Playing with Photoshop #1

The wife is gone.  The dog asleep on the upstairs couch.  It is so silent here!  So peaceful and serene, and I am restless.  I need a photoshop fix.

I can spend  several hours messing with photoshop.  I know there are those who are think the less photoshop the better and I used to think that too.  But conditions change.  I've changed and now I firmly believe that the ability to capture photons of light digitally and then to manipulate those photons via one's imagination in combination with the tools of photoshop is, a unique form of art! 

Of late, I've been messing with hue/saturation controls.  Exaggerating them wildly just to see what will hapen - just as I often will take a photograph of something or photograph something in some odd way just to see what it will look like photographed (that way), so too, will I play with the range of tools offered byphotoshop and see what occurs.   Play and see what arises and now and then  just as magic occurs with the camera in hand, so too does magic occur with a mouse in hand!   Digital capture allows one a great deal of range and lattitude of effects to play with before showing your creations to the mass public.  And there are considerable skills and artistic decisions involved in the applications of these tools to our images.

On the left is the way this scene "really was" on the day it was taken with the wims of the Nikon metering system, the play of light and shadow on the soft adobe of this historic catholic church across from the park in Durango.  I go there often.  The trees offer many moods as does the sun as its arc moves further north and warmer.  In general I tend to overexpose the images 1 - 3 stops or more. 




 

In my mind's eye the image on the right is every bit as "real," as "it" "really was" on the day it was taken.  The image on the right is as believable as the one above.  All I did here was play with color and specifically with saturation and a little hue.   I am finding that one can  enhance the feeling of depth through the judacious use of color and how each layer is blended one with the other.  When one plays with light - consciousness is effected.

Ditto the image below and to the left (of center).  Its the exact same scene but instead of it being a tired, sleepy, little tree beside an old church suddenly it can be late August evening with hints of a firey heavenly or Alpine glow...........OR..........An early morning awakening from the ice and a  storm.  Pale purples and pinks falling on the soft, old walls.  The tree clearly showing early signs of coming out of its slumber but not quite there yet.  Almost, but not quite.  Again in my mind's eye this last image is also equally "real" and equally true to the moment and to the heart of my spirit.