Fun With Filters

#347
Source material: Ashland clouds, filtered grid.
Normally, I try to make invisible anything using a Photoshop filter, so that the effect is well blended with the overall image. This and the next few images put the liquefy filter out on display. The watery polka dots started as a black/white grid, then using the filter in 60 degree pattern, twisted the grid into these interesting shapes.


#346
Source material: Filtered grid.
This is the pattern by itself. Created entirely in Photoshop.


#345
Source material: Ashland clouds, filtered grid.
Same file as #347 with different coloration.


#344
Source material: Ashland clouds, filtered grid.
This is the happy accident that got things started.


#343
Source material: Ashland clouds, spring, honey locust pod.
Over the last couple weeks, I've had some great discussions with a couple of you about cliché and innovation. By now, you all are probably bored to death of clouds, but I can't stop. Although I do them over and over to the point of over-familiarity, different treatments add new meaning. (Thanks J.D. and Todd)


#342
Source material: Ashland clouds, random line pattern.
Depending on the scale, the lines are either visible, or serve to modulate the texture. In either case, they do severe damage to the detail as evident in the original seen below.


#341
Source material: Ashland clouds.
This is the original photo used in all previous images.

Nightwalk

A bout last week with insomnia caused me to grab my camera and head out around town photographing the middle of streets and other odd places, without paying much attention to the standard photography concepts of exposure, focus, composition. It was very refreshing to point in the general direction of something and click away. That isn’t to say I didn’t compose things a bit after seeing what showed up in the exposure screen, but I did let accidents and surprises take over.

It’s possible to get overly familiar with photography presenting the things we see, when it can also present things we don’t: extreme blurs, flash exposures that catch the invisible (rainbows on street signs, e.g.) or banish the visible (streetlight shadows are obliterated by flash).

The following group of images started with something that is nearly unrecognizable from that set of images on my nightwalk. While none of the images here are un-manipulated (#331 only has a stripe pattern added and saturation bumped up just a bit), something of the original “bad” photo is still left.

#340
Source material: Bush, Japanese wave pattern.
Actually one of the better shots, and recognizable imagery, but given a very metallic quality due to the unnatural lighting.


#339
Source material: Tree grate, painted wall.
The starting point for this one was a photo of the grate that was so blurry as to be unrecognizable. Its leftover effect here is causing the ghostly quality.


#338
Source material: Fabric, computer generated pattern.
Actually, nothing from the night walk shoot here, but the pattern from #335 was something I wanted to try with the fabric.


#337
Source material: Corrugated building, Idaho clouds.
Only the lightest reflections off the metal wall are used here to create something reminiscent of a search light.


#336
Source material: Wall, computer generated pattern.


#335
Source material: Window, computer generated pattern.


#334
Source material: Drain grating, computer generated pattern.
Let’s buy our way out of the mess...


#333
Source material: Drain grating, computer generated pattern.
The photo looks a lot like an xray here. The concentric circles adds counterbalance.


#332
Source material: Corrugated building.


#331
Source material: Sidewalk ramp.
A quick study of contrasting blury round shapes with sharp square ones. This familiar pattern seen every day as I walk around town has a completely different look at night with flash.

Patterns

#330
Source material: Ashland clouds, Japanese cloud pattern.
These billowy clouds, which were stitched together from a couple shots looked rather interesting with the edges showing, but I opted for seamless edges and a hard edge from the pattern to simplify the composition.

#329
Source material: Fabric, generated pattern.
I am trying out a crazy little pluggin for InDesign which allows the creation of patterns of all kinds. I started out with some concentric circles and like how the value of the fabric gives the pattern the appearance of being part of the material, even though it isn't.

The Work Bench

#328
Source material: Workbench.
The three photos I took in Klamath Falls a couple weeks ago proved to be a rich source of fun. I could go on and on finding interesting compositions from the originals by overlapping and changing blending modes.


#327
Source material: Workbench.
Adding color layers and contrasting objects adds to the fun.


#326
Source material: Workbench.
These remind me of an artist's studio wall without a work in progress on it; only the overflow of paint...


#325
Source material: Workbench.
...or of planets and constellations. So much of what I do benefits from the stars lining up the right way...


#324
Source material: Workbench, clay globe.
And so much of it is the unintentional made intentional.