Back Home Again In Indiana

Monday, March ?

What a crazy few days!

The Professional Photographers of Indiana convention  and print competition is now over, and was a great experience for everyone but me.  For the first time in 50 years I spent most of the time in a motel room with a nasty, nasty head cold,,,Blahhhh!  Of which now on Monday I am still suffering from,  but trying to make some positive effort from being horizontal in bed....cough, cough !

It all started last Friday.

We flew back on Friday and when I awoke, there was the  scratchy throat.  By Saturday it was horizontal time.  Sunday a bit better, so was able to sit in on one program late Sunday, but still there today after getting back to Elkhart last night.

As to the print competition, the Four entries got me three 79's and one 82 for the prints sent.
And I agree with the judge's scores.  In each of the "close but no award" prints there was a detail missed, or a mishandling of files.  Either over sharpening, or missed artifact that was just enough to keep the score under the magic 80 mark.

The one print that did make the award list and got me a Silver Award in the Commercial category, was a photo of some crystal glassware shot at a flea market.

Yup..just sittin there on a board in front of a tent at a flea market. 

Of course there was more to it than that, but the basic image was captured, hand held, at a flea market under clear BLUE sky, and bright, direct sunlight.

Here is the "Rest of the Story"

After capture, it was brought into PS, and a second layer made.  Then,  the background area was selected by "color selection" which fortunately ALSO selected the color of the background that showed though the glass.  

A few "shift +" to add to the selection was needed to get all of the background features selected.

The selection was saved for future use.

On that layer, the selection was cleared by clicking on Edit > Clear.

The selection was then brought back and a Gradient Tool of two shades of gray was used to paint in a new background.

The glass layer was enhanced by layer adjustment masks and blending modes to increase contrast and sparkle.

There was also some vertical distortion in the image which caused the verticals to be narrower at the top.  This was corrected with Free Transform Perspective.

The matting is done by using Canvas Size and adding to the canvas size by changing the measurement to percentage and adding .1 in light gray, then changing foreground color to black and adding .25 to the canvas size.  The light gray was kept darker that the lightest in the glass as to not distract from the image.

Then, with the same layer active, using the magic wand, selected the gray line.  

Right click and saved as a new layer.

Opening Layer Styles and then using emboss to give the gray matting shape. then,

Flatten.

Closing Thoughts

Too apply manipulation for the sake of manipulation, is like an elephant painting a canvas.  Yes some may call it art, but I call it an accident.  But to learn all that can be done, sometimes you have to be that elephant.  Just keep trying things and learn what they do.  Record your efforts, and document what it did, cause there is a lot out there to try and to do.

Learn the tools in PhotoShop. ( I still am after 12 years). 

Learn layer Masking. 

Learn layer Adjustment Masking tools.  

Learn the Blending Mode tools in PhotoShop, then you have most of the brushes to create from your mind.

Learn the tools and how they can enhance your product that has a market value.  

That is the most important tool of all.

This Image  became  a very nice rendition of glassware, but the final image came from a combination of, first knowing HOW clear glassware is lit and photographed in a studio, Plus the use of PhotoShop to enhance the detail and contrast and make the final presentation.  It was a combination of  two experience and knowledge levels.  That does not make me better, just older and more experienced.

More importantly,  please understand that there is no real market for this image.  As it stands, it is just another pretty picture that won a ribbon, awarded by a panel of individuals that liked my results and presentation.

It only illustrates my knowledge of photography, and of PhotoShop, nothing more.  It takes both to succeed in photography today, along with several additional skill levels.

My point here is to illustrate the fact that manipulation in PS is at its best if one knows what the effects and results you are wanting to achieve. Pointless manipulation is useless and not effective.  Manipulation by knowing the effects of the tools, or in combination of the tools, to achieve a specific, known result is what you are after  The more you learn the various tools, and effects, the more you are able to take what is in your mind and apply it to the image as an expression of your mind. 

There are some great on line teaching aids, and of course,  study with someone who is more advanced are just a couple of ways to increase this knowledge.  Remember though, it is just another technique or brush stoke that you are learning.  It is the combination of all learned experiences that will show you to be the artist that resides within.

Man!  I hope this cold is gone by the time I get back to Florida...this just sucks!!

You all be good and play nice.

B

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