Of Barcodes and Snow

Below is the background image - a number of steps were taken to get here, but let's consider this the "the bones" of the final composition. This image provides the "bar codes" like element. Note that this image includes a lot of repetiton - something I tend to do since I am quite "lazy." Cheap trick.



This image - an edited version of the Bev photo - was used. Color hue, saturation and contrast was also manipulated on this image by using paint.net and, more likely, MS Office Picture Manager. Manager gives you the greater tool set, but is applied to the entire image.



I copies parts of this image (magic wand) and also played with the color and brightness of these snippets...

This is a separate image that was being worked on and later used to combine multiple images into one...



Note color variations play and experimentation. This image is too apocalyptic.



At one point a parallel image became very abstract. Dead end, start over. There were a lot of "undo's" - where you "save as" and then "undo" using paint.net. MS Paint only allows you to undo three edits.



I then added some representational elements by using parts of the abstract image, etc on an interim image. The image, below, is close to the final, but for some color modifications. My daughter, Mariana, came to the computer and her comments assisted with the final compositional edits.



Final image that ends drought.



A variation, less sedate, can be found here.... sometimes there is a nice or a ripe brie in the basement.

Things take time and they morph and I forget. This is close to a smaller file size version of image taken at the beach:



At some point I played with tone and colors in MS Office Photo Manager:



Then I used paint.net to select colors and use paint buckets:



Then I sharpened and tinkered a tiny bit The end of the line:

Turn It Upside Down

Compare to original version in typos - the easiest way for me to see images side ways, up and down is on my BlackBerry. Lovely tool, I mean it. Hell of a color screen. Jewel.

I never wanted one and now it is a berry placebo.

Flipping it here has made it less abstract p0 more of a wood block landscape. I admire Hiroshige.

Cutting Back Wisteria

CSeries of images, last one posted in typo.land - in the end I blocked of spaces in MS Paint - used an odd font - typed like a quarter mad man then selected color and colored in the negative space and then sliced and diced at the end.

Cut and paste lines:

Play with inversions and copy and paste:

More play:

Font is an easy compositional element - I consider it kind of cheap and almost cheating. Words carry weight, sometimes emotion - I often stop making sense on purpose....the word "work" was added among a number of w's, but most of of "work" got covered over by basting and pasting.

I do see windows, dark as they should be to conserve energy and the oppressed work force.

Under.time

Thank you, Sue for the photograph.

The first four posts have been moved to draft status today- let me know if you need them. Spell poorly...pleaze.

simmer.vacation?

Two versions of a lovely Lisa NZ post - seeming more like Pissaro than photographs. Only alteration was cropping using MS Office Picture Manager.

My BlackBerry is a marvelous tool for seeing images small and the BB frame often reveals cropping possibilities. It is like having a pair of tri-focals for sub parts.

Thank you, Lisa. You are a sport.

I hope all of you understand if I kid around it never is meant maliciously. And the intent here is not to say my versions are "better" - the image was just excellent to demonstrate how much a photo changes with cropping (focusing the viewer's eye). There is a subtle difference In the two photos - part of me prefers the tighter crop because of it is claustrophobic. Creates tension.

Part of art is the choice of how much tension or movement to project. My work is focused on the weight or lightness of the composition.

I always preferred to shoot full frame, but at this time I do not have a real SLR with changeable lenses.

MS Office Picture Manager

Original image as posted in typos - no manipulation as taken off camera other than reduced size.



Below is a screenshot where you click on Edit picture and see options - to modify contrast, color, crop, compress size, etc,



All manipulations below done with Microsoft Office Picture Manager - in the first image we ramp up Saturation and Hue.



Below we also play with Amount.



Now we change amount again...just to show difference.



Here we auto-correct - lazy, lazy, lazy.



An now we change Contrast - see various slide bars. The midtone slide bar is quite helpful sometimes.


Great tool for modifying color, contrast and cropping.

Remember when you are done to "SAVE AS" and do not - NOT - NOT - NOT "SAVE" again when you close the program.



This post will be taken down in a week or two....trade secrets you kn.ow.

Paint Your...

Before we got here I experimented with MS Paint and also played with tone, etc and and then cropped down to this.



I like Microsoft Office Picture Manager because it crops precisely and because it has good color manipulation and reliable contrast editing functionality. I used the app to modify to look as the image below.



MS Paint is a simple program and in that ability lies its calm beauty - you cannot be flashy with it unless irrational. The software Paint,.net blows Paint out of the H2O, but Paint still has a couple of features I use. For example top overlay areas with white sections. Pure white areas can be made transparent when pasted.

I made the image, below, by playing with various contrast and brightness features in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Nice thing is you can modify *bleach)the mid tones.



The image above was created to use for "copying and pasting" into the original image. The altered image, below, includes some additional edits after the paste. To do this I "selected all" in bleached version and then "copied and pasted" into the regular image. You can m,pve the overlay around.

For the white in the "paste" to become transparent, you need to select the lower "paste" icon in MS Paint (see box and arrow). This "paste" box only pops up when you paste.



Final as posted in typos:



Remember to "save as" when using Microsoft Office Picture Manager and then do not save when prompted as you close the program.

MS Paint "save as" is a wonderful cautious step since you can only "undo" the last three edits within MS Paint, whether those edits are large or small.

Creating this started slowly - a lot of work before the image at the top. Then it started flowing and it became a dance.

Have fun. OK, we have thirty seconds before the bell to answer any question.

First Post

Share and share alike ---- let me know if helpful. I thought I would meander here with bad "how too's" and not clutter the main blog.

The almost final image is in my typo wasteland. Conjured mostly from the tree picture, below, with some goldfish added and then stir fried. Use Canola oil.

This is the starting image - already a manipulation - the kissing cousin of the posts done recently. Notice the cedar wax wings at the lower left.

I used MS Picture Manager - a program great for cropping but even better for saturation and tone changes - my favorite app for that, but it is for the entire image. It is very important to "save as" and then not save changes to the original when you close the Manager. Let's call this altered image "ALT_1" for reference purposes.



Next you should download paint.net here. It is free unless you want to donate. It is much stronger than MS Paint, although I still like old Paint for a few things I will not go into here, yet. Paint.net handles larger files well for editing, it has layers, great effects, etc - it is very nice.

I used square option in paint.net and then I used effect to change median and then played with hues before moving to another area. Then some copy and pastes to modify composition. Below is "ALT_2." Looks different, no?


Next I reopened ALT_1 into paint.net and did a "select all" and "copy." In ALT_2 I created a layer, went to layer properties and made it an "overlay" and lowered the opacity. I "pasted" in the image (ALT_1) and then merged the layer down. I did a "save as" and made ALT_3. In paint.net keeps you working with just altered saved image.



I reopened the image ALT_2 in paint.net and copied and pasted a part of it back into ALT_3. "Saved as" Alt_4, below.


I opened a goldfish photograph, and then using the "magic wand" (and also altering the tolerance) I got some part of goldfish into the main image. Copy, switch image, and then a paste into the working image.


Next I used "square" tool change tones and then I highlighted thin vertical slice and then I did "color invert." I copied the inversion and placed it over parts of image, keeping a certain compositional intent.


Inversion is a cheap trick to get you a complimentary. Strong hint: you could use certain paint.net alterations to modify the color, tone etc, a bit less obvious "inversion."


In background, above, is my son, Alex dressed like Harry Potter for Halloween..

I utilize Hue/Saturation, Curves and Levels, depending.....and it works on area you selected with square, circle or wand, etc. I do not use the circle.

We are closer, but still fishing.......to finish I opened and did a copy of an earlier image in this set (I forget which) and then pasted it in layer that I had modified to "multiply." Again, I might have gone to layer properties and played with opacity. Suddenly I saw what I liked and then I did a series of cut and pastes, playing with tones and contrast a wee bit. Without warning, I was largely done - the process suddenly was fast and magical. Trance like, but subtle. Time froze or sped up, I am not sure.

Until then the process had been experimenting, trying, learning, and getting lost and found. Then, short term vision. Done, unless I decide to further modify the bottom right....which I did a morning later - that image has not been posted yet.

What would you do with this image? Let's use the Socratic method, but with kindness.

Email me if you wish to be a contributor to this blog and I will add your name so you can post examples, questions, or whatever.

Perfect spelling will not be tolerate\d/