PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL - EXPERIMENT WITH BLENDING MODES

Desert Sun Mandala - © Sue O'Kieffe 2008
source image - escobaria cactus

When I go out into the world with my camera, I love getting up close to nature, feeling the energy of the plants and reveling in their colors.

Last week at the local Farmers' Market, I took a photograph of this cactus, which I think, after a quick Googling, must be a variety of escobaria.

I was attracted to the spikiness of the plant and knew that it was a force to be reckoned with. Is it any surprise that feng shui practitioners recommend having cactus outside the house as a form of protection, but not to put it inside unless you want to keep people away? I imagined all those porcupine-like spikes would transform themselves into amazing geometric forms.


Yup. But I just was not satisfied with the background. One of the things I am focusing on right now in my art is experimenting with different ways of creating more interesting backgrounds without overwhelming the mandala imagesthemselves.

One thing I love about digital art is being able to reuse certain design elements over and over again. I have lots of handmade paper that I scanned onto my hard drive just for this purpose.

First iteration. Old antique paper from India. I liked the color and the texture, but wasn't happy with the lack of contrast between image and background.
Second iteration. Again, still not quite right but closer.

I love playing with blending modes. It is, for me, the primary feature in PhotoshopI use to make my images painterly. When I selected Screen mode for both of the paper layers (see layer palette), all of the unwanted dark features of both paper layers lightened up, leaving a blend of the two layers of paper while removing the texture and darker colors in the onion paper layer. (Antique Paper layer >Blending Mode: Screen>Opacit :54%, Onionskin Paper layer> Blending Mode: Screen>Opacity: 100%)
Final step?
Adding a black frame around the image as I described in this tutorial.

I love the way this mandala came together. Earthy. Bright. Sunny. Desert-y. I think the cactus would be happy with my portrayal of its many gifts.

I hope you enjoy experimenting with Blending Modes. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions, either via email or in comments.

A DAY AT THE MARSH

For as far back as I can remember I have lived near water and loved watching birds. One of the places I most love to visit is the Arcata Marsh. This marsh is an innovative use of wetlands that not only promotes bird watching but also water treatment that has been showcased on PBS and many other ecologically oriented magazines. Last week the weather was sunny and still warm after work, so I headed over to the wetlands to smell that delicious aroma of water and decaying vegetation. I was mostly looking for texture to offer John Mora for more of our ongoing collaborations.

What I have been learning in this process that John and I are sharing is that the vision in my art is shifting again. It is a time for me both of excitement and frustration, as I reach for the right combinations of photoshop techniques to match my internal vision. What I suspect is that there are techniques I haven't learned yet. I am stretching toward the spring sun.

Don't you love the cattails and catkins?


I love John Mora's interpretation, a New Yorker still influenced by overlays of winter frost and blue grey slush. What I love about John's work is his geometry which translates so well into my circular meanderings.


See what I mean?

Marsh Mandala - (Circles of Fun) - Mora/O'Kieffe collaborative effort 2008


I wanted to add some color and mystery to this image. I have been really attracted to colors in the purple/burgundy/rose family of late, something that I associate with this time of year and Aquarian/Piscean energies
Plum Luscious Mandala - (Circles of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration


Today I discovered on Marianne's Mandalas and More blog a link for plug-in filters that are compatable with both Photoshop and PSP. (Irene, are you paying attention?) I created a kaleidoscope from a dahlia image and merged it with the marsh mandala first
Marsh Wreath - (Circles of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration 2008



and then introduced it to the second mandala image above.
Spring Fling Mandala - (Circle of Fun) - O'Kieffe/Mora collaboration 2008


Here's to things melting soon in the North and anywhere else where snow persists. Im so ready for the rejuvenation of spring, aren't you?

THE JOY OF PLAY: AN INVITATION

I remember the first discussion I heard back in the mid 90's about digital collaboration with other artists. I was involved in a collage group back then and one of the women in the group was just beginning to explore working with her art digitally. I think her husband worked for one of the first local companies that offered computer assistance to other local companies using PC's for the first timein their offices. "So you'd scan your collage and then email it to another artist who could play with it too, but it takes forever to send that email." It sounded wonderfully exciting to me, except who had a computer and would I ever want one?

Well, things have sure changed since then. Fast forward thirteen years where there is really nothing to stop anyone on line to capture whatever they want. Hopefully, most who do or might have good manners and remain respectful with integrity of other artists' intellectual property. Most of you who read my blog on a regular basis already know the good fun I've been having with John Mora who Im feeling good considering an online friend and colleague. I think we compliment each other's styles well. Great Grannie Bobbie suggested a round robin challenge, and so I am offering up these images for others to use as a creative exercise. My only request is that they not be used for financial gain without speaking to either John or myself, lest you be plagued with years and years of bad karma bugging your computer.

John's original image can be viewed here. His image was created from a sampling of Babaloo's which can be viewed here. I took his image into Photoshop, put it on a dark purple background, reduced the opacity, blended it with overlay and oversaturated the colors using hue/saturation using an adjustment layer



This mandala emerged, and I thought it was ok enough, but a little too busy with too much detail. When I create my mandalas, the source images and resulting mandalas are high resolution (240 ppi) which I later reduce to 72 ppi for use on the web. The excessive detail is created from reduced pixel content.


A year ago another online friend gave me permission to use his photographs of crystals, which I played with but was never satisfied with the results. The image on the left below is an amethyst captured in slow motion (I think the light trail was a flashlight beam). The image on the right is a photo I took of a cactus growing not to far from where I work. I created mandalas from both of these images and layered them, used different blending modes, adjusted with hue/saturation and curves, to create the final image seen below.






















Emerald Isle Mandala - (Circles of Fun) - collaborative energies 2/2008

I hope you will consider playing with us and letting us see what you do next. No awards, no fanfare, just good fun. Isn't that what art is really about, anyway?

AN APPLE A DAY (OR 3 OR MORE)

This is my entry for MaraZine's Photoshop Riff and also my second posting for my personal challenge to be Creative Every Day (believe me, there's lots of stuff going on behind the scenes with that one. Sometimes just getting up in the morning feels like a creative act to me!)

glass apple + rhodendron

apply image (rhodie to apple)>overlay blending mode>apply image again (of rhodie to what is now apple/rhodie image)>overlay blending mode. i might have used hue/saturation adj layer. cant remember cuz at some point i merged all visible layers and this is what remained. but i wanted to play with more color. so...
...duplicate layer> difference clouds filter (pin light blending mode) > duplicate bottom layer move to top of layer stack >luminosity blending mode .......

......then finally on to a happy accident

apply one pass sharpening action script* to bottom layer> move new layer to top of layer stack>duplicate bottom layer>apply photocopy filter using burgundy foreground color>keep blending mode set at normal>hue/saturation adjustment layer H-37/S+43>et voila!


*I was given the action scripts for sharpening I refer to above. I believe they only work on Photoshop CS-CS3. They were created by Glenn Mitchell. Once upon a time he had a beta version online of the book he was writing and is now selling. Im not primarily a photographer, though Im always trying to improve my skills. I would definitely recommend a look-see at his website The Light's Right Studio.

I posted the layer palette for the final image in case there are other geeks out there besides me who grooves on these kinds of things.
Ha!

3 Apples © Sue O'Kieffe 2008

LEARNING NEW SKILLS

Sheer Summer Joy - (Summer series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2007

Learning new software skills often brings up a multitude of feelings for me. Sometimes, when I look at Photoshop tutorials, I think they are either too involved or not applicable to the work I do or am interested in. Often though, I think it is my own insecurity about my skills and ability to see the subtleties being taught that stops me from pursuing lessons being shown.

I took two semesters in Photoshop at the local community college, and there were a couple of concepts that took me the longest time to comprehend. Others I learned because I had to, but mostly with my eyes closed. My brain told me it was just toooo hard. I have no idea how many hours I have logged in practicing on a daily basis over the past two years. When I meet with my local photoshop users group and they talk about techniques they use, my eyes often glaze over. I approach my work from a different perspective. Sometimes I wonder if we are even using the same program. Photoshop offers so many possibilities that no one will ever learn it all. If I can be proficient in just a few areas, I will be happy.

All of this is to say, for anyone out there just beginning to play with this fascinating, frustrating and often addictive software is -- be brave and have fun! It is all about the process and the journey, and not about the final destination. Learn a little bit more than you knew last week. Try new stuff. Show off. Be proud.

This mandala was created from a photograph of alstroemeria growing in my landlady's garden. I used a new blur filter I found in CS3 . Called a surface blur, I like the soft watercolory effect it produced when blended with the paint daubs filter.

My mandala prints are $20 plus shipping/handling/tax. If you are interested in purchasing my art, please contact me at the email address linked above.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude Mandala - (Healing in Circles series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2007

Everything is made of light; everything is alive. The Great Mystery of life has little to do with intelligence. The universe is not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful; but our hearts are the wiser part of ourselves.

~ Mellen-Thomas Benedict

I chased this mandala around Photoshop yesterday afternoon and this morning. Usually when I put more than a couple of hours into an image and it just isn't coming together for me, I hit the delete key and move on. But I wanted to get to a place with this mandala where I could at least feel satisfaction. I do like how the peachy tan ties all the different colors in this image together.

I have been experimenting using different colored backgrounds with my mandalas. This is all for the time, of course, when the struggle I have been experiencing with printing practices comes together and I am able to live with an answer that satisfies me. Currently I am researching different inkjet printer possibilities; I suppose I will also contact local printers for price quotes, just so I know.

Mostly what I wanted to talk about in this post, though, was to express my gratitude to Neda Doany and Diane Clancy for bestowing upon me the Thoughful and Inspirational Blogger awards. I have chosen to wait until later to bestow these awards to other bloggers out there, so you just never know when the fairy blogmother might shower you with her goodies.

GRACE

Grace Mandala - (Healing in Circles series) - © Sue O'Kieffe 2007

On my other blog at xanga.com (click here), I wrote a short little piece about Grace. In some ways I think being in a state of grace is one of life's indescribable mysteries. If being blessed by gifts from the universe for no other reason than god's love for us, then I would definitely say winning this new CS3 software falls into that category. I had some time on my hands today and spent some of it exploring new Photoshop features. This is the mandala I created.

If any of you are interested in seeing a video of the new Smart Filter feature in Photoshop, you can view it by clicking here.