Original image. Oh so boring.
In my Swan Dive class, we spent this week looking around us for textures in our everyday environments and then applying them to our photos. “[This] awakens our images from being only about photography into the world of being art or digital mixed-media.” I’m only just beginning to play around with all the different blending modes, but I am already amazed at how these simple photos can change an image when you layer it on top. It does become art! You can see all my textures at the end of the post. Let me know which is your favorite!
Textures:
trivet seen at Target
view from my dentist's chair
macro of one tulip petal
unfocused macro of trees
tree trunk
macro of cactus
unfocused macro of water drops and leaves
placemat
Yesterday I played around with one image in 2 iPhone apps, 100 Cameras in 1, which I wrote about here last summer, and PictureShow.
Original image
First: 100 Cameras in 1 textures. The effect name is written on the photo.
I didn’t keep track of my edits, but here are the texture images from PictureShow:
With 100 Cameras in 1, I love how they name each effect and organize them by emotion. I haven’t tried multiple effects on one image yet with this, but I bet it’d be awesome. With PictureShow, I like that I can select from many options of frames, light leaks, textures, color tints, etc. to really tweak an image many different ways.
My only issue with iPhone apps is that you must have the photo actually on your phone. Since I sync to my computer often and manipulate photos there, it requires that I first identify the file I want to play with, drag it to my iPhone folder, and sync it in iTunes. Then I play but then need to put it back in the folder where it really belongs. That’s a lot of syncing and dragging to different folders! I think I’d rather just forget it. Unless I’m missing something, this seems like wasted time. Thoughts? Do any of you prefer editing on your phones?
* * *
In other news: I’ve decided to cut back to posting three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). I appreciate that so many of you answered my question about this and that you love what I post every day. BUT, besides taking off any pressure I may someday feel (because I don’t now at all), I would like my posts to get a little more mileage before they are replaced with another in the #1 spot. Hope you don’t mind.
Have a lovely weekend, friends.
Pingback: Playing With Textures | Gallery32 Photography
Pingback: Nothing or Not(One)Thing | Four Deer Oak
My favorite was the overlay of the tile seen at Target, however, I loved the original photo just the way it was, too! 🙂 It’s so much fun to play around with this stuff!
Fun! Naomi, I love all the different textures, and the way you’ve used them on the tulips. I think my faves are the macro of the one tulip petal and the one that follows it–the unfocused macro of the trees. At least, those are my faves over the tulips. The great thing is that you never exactly know until you layer the photos what will work best with what.
So true! It’s sure to turn up something new each time. Thanks so much for your kind words!
absolutely breathtaking…..what an amazing eye you have.
wishing you a weekend of bright wonder,
Jennifer
Those are great photos! You are so creative!
Thanks so much for saying that… I feel anything but creative, but it’s fun.
those are really amazing!
oh and I like the mosaic best.
I think I do too. Thanks for stopping by!
Amazing how different they all look – I really like the second one because it almost doesn’t look like a texture and yet still adds something.
Thanks for visiting, Bee!
Very cool stuff. My favorite is where you blended the view from your dentist’s chair. It really is art when you can create an evocative composition from two totally unrelated subjects. Mobile photography and apps just make it all the more easier – and fun.
Thanks!!
I like the first 4…I play around with layers and effects a lot, it’s so fun. I really like your combinations. On the issue about lightness, can you not lighten the layer with the software you are using? We do that in PSE or do a selection and just adjust that.
Yeah, I should’ve. Do you use any special programs besides PSE?
Na –
I liked the first photo overlay (mosaic) – it felt the most organically yied to the subject matter, for some reason, to me.
And I like the 3 days a week idea. While I read blogs every day, I’ve noticed with my ownt hat people often respond 24-48 hours later. if I do too many in a week, they get backed up.
Keep it up!
BH
True. I want them to actually get read!
I don’t find the original photo boring at all! I like it’s simplicity and I think that the rough background offsets the tulips nicely. But, to pick the best of those with added textures, I think it would be the one with the shadows added. I like the one with the tree trunk too. What I like about it is that the tulips look like they’ve been drawn with sidewalk chalk, but the background seems like it needs to be a little lighter so as to not compete as much with the subject (tulips) of the photo. Nice work!
I totally agree about the lightness… I had trouble with that because it lightened the tulips too, which I didn’t want. 🙂
I don’t know anything — as in nothing, nada, zilch — about post-processing (something I really need to take the time to learn), but maybe you could lighten the texture photograph first, and then apply it to the tulips.
Seeing what you’ve done has inspired me to get busy learning how to do things like this and to stop telling myself that getting started is just overwhelming.
Anne, start with playing in Pic Monkey. Easy to navigate and fun. Instant gratification. Kim Klassen has a video tutorial on her site about how to add textures in Elements too. It’s far easier than you’d think. Have fun!