abounded!  What amazed me was a cliff side altar in Varanasi along the banks of the Ganga River. There seemed to be no obvious way of reaching the cliff ledge without repelling down or climbing up, yet there were fresh flowers, gold rubbings and candle wax . . . I was fascinated, and obsessed!

(1) b&w gradient map, soft light @ 19%; (2) phoebe, color burn @ 75%; (3) phoebe, soft light @ 75%

phoebe, saturation @ 75%

(1) scripted edges, color dodge@100%; (2) phoebe, darker color @ 32%

(1) phoebe, hue @ 81%; (2) phoebe, color burn @ 30%

Maybe one of these days I'll do an "altar series", photos taken whenever I have seen an altar, nichos, dichos and another favorite, graveside remembrances . . . 

Kim, thank you for your time and energy in hosting Texture Tuesday!

The gift of Denim Love

Linda Trine is a great photographer and has a blog called Sienna Photo Designs.  Yesterday, Linda shared four 'denim love textures' that she had been working on; the textures are great, and bought light to my 'very brown' garden photos.

"ConeFlower"/Autumn Grunge; overlay@46% and Stonewashed Black; color burn@74%

"RoseHips" /Autumn Grunge; vivid light@34% and Stonewashed Black; color burn @ 48%

"Zinnia" /Faded Warm Grey; color burn@58% and Blue Denim;  color dodge@39%

Linda, thank you for sharing your talent and for your generosity!

Thought for the day:  

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."   Ernest Hemingway