Photoshop Burning Hand and such
So back during the Christmas vacation I was playing with Photoshop, and Photoshop tutorials online and came across one for a burning hand. I was fascinated, so I began following the tutorial, however, started using my own images in place of those provided. Below is the final product:
There is something quite satisfying about seeing a project at the end and realizing you created that. It won't win any prizes (I did follow a tutorial after all!), but it did guide me to my most recent study book: Photoshop Masking and Compositing 2nd edition. A fabuluous book that I am only about 28% through with ( I admit, I am in LOVE with ebooks now!), I'm only now starting to get into the practical exercises. One of the things I've learned, and practically just paid for the book in my eyes with this advice, was making your own stock texture images. I can't tell you how much time I've scoured the internet for that perfect background texture not even thinking that I live in a world with so many textures and have the camera and means to take them. It was one of those aha moments. And it opened up another part of my mind's eye. Suddenly I was looking around and going, hey, I could use that with this. And now I have a small journal to write down ideas that come to me. My latest "favorite" aquisition was a piece of shattered glass. Yes, we artists are strange indeed!
So some of the things I've played with as of late:
A couple of purple energy balls.
Me playing with energy, or electricity.
Again, no prize winners, but the start of something fantastic. In fact, I will be playing with selections as soon as I'm done writing this blog!
I was recently asked about one of my levitation pictures, specifically this one:
I'll probably put my own tutorial up that explains how I did this particular piece. In short, it is actually three pictures, Photoshop's eraser tool, and even some dodging and burning. The hardest part of this piece, getting the lighting right. And I even made an error, but I will never tell......
I'm so thankful for my wife, who continues to encourage me in my hobby and has actually encouraged me to begin looking for a new camera. Can you believe we have been together for over 5 years and known each other for almost 8!!!!! I've even rearranged my studio so it is easier to photograph in there. Of course we got the important stuff out of the way, like getting her a new car (yep, a 2015 Kia Forte!), and I've now got a wonderful Nissan Xterra to put all my tools in! And we just put new tires on the Xterra, so it is road ready for the travel back and forth to Longview. God has been extremely good to us and has guided each and every step we've taken. I've had to deal with some things at work, but God is a gracious and merciful God and continues to give me His strength and His wisdom. If God is for us, who can be against us? And we'll continue to let God lead us.
Baa
There is something quite satisfying about seeing a project at the end and realizing you created that. It won't win any prizes (I did follow a tutorial after all!), but it did guide me to my most recent study book: Photoshop Masking and Compositing 2nd edition. A fabuluous book that I am only about 28% through with ( I admit, I am in LOVE with ebooks now!), I'm only now starting to get into the practical exercises. One of the things I've learned, and practically just paid for the book in my eyes with this advice, was making your own stock texture images. I can't tell you how much time I've scoured the internet for that perfect background texture not even thinking that I live in a world with so many textures and have the camera and means to take them. It was one of those aha moments. And it opened up another part of my mind's eye. Suddenly I was looking around and going, hey, I could use that with this. And now I have a small journal to write down ideas that come to me. My latest "favorite" aquisition was a piece of shattered glass. Yes, we artists are strange indeed!
So some of the things I've played with as of late:
A couple of purple energy balls.
Me playing with energy, or electricity.
Again, no prize winners, but the start of something fantastic. In fact, I will be playing with selections as soon as I'm done writing this blog!
I was recently asked about one of my levitation pictures, specifically this one:
I'll probably put my own tutorial up that explains how I did this particular piece. In short, it is actually three pictures, Photoshop's eraser tool, and even some dodging and burning. The hardest part of this piece, getting the lighting right. And I even made an error, but I will never tell......
I'm so thankful for my wife, who continues to encourage me in my hobby and has actually encouraged me to begin looking for a new camera. Can you believe we have been together for over 5 years and known each other for almost 8!!!!! I've even rearranged my studio so it is easier to photograph in there. Of course we got the important stuff out of the way, like getting her a new car (yep, a 2015 Kia Forte!), and I've now got a wonderful Nissan Xterra to put all my tools in! And we just put new tires on the Xterra, so it is road ready for the travel back and forth to Longview. God has been extremely good to us and has guided each and every step we've taken. I've had to deal with some things at work, but God is a gracious and merciful God and continues to give me His strength and His wisdom. If God is for us, who can be against us? And we'll continue to let God lead us.
Baa
It does my heart good to see your creativity and passion, Paul. Give your sweet wife a hug for me. And, YES, God is good all the time. baaaaaaa....
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