Following up yesterdays post, I wanted to post a couple more variations that I did of the same tree. The first variation is from the same raw image used for yesterdays shot (and shown down below), the second variation is of the same tree at the same location, but from a slightly different composition. I didn’t include the raw shot because it was virtually identical to the other raw shot with the only difference being how the shot was framed.

I’m still experimenting with applying textures to images and trying to figure out what works with regards to base image, blend modes, texture images, etc. Last night while watching some TV, I played around with a few images on my laptop to see if I could come up with some images that I liked. This particular image resulted from a ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ sort of moment. I took this shot a few weeks ago during a foggy/snowy day. I’ve always been attracted to the graphical look of bare trees against a monochromatic background. The fog/snow created a perfect opportunity.

I’ve been wanting to try doing some texture processing on my images for some time and I finally went ahead and downloaded the Flypaper textures to give them a try. I picked an image I had taken a couple of years ago of a stalk of wheat from a nearby field. I remember the day being windy and it was a challenge to get the grain portion in focus while keeping the DOF to a minimum. This was one of those images that I sort of liked, but couldn’t come up with a final image that I really liked. This time I decided to try adding some texture to the image and do some more playing around and I like what I came up with.

This shot was taken in St. Thomas, USVI on a recent trip. One of the things I was hoping to find was some brightly color boat which would make for an interesting picture. Didn’t find any of those. Instead, what I got was this gritty looking thing. The light was pretty bright and flat but I decided to take the shot anyway just for fun. When I looked through the days shots I wasn’t thrilled with what I had taken, so I decided to work on images that I liked better. After making another pass through those shots I decided to see what could be done with this image. I liked the gritty texture of the boat, especially the way the paint is all chipped and faded. I thought it might be nice to try adding some additional texture to the image through some image overlays.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently attended the 2009 Motor Muster held at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Greenfield Village is part of the entire Henry Ford Museum complex, a great place to visit year round. Anyway, the Motor Muster had cars located throughout the village, and behind one group of car was the Armington & Sims Machine Shop. In front of this building sits a variety of discarded bits of boilers, coal and other wonderful rusty objects. The picture above is just one of the many interesting pieces of old ‘junk’ which is on display. I’ve always been attracted to mechanical things and I love high contrast, so when I have of a bright sunny day combined with some interesting historic junk, I’m a happy camper.