Before and After
Some people probably wonder how I can spend so much time playing around in Photoshop. It's pretty easy to lose myself for hours on end, especially when I don't have the specter of grad school peeking over my shoulder, whispering, "You should be working on your mid-term, asshole." I'm very much looking forward to regaining my usual Photoshop hours, in case you didn't know.
Anyway, working on great images is fun, but working on a challenge can be even more so. It's always wonderful when I can scroll through my thumbnails and choose at a glance, "That one...that one...that one." Those were my first vacation images posted here. The gimme shots from Yosemite, where it almost felt like cheating because I was simply photographing - documenting, some might say - the work of an Artist far more talented than I. (That's a nod to the Big Guy upstairs. Just in case it counts, as Uncle Jim says.)
But what is far more satisfying to me is combing through all the shots carefully, one by one, searching for clues to a great image embedded in what looks like a pretty crappy grab shot. After all, something there caught my eye to begin with or I wouldn't have bothered to shoot it. It's that search for the qualities within, the latent image you might say, that I can spend hours on.
It's escapism draped in the respectable cloak of fine art.
When I find something I think might have a kernal of beauty or interest, I get lost in the image itself, and I don't think about work or school or being a mommy or any of my other myriad obligations. I just wander through the image at will. I suppose my efforts might be considered by an onlooker as a complete waste of time if I don't come out with a decent image. I don't think any pursuit of art, no matter the result, is a waste of time. The unsalvagables simply go into the wastebasket at the bottom right corner of my screen and I still go to bed happy to have at least worked on/immersed myself in photography. Sometimes I come out with a great image, and that tacks pride onto the satisfaction. Sometimes I come out with just an okay image, and that's cool, too. All that counts is that I did something.
So I was doing that tonight, futzing around with my images, and then it occurred to me that it might be fun to share my "before and after" here. This is a giant risk for me personally, as I normally don't show anything but finished work. After all, who wants to see the crap I started with? Might ding up my reputation as a fair to middling photographer. Guess I just wanted to share my fun with you is all.
Here's my first image. Total grab shot taken through the train window as we rolled by. It kills me to shoot a $1000+ lens through dirty safety glass, but what the hell, it's digital. It's not like I was burning through rolls of film I'd have to pay to process. The original shot is some random building with doors and windows that I found interesting. I have a thing for doors and windows. Given that we were rolling and I spotted this last second, it's completely jacked up in the frame, but, you know, therein lies the beauty of Photoshop.
Yeah, pretty crappy. Looks kinda blown out. The sky wasn't interesting anyway, and the safety glass on the train rendered it still more lifeless. Too much road down front. Perspective is just slightly off. Distracting elements on the right. All the tones seem to fade into each other. Bo-ring.
Then I started playing. First cropped down to the building itself. Perspective is just off enough to be annoying and enhanced with that close of a frame. No. Cropped back out to include some sky, some road. Distracting elements on right too pesky. No. Converted to black and white. Still boring. No. Back to color, played with levels. Goofy. No.
Then I went back to the original image and just sat here, staring at it for awhile. There's something here...I can feel it. Do I need both doors? Odd numbers are always more visually appealing than evens. Okay, so, which door? Well, that one's got an interesting looking gate or grate or something next to it, which, if taken in to consideration with the door (one element) and the windows (combined, one element), gives me three main elements. Plus, I find its proportion to the door attractive.
Okay, crop way down. Well, I've now cropped in so much that I'm left with a fairly fuzzy image that lacks punch. Desaturate to get to black and white. Better, but still rather drab. I mess with levels a bit, which helps bring out some definition in the bricks. Still needs something. I go into unsharp mask and my usual selection of 40-50% is okay, but it's still not enough. I crank it up...100...200...300%. 300 was too far, but it showed me that I was heading in the right direction. The mask introduced an effect that's much like the beautiful grain in the black and white T-Max film I used to shoot in high school.
And there it is. The image that I like. Pulled from the complete piece of shit above. Is it worthy of hanging in a gallery and commanding high dollar? Nope. Will anyone else like it as much as I do? Probably not. But that's not the point. The point is that I made something out of nothing. And isn't that what we're all trying to do, anyway?
Anyway, working on great images is fun, but working on a challenge can be even more so. It's always wonderful when I can scroll through my thumbnails and choose at a glance, "That one...that one...that one." Those were my first vacation images posted here. The gimme shots from Yosemite, where it almost felt like cheating because I was simply photographing - documenting, some might say - the work of an Artist far more talented than I. (That's a nod to the Big Guy upstairs. Just in case it counts, as Uncle Jim says.)
But what is far more satisfying to me is combing through all the shots carefully, one by one, searching for clues to a great image embedded in what looks like a pretty crappy grab shot. After all, something there caught my eye to begin with or I wouldn't have bothered to shoot it. It's that search for the qualities within, the latent image you might say, that I can spend hours on.
It's escapism draped in the respectable cloak of fine art.
When I find something I think might have a kernal of beauty or interest, I get lost in the image itself, and I don't think about work or school or being a mommy or any of my other myriad obligations. I just wander through the image at will. I suppose my efforts might be considered by an onlooker as a complete waste of time if I don't come out with a decent image. I don't think any pursuit of art, no matter the result, is a waste of time. The unsalvagables simply go into the wastebasket at the bottom right corner of my screen and I still go to bed happy to have at least worked on/immersed myself in photography. Sometimes I come out with a great image, and that tacks pride onto the satisfaction. Sometimes I come out with just an okay image, and that's cool, too. All that counts is that I did something.
So I was doing that tonight, futzing around with my images, and then it occurred to me that it might be fun to share my "before and after" here. This is a giant risk for me personally, as I normally don't show anything but finished work. After all, who wants to see the crap I started with? Might ding up my reputation as a fair to middling photographer. Guess I just wanted to share my fun with you is all.
Here's my first image. Total grab shot taken through the train window as we rolled by. It kills me to shoot a $1000+ lens through dirty safety glass, but what the hell, it's digital. It's not like I was burning through rolls of film I'd have to pay to process. The original shot is some random building with doors and windows that I found interesting. I have a thing for doors and windows. Given that we were rolling and I spotted this last second, it's completely jacked up in the frame, but, you know, therein lies the beauty of Photoshop.
Yeah, pretty crappy. Looks kinda blown out. The sky wasn't interesting anyway, and the safety glass on the train rendered it still more lifeless. Too much road down front. Perspective is just slightly off. Distracting elements on the right. All the tones seem to fade into each other. Bo-ring.Then I started playing. First cropped down to the building itself. Perspective is just off enough to be annoying and enhanced with that close of a frame. No. Cropped back out to include some sky, some road. Distracting elements on right too pesky. No. Converted to black and white. Still boring. No. Back to color, played with levels. Goofy. No.
Then I went back to the original image and just sat here, staring at it for awhile. There's something here...I can feel it. Do I need both doors? Odd numbers are always more visually appealing than evens. Okay, so, which door? Well, that one's got an interesting looking gate or grate or something next to it, which, if taken in to consideration with the door (one element) and the windows (combined, one element), gives me three main elements. Plus, I find its proportion to the door attractive.
Okay, crop way down. Well, I've now cropped in so much that I'm left with a fairly fuzzy image that lacks punch. Desaturate to get to black and white. Better, but still rather drab. I mess with levels a bit, which helps bring out some definition in the bricks. Still needs something. I go into unsharp mask and my usual selection of 40-50% is okay, but it's still not enough. I crank it up...100...200...300%. 300 was too far, but it showed me that I was heading in the right direction. The mask introduced an effect that's much like the beautiful grain in the black and white T-Max film I used to shoot in high school.
And there it is. The image that I like. Pulled from the complete piece of shit above. Is it worthy of hanging in a gallery and commanding high dollar? Nope. Will anyone else like it as much as I do? Probably not. But that's not the point. The point is that I made something out of nothing. And isn't that what we're all trying to do, anyway?
posted by Amy at 8:47 PM
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