Accidental Art, Photoshop, and Other Ways to Make You Smile!

Although fun, I don't usually transform someone's photo into a "Glamor Shot" with Photoshop Elements9 but I did find the opportunity to touch up an "oops" image when my subject turned quickly to swoosh her hair and I captured this shot.  I though her eyes looked great (which they usually do) SO..... I had a little fun with this "Accidental Art".



 My subject had been dancing and developed a bit of a glow in the 95+degree late afternoon Louisiana heat.

original

 

This is the image that follows the oops.

Some touching up.

I took over 1200 shots in a 4 hour shoot.  She had 5 outfit and hair changes.

and a little bit of airbrush work.

I added a layer with a FRESCO filter

Below are mores samples with no retouches.

Well, I'm Embarrassed!

I so wanted this blog to be something I kept up daily, but I admit, it is difficult to find the time to blog, especially since I'm so busy being creative.
I am in the Ruston Community Theatre's summer production "The Dixie Swim Club" by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten which will be performed July 28-August 1.  I am sharing the role of Jeri Neal with Linda Griffin who will play the 77 year old character.

So...
I have been busy learning my lines and rehearsing three evenings a week and upholding my responsibilities as assistant director one night a week.  I am also the RCT's headshot and program photographer and that has kept me rather busy making sure all the ladies look their best.
Another creative challenge was to create a photograph featuring the team taken in the early '60's.
It takes more than just cutting and pasting.  I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 on my Dell laptop.  I have CS3 on my iMac but used APE 4.0 because I wanted to just kick back on the sofa with my feet up and watch Leap Year (adorable movie!) while working on this photo. Besides...I'm still learning how to use my iMac. This is the original.

I took several photos of each cast member and matched the characters/actors up accordingly.
The cast photos were in color so I had to remove the color, adjust the size of the face to that of the original photo, brighten and reduce the contrast, then...and this is why our faces merge with that of the original swim teams' face, I altered the transparency of our faces to morph into theirs.

After a little touching up...I believe it made a convincing photo for the poster I will be creating and putting up at the Dixie Center for the Arts Theater in Ruston, LA next week.

But that's another post!

too sick to blog...

Yesterday, I tried to get off to a great start by taking my dog, Hero, on a walk while listening to the audio book Havana Bay by Martin Cruz.

When I got home I began working with my Wacom Intuous4 Medium Pen Tablet to use along with the book Adobe Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks until I got a phone call from a potential art student who wanted to drop by and see what I could offer in classes.

I have an adorable studio nestled in a cottage garden that overlooks our pond.  It is fun to work and hold classes in and I teach a variety of mediums.

The studio is 12x24 and is attached to our 24x30 workshop.  The staircase in the photo leads to a 24x24 playroom we built for our two boys.  Best thing we ever did!

The only trouble is that since I last taught an art class (at a church...until Christmas) I began dumping the stuff from the class on my work table and basically, using my studio as a storage building.

 Sad, because I actually have a storage building!

 So I spent an hour cleaning up my studio for her visit and still did not get finished!  So after her visit I spent another hour cleaning AND still have work to do organizing stuff and getting ready for lessons on Wednesday mornings.


Then, a combination of fibromyalgia, migraine, carpal tunnel syndrome and a mouth ulcer hit me pretty hard and I had to go in an crash in my recliner for a couple of hours.


Last night I had choir rehearsal for the funeral of my church's dear organist and accompanist (for almost 25 years) which was a bit difficult to sing the Hallelujah Chorus with tears in your eyes.


After that I went to my play rehearsal The Dixie Swim Club where I play Jeri Neal, the nun gone bad!


So basically, I DID have a creative day...just did not have the energy to blog about it when I finally got home last night.


I hope you did something creative!