Friday, September 11, 2009

me & creativity


bill snapped this photo of me hanging out in downtown dayton last weekend. i loved how i was standing on creativity; it seemed like a perfect expression of how i'm trying to live my life these days.



i continue to teach myself how to use photoshop. tonight i challenged myself to start mastering laying two photos on top of each other. it really is quite easy to do. the art is in selecting two photos that complement and coordinate each other. here vintage sheet music is layered over robin's eggs in a nest.



i titled this one "conflicted downtown dayton". it is a combination of a dramatic cloudy shot of a highway overpass and a blurred image of a woods taken from a moving vehicle.



this is the first one i did tonight and my favorite by far. a yellow hollyhock is layered with a field of dried weeds, mostly queen anne's lace. i just adore all the texture and subtle scratched or etched look the dried weeds give to the flower.

starting tomorrow my eye will be looking for shots to use as textures and backgrounds. some ideas i have are rocks, bricks, old pavers in historic areas, sidewalks, fences and of course clouds. i hope to build a library that can be quickly pulled and used in a variety of ways.

do any of you have tricks or tips on textures, layers or backgrounds? i welcome any feedback or suggestions.

14 comments:

Jennifer {Studio JRU} said...

This is so neat! I need to teach myself how to use photoshop!! I don't have any tips for you, but love to hear yours.

lori vliegen said...

yep, you and creativity go hand-in-hand!! your work with photoshop is fantastic....you always impress me with your skills!! love your photos!! :)

Staci Danford said...

WOW... I love that flower..
Staci

Shannon said...

i ALWAYS love grass and just the plain ol' blue sky as backgrounds! :)

Cindy said...

love the top photo, it's perfect for you. your textures are looking great to me. you can try some free textures from les brumes on flickr. they're really fun -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesbrumes/collections/72157619596071109/

ArtistUnplugged said...

Wow, these turned out some neat images. Keep up the good work. I love your photo...you certainly are on top of the creativity!!!

Joanna said...

Yup, creativity just flows from you Julie. I don't have photoshop but think maybe I need to get it. I love the hollyhock but also the music and the birds nest.

Char said...

I love using textures and photoshop. There are several free ones on flickr under creative commons licensing but you can't sell any works using them. There are also great texture sets for sell from Michelle Black, Florabella and Joy St. Claire.

I experiment a lot - lasso and erase back until I get something I'm happy with.

Memories Of Mine said...

you'll find heap of photoshop textures here

http://www.deviantart.com/#order=9&q=photoshop+textures

I like the robin's egg and think you have done a good job. The problem with photoshop is there are many steps involved in a process and it's time consuming working out where everything is.

Martha Lever said...

These are wonderful, Julie. I love creating layers upon layers in Photoshop and you never know what surprises you will get. I love the birds nest. Your photos are wonderful too.

Alisa Nordholt-Dean said...

Great photoshop images! And what a great shot of you standing on creativity!

PrairiePeasant said...

I love each of your images. They evoke different emotions for me. The flower is the most peaceful.

Michael said...

I like to make backgrounds from photoshop using clouds and then copying and pasting that into the mask and applying curves where I exaggerate the contrast. It ends up looking like papier mache.

supplies overflowing! said...

Have you ever taken a photography course?
I remember layering with negatives. I loved doing these.
As far as my photoshop efforts...grrrr... Not so great.
You on the other hand, have met the challenge.
I love your photography.