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The
first graphic is a construction of clouds in a sky, using gradients and
Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Then I used the Smudge tool on
the edges
of the clouds. It is a nice effect. Although it looks a little mundane
here, it would probably make an excellent background for portraits.
johndsky.jpg
Next
is the rainbow, which was constructed by modifying a gradient. I tried
to get some help by Googling "rainbow color" and looking at the various
web sites. Problem was, not all agreed on the colors of the rainbow.
That was weird. I did find a couple of gif files of the visible
spectrum and used those for starting points for the colors. At least I
would have the right order, if not the "proper" colors.
johndrainbow.jpg
The
next graphic used a new layer with a light green and pink as the
foreground and background colors. I ran a linear gradient diagonally
across the page. Then I added another layer. I changed the colors to
yellow and a lighter blue, and ran a reflected gradient across the
page. Then, on the same layer I added a diamond gradient and changed
the mode to Difference. I liked these colors so much that I added a
Levels layer and punched up the colors a bit, but changed the mode on
the Levels layer to Lighten. That gave me my finished graphic. I really
liked this effect.
johndisamazing1.jpg
This
was an experiment in blue and white. The final colors are so
dramatically different, it is hard to believe that the original colors
were only blue and white. The foreground color was blue (#244DE7) and
the background color was white. I then added five new layers. Each
layer had a different gradient, starting with Linear, then Radial,
Angle, Reflection and Diamond. Each gradient was drawn on a different
layer, starting at a different point on each layer. The modes on the
layers were Normal, Vivid Light, Difference, Linear Burn, and Overlay.
Then I went back to each layer and used the
Filter>Distort>Liquify filter on each layer with a Brush
Stroke
size of 64 and Brush Pressure of 50. I painted the liquify brush
differently on each layer to bring out the swirls. For a little more
polish, I went back to the layer that had the Difference mode and
smoothed out and reemphasized some of the finer swirls. That gave me
the final graphic. The colors are amazingly different from the blue and
white I use for the base colors.
johndisamazing2.jpg
The
final picture is suppose to include coloring using brushes on layers. I
tried but was, in my opinion, minimally successful. I found that unless
the original photo had strong colors with little variation in tone (or
intensity) across the subject area, it is very tough to recolor an area
using a brush. The brush tends to flatten and fade the image into two
dimensions. In order to preserve some of the three dimensional
qualities of the picture, I chose to use very light colors and a low
opacity of approximately 20%. That allowed me to more gently build up
the color on the layers as I "recolored" items of clothing.
I will show the before picture, which was taken at the 2005 Greek
Festival this weekend in Chandler, Arizona. It was a cloudy day, and I
was using my new Canon G6 camera. (Yes, this is a plug for my new
camera - shameless, huh?) I think the color in the shots was quite
good, and I found the young dancers to be excellent subjects. This is
the picture before I made any color adjustments.
johndcolorb4.jpg
I
decided to add color to the white garments that the young people were
wearing. I used primarily pastel shades in order to retain some depth
of field in the picture. The added colors are not particularly
wonderful, but are meant to demonstrate that coloring can be done. To
show how hard it was for me to do this, notice the skirt of the young
woman in the left-foreground. I could not get the color to blend very
well as I tried to finish the upper part of the garment. The color in
this area turned out smeared and overly pink. I tried a couple of
times, but this was the best result. If anyone wants to buy a print of
this, it will be priced very cheaply. However, the original picture
would cost considerably more. Maybe even the price of the ink and the
paper. Ha!
johndblend1.jpg
That's the
end of this course. It was very rewarding, and I am looking forward to
Photos into Art in the future.
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