Lightroom Presets II

I have previously written about the use of presets in Adobe Lightroom. With presets, you can just scroll your mouse over the name of the preset in the Develop Module and get an immediate idea of how the image might look if treated in a certain fashion, such as black and white, cyanotype, sepia toned etc.. The preview one gets is not necessarily how the finished product would look, as the application of a preset serves only as a starting point, but it does give a very good idea of whether it is going to be worthwhile following a particular creative route.

With the winter being quite dreary where I live , I recently bought some lilies to photograph, and the results, I think, give another nice demonstration of how presets can really guide one down a path. Here was my original image of a yellow lilly, which I thought was somehow lacking, but yet seemed to have some promise:

Copyright Howard Grill

I felt that it just needed 'something else', and so brought it into the Develop Module of Lightroom and quickly scrolled through a number of my presets. I became intrigued by the look of the image both sepia toned and done in a cyanotype appearance. I ultimately decided to go with sepia toning and after applying the preset and tweaking a few of the settings ended up with this image, which I personally like quite a bit more than the original:

Copyright Howard Grill

Just another nice example of the benefits of Lightroom, which I use in conjunction with Photoshop. Need to get some presets? Try here and here.

Beth Moon

Recently, I have seen Beth Moon's black and white photographs of the world's most ancient and unusual trees in at least two fine art magazines, with LensWork being the most recent. While the trees themselves have inherent interest because of their history and how unusual they look, her images really bring out their character and, depending on the image, really makes them look either spooky, wise, aged, solemn, powerful etc.

As is usually the case with great photography, these images speak for themselves. Nonetheless, in the magazines there have been captions associated with the images that tell where the image was taken and the significance of the trees. Unfortunately, the individual images on her website don't provide this interesting information about the trees that her magazine portfolios have had.

Have a look at her amazing portfolio of ancient trees here, as well as her other fascinating work here.

Fakery

Several months ago I wrote a short post entitled “Photography And Truth”, which can be read here (Pt. I) and here (Pt. II). “Photography And Truth” was ultimately published on Uwe Steinmueller’s Outback Photo as an essay which contained more photographs than the original post, with the added images being used to illustrate the points that were being made. If there is an interest, that version of the essay can be read here.

The reason I bring up the essay, is that I ran across an interesting article on the Photopreneur blog entitled “The World's Most Famous Photoshop Fakes“, which I thought served as an interesting follow up to it. In “The World's Most Famous Photoshop Fakes“ , the Photopreneur authors present some of the most notable historic ‘news’ images that were ‘doctored’ in some way, many through the use of Photoshop. Several of the fakes were images taken on film and subsequently altered without the use of Photoshop. Oh my, you mean analog photographs can also lie?

It is an in interesting article and well worth having a look!

Textures III

If you haven't read at my first two posts about textures, they can be found here and here.

Having been intrigued by seeing what others have done with blending textures into their images, I was interested in seeing what I might be able to do. I am certainly no expert, as this is the first image that I am attempting to apply the technique to. Here we go.......first, the image with no texture applied:

'Days Of Yore'
Copyright Howard Grill

Now, the image of the texture itself that was used:

Copyright Michael Smith

And, finally, the image with the texture applied to it:

'Days Of Yore'
Copyright Howard Grill

The effect doesn't overwhelm the image, but, nonetheless, I think effects it in a positive way. What do you think?

Without question, too much of a good thing can be bad. I do not mean to imply that all, most, or even many of one’s images should be treated in this way. But, I personally find this an interesting technique, the intensity of which can be easily controlled, that can really enhance creativity and put a certain feel into images that would be hard to do any other way. It can’t make a bad image good, but it certainly holds the possibility, in some instances, of making a good image better.

In closing, I should address how one gets textures to try out. You can make your own by shooting things like concrete, canvas backdrops, old wood, sand….anything where the texture is the main subject. There are also some sites where textures can be downloaded for free, such as from Texture King .

I purchased a series of textures from Michael Smith, as I found the ones that he offered to be particularly interesting and well done. They can be seen and, if desired, purchased here (I myself have no connection with Mr. Smith, except as a satisfied customer).

I would also like, once again, to thank Cate for her willingness to share her post-processing technique with me and subsequently with anyone that might be reading this!

Textures II

In my last post, I presented some of Cate's images that I found mysterious and ethereal and which motivated me to contact her in order to find out about her post-processing. I mentioned that I don’t usually write about Photoshop techniques in this blog, but, every so often, I do find something that is directly Photoshop related that I would like to share. Needless to say, this is one of those times.

As it turns out, the post-processing is done with textures. What are textures? Any image that consists mainly of abstract color and shape can serve as an underlying texture to blend with another 'real' image. So how is it done?

Texture By Michael Smith
More On Michael's Textures In My Next Post

Open the 'real' image that you want to apply the texture to as well as the image of the actual texture itself (an example of a texture is posted above). Change the name of the texture image layer (it should consist of a single layer) from ‘Background’ to anything else (so that it can be dragged out to the other image). I just rename the layer ‘Texture’.

Next, resize the texture image to the same size and resolution as the image to which it is to be applied. It is just a background texture so one need not worry about maintaining image detail in it when upsizing. Then, while holding down the shift key (to make sure the texture is centered over the entire image) drag the renamed texture layer onto the image to which you want to apply the effect.

Whoa…..now that the texture layer is the top layer of the 'real' image, all you see is the texture. That is because the blending mode of the layer is set to ‘Normal’ by default. Now comes the fun. Change the blending mode and experiment. Once you change the blending mode, the texture blends with the underlying image in different ways. Start with ‘Overlay’ or ‘Soft Light’, but, by all means, try them all to see what effects can be had. Change the opacity of the layer to control the amount of the effect. Use a layer mask to localize the effect. Apply a clipping layer so that the texture layer, and only that layer, can be manipulated by changing its tonality or color with an additional curves or hue/saturation adjustment layer respectively. Go wild if you like.

I am just learning how to work with textures myself, and, so far, find that I lean towards their ‘gentler’ use. In my next post I will show an example of an image I have been working on along with the separate texture image that I have 'gently' applied for a subtle but, I think, important improvement in the image. I will also mention some places and people from whom one can obtain texture images, in addition to shooting your own.

Textures I

Having read about the positive and negative aspects of participating in Flickr in several blogs, I decided to join and see what it was all about. My principle reason for doing so was that I thought it would make it easy for me to see what type of interesting work was being done by others. I was looking forward to finding other photographers whose worked I enjoyed, as well as finding new ideas that might inspire me.

One of the first people whose work I found myself drawn to was “Cate”. Let me first say that I have never been one to go for Photoshop ‘tricks’ or gaudy Photoshop manipulation, but, despite being manipulated, there was something I found enchanting about her images. I found them to be full of emotion; eerie and mystical. I really wanted to know how she achieved this look and to at least have the opportunity to try whatever the technique was on a few of my own images.

So I e-mailed Cate and asked if she would be willing to share with me how she had post-processed her images. She was gracious and kind enough to do so, and, despite the fact that I write very little about using Photoshop (there are many others that could do so far better than myself), I would like to take the opportunity to share the technique, which I will do in my next post.

But, first, let me share with you a few of Cate’s images that had motivated me to contact her. I reproduce them here with her permission:

Emerald
Copyright "Cate" On Flickr
Used With Her Permission




Goldspun
Copyright "Cate" On Flickr
Used With Her Permission

Enchanting

Copyright "Cate" On Flickr
Used With Her Permission

A Matter Of Taste

I know which of my prints I like the best. I know which ones I feel have subtle tones, richness of detail and composition that draws me in. Funny thing though, when I show my prints to others, they don’t always ‘pick’ the ones that I think are my best work.

Case in point. In my last post, I wrote about two images of mine that were published. I had sent eight or nine images to the publisher and the two that were chosen were actually my least favorite of the entire group. I have had a few small shows of my work. Some of the images that I have sold have been ones that I liked quite a bit, but I have also sold ones that I did not find as compelling, though to have included them I must have also ‘liked them’ to some degree. In short, I am frequently surprised by what photographs people are drawn to compared to the ones that I think are my best.

Here is one example of this that particularly stands out to me. This image, entitled “Yellow Morning”, is one that I really enjoy. There are smooth and subtle tonal changes in the print and the stark simplicity of it tends to keep me looking for more subtleties within. Perhaps I like it because viewing the image brings me back to that place on that magical morning. But, interestingly, no one else seems to see much in the image. I have never sold one and no one has really even ever given it a second look. When I tell people that I really like it they tend to just shrug their shoulders.

Yellow Morning
Copyright Howard Grill

I find it interesting that it is so difficult to predict what other people will like. On the surface, it seems simply a matter of taste……some people will like some images, subjects etc and others won’t. But it does raise some questions. Let me state at the outset that I am not implying that one should create their art in order to satisfy anyone other than themselves. That said, I think we all have images that we have created that we liked (I am speaking of images that we felt strongly enough about to spend the time and effort to print), but which, as time goes on, we feel are no longer representative of our best work. In situations where one is trying to, say, sell their artwork or submit work for publication, should these types of prints be removed from ones portfolio? What if it is apparent that many people like them? What would have happened had I not included the two prints that were published with the submission?

I don’t know how to answer these questions. I am curious as to how others have dealt with this issue.

Quick Quotes: Dorothea Lange

"While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see"

Dorothea Lange

While this concept has been expressed many times, it has perhaps not been expressed as simply or as succinctly as it was by Dorothea Lange.

Published

In the beginning of the year, having had some small shows of my work, I decided it was time to start submitting images for publication. Truth be told, I ended up putting off the process for some time. But I did ultimately send out some images to two magazines. It was my first attempt and I therefore wasn't going for any of the big names. After my blogging friend Marc Graf had written about Whisper In The Woods Nature Journal, I decided to send them a few photographs.

I am pleased that two of the images were published in this months issue. So, I am motivated to try submitting more and elsewhere. I am not one to toot my own horn, but I am happy with this accomplishment and so thought I would share the images:

Wild Blueberries
Copyright Howard Grill

Last Leaf Of Fall
Copyright Howard Grill