Working on my series of daily digital images, I’ve developed a process for tweaking interesting but slightly bland photos. First, I pump them up – increasing contrast, edges, saturation. Then I convert them to a more liquid texture and apply painterly effects through a series of layers, masks and filters. The results, I think, are fun and far more interesting than the originals. It also works great also with photos of my paintings, leading to new styles … and hopefully more creative ideas.
Check it out. Pull the arrow button on the cross section to reveal the new image.
This is a photo I took while in the basement of a random house that was on the market. I had to take the picture because the composition was so cool and bizarre. But the image needed simplification and more of a mood.
Another fairly odd photo I had to take one day when noticing that the contents of our fridge was pretty much entirely organic, with a good representation of local products. Again, much better simplified and stylized.
This cool rack of hammers was in the studio at Todd Reed’s jewelry shop. The photo already had a mystical atmosphere, enhanced with some tweaking.
I took this photo of my property in Norwood, CO to document the damage and mess created by a tenant. It wasn’t intended to be an artsy shot. It’s amazing how some new styling turns it from trash to treasure. Or at least surreal and beautiful.
After starting the eviction process, all the clutter disappeared. That was pretty amazing, too.
My photo of this beautiful sunset from this cool property on Megunticook Lake in Camden, ME did not show off the setting, the boats and boat house. Creating a HDR version was decent, but cleaning and styling it made it far more dramatic.