Christian Photographers Community

Hi everybody,

As a way of introducing myself around I thought I might use this forum to show some of the things I do. I also create video clips using my poetry, my photography and my daughter's wonderful music that she composes and "digitally performs" using Sibelious 4 music writing/recording software. However as those are audio visual files they are not suited for here, BUT you can view them on my "Views from an Island Place" blog at http://www.islandplaceviews.bigblog.com.au

But back to images. Apart from actually taking shots I spend a lot of time enhancing their presentation and also printing them out. I am also restoring many of our old and somewhat faded prints and not only keeping them on DVD but also reprinting them in all their former glory. In addition I also CREATE images  and composite pictures using various means of combining images from different files, etc.

My best little helper in all this has been my Microsoft Picture It image editing software, my IPhoto Express software and a combination of other imaging software together with a scanner.

I thought I'd use this forum to show a few examples of the things I do and if anybody is interested we can talk about image editing and the extra dimensions it can add to photography. In fact I think it is the new "DARKROOM" of modern photography.

I'll present some stuff in separate posts and add a little about them. Probably over a few days or so as it is getting late now. But I'll get things going with a couple of examples. If you are in to image editing why not use this topic to show us some of your work and how you achieved it.

Two examples coming up ... (hopefully)

OK,

One I really like is an image I made up for the ending of my "Fear Not the Gloom" video clip based on my poem of the same name. I knew what I wanted but had no image remotely like it anywhere ... so I made one up.

The image below (hopefully) is a combination of several images and overlays. Would it spoil the effect if I said the hand you see use to be holding a tennis raquet? The wooden cross is cut out from an advertisement.

When using cut outs I save them as GIF files as that format allows for a transparent background to the cut out which means you can overlay several images on a single background. After cutting out the hand and the cross I resized both images to match the size of the cross to the palm of the hand. I then ensured that the hand image was in front of the cross so that it obscured the area where the hand "gripped" it as it would normally do.

Intially this was done on a blank background. I then created a black rectangle sent it to the back and created a single image with the cross and the hand. (This allows the "light" to shine through BOTH the background and the cross). Then behind the "fused" image I added a purple rectangle  the size of the image file and sent it to the back. Then I took a graduated fade that normally fades the sides of a rectangle and reversed the direction of the fade allowing the purple background to "shine" through the centre of the cross, giving the effect of light eminating from the cross itself.

Knowing how it was done might spoil it a little but the end result is the image I had in mind. Whether I created it from a staged shot or purely from editing existing images the important thing is what it symbolises and it made the perfect final shot in the audio visual.

The other one is something I played with as a bit of a learning exercise. One of my other hobbies is a (very "organic") model railway set up I call "Low-Chem-motion" (because I can only use low chemical emitting stuff on it).

The picture you see was actually taken in my study with the study wall behind it. But by using "colour selection" to trace the outline of the background wall against the foreground model set up I was able to cut out the wall from the image and replace it with the sky that I cut out from another image I had to give the final image an almost realistic look.

I'll show you some other stuff later.

I have enjoyed reading your tips.  My husband is the photographer in the family.  I will show him this thread and he will comment as well.  As a Truckdriver he doesn't haave much time for the computer. 

Have a goood daay and continue posting your pictures!

Here's another "tweaked" shot from my model railway setup. This time (hopefully) a before and after shot.

I took the photo from a good angle but had not completed the section in the foreground (still haven't ... no time  :( ). Consequently there was just a somewhat ugly "construction site" marring the shot. But rather than cropping and loosing a bit of the perspective the alternate solution was to create a "hill" from which the shot seemed to be taken.

The hill you see in the foreground in the final image is actually cut from a shot from another part of the model set up and pasted over the "construction site".

OK!

Lesson number 281 ... can't attach more than one image per post  :idiot:

So here's the final AFTER image (with some cropping to focus in on the "target" area).

Looks Good!