Wednesday, October 7, 2009

how'd she do that edition 2




 


for those of you who asked how i made the photo on my previous post, here you go. above are the 2 photos i used in their sooc (straight out of camera) mode. the top one is red leaves in a bird bath at the arboretum. i pulled it into photoshop and used the curves tool to intensify the color and darken the black water. i pulled the red color balance up to get the leaves to pop more and added a bit of contrast. then i added a new layer to my file and placed a cropped version of the stump photo; it was also taken at the arboretum on saturday. i decreased the opacity on the stump layer so that it faded into the background and the leaves layer had dominance. all of the text is added in separate layers so i could control the color and the opacity of each layer.

i used to find photoshop quite intimidating but i've slowly befriended it. i set challenges for myself and then just experiment and play around to learn how to accomplish my goal. as i like to say about mixed media collage, anyone can do this. it just takes a bit of patience and the willingness to make mistakes and learn from them.

it was a stressfully long day at work and i think i've earned a nice hot bubble bath.

what do you do to relax after a bad day?


5 comments:

Martha Lever said...

VERY cool, Julie. Thanks so much for sharing this process. I love Photoshop and use it all the time. Love your new banner. And yes, a hot bubble bath is the remedy!!

Mary Wadsworth said...

Hey Julie thanks for stopping over and checking out my world:) I love Photoshop I use it on the photos of my sculptures and turn them into collages and stuff.

Your photo is awesome.

Mary

steviewren said...

Both photos are great in their sooc form, but I like how you combined them as well. Photoshop is addictive I think. I know how to do a lot, but I'd love to take a class to learn more advanced stuff. I'm not too good at reading the manuals.

Hope your day tomorrow is better.

Cindy said...

What a gorgeous photo...I've really never seen anything done like it. And you are too modest...you are truly a wizard at Photoshop (this picture is the proof!). Hope you had a relaxing evening. Stressful day = something yummy (like a brownie!). :-)

ArtPropelled said...

You are so clever Julie. I wouldn't know where to start .....maybe one day when I've got a big chunk of time to experiment. I'm embarrassed to say sinking into a chair (it's a very comfortable chair) in front of my computer relaxes me.