Coneflower Zigzag

Evidence of a ho-hum weekend:

It remains too cold to spend much time outdoors so in desperation to find something to do, I dredged up this old photo of a white coneflower and proceeded to distort it with the zigzag effect.  Yee-ha!  You may not think that sounds fun, but it was.

Unseasonable

Am feeling out-of-place today, as is this autumn-attired sumac bush.

Right now, the first few sounds of spring are in the air…..robins’ chirps and redwings’ trills.  Chilly winter temperatures still rule, however.  Not sure if its discernable, but the photo has “ink outline” applied.   

Silly Phlox

A bouquet of prairie phlox with a silly wind effect added.  I’m getting anxious for colorful wildflowers like these to start blooming again.  Am tired of mud brown.

What Is This

In case you can’t figure out what this is…..

…..here’s the answer:

Its a stem of elderberries run through the Photoshop blender on the “polar cooler” setting.

Bachelor Button

Usually, the scattering of a bachelor button seed packet results in blooms of blue and pink, but a couple years ago this one appeared, too:

 

The photo has “dry brush” applied.

Double Coneflower

On the blog today---a doubling of a flower known as double coneflower.  This first photo has the “facet” effect applied:

And, next we see the results of a “perm” application ….

…..actually, its called “ripple” in the Photoshop effects list.

Meadow Rue

Its name is actually purple meadow rue, though this one was growing along a summer roadside and owned a pinkish hue.

Well, how about that---without me even planning on it, the words “rue” and “hue” ended up in the same sentence.  I’m easily amazed.  The photo is wearing a trio of effects---accent, dry brush, and ink outline.

Old Vine

Another photo over which I suffered a cropping fit---

---deciding where to start and where to stop digitally pruning this grapevine.  I applied the “ink outline” effect to give the dried-up grapes a visual boost.

Berry Branch

A rain shower had just passed through when I happened to be strolling  by this tree festooned with ornamental berries.  The photo has “accent” and “dry brush” added.  I started cropping and that was a mistake for this type of scene ends up with oddly uneven blotches on the edges no matter what you do.  Am still fighting the urge to crop it some more…..

Kitty

This little kitty was cropped out of a larger photo which included her siblings who sadly were blurry, as is much of the basket.  This kitty’s face looked fine, however, so I called the photo blogworthy after adding the “grain” effect in an attempt to blur the blur.

Coneflower Dish

The recipe for this photo’s look is one spoonful sponge effect, one cup paint daubs, and two dashes dry brush.  The main dish is orange coneflower, garnished with catnip blossoms here and there.

Vervain

This is a wildflower by the name of vervain:

Let’s see…..to this photo I first added a dry brush effect followed by sandstone texture finished off with a craquelure overlay.  I also applied “3D transform” on the flower stems in an attempt to make them stand out from the background more.  Not sure if it helped or not.  Am thinking the craquelure effect might be a bit much---it makes the green grass in the background look like artificial turf at a miniature golf course.

Wild Rose Makeover

Was aiming for a sort of watercolor paint look to dress up this photo of a wild rose in bloom along the roadside last summer.  I repeatedly clicked a combination of “paint daubs”, “dry brush”, and “palette knife”, watching in fascination as the photo’s appearance evolved.  For some reason, the Photoshop effect which is actually labeled “watercolor” didn’t appeal to me at all and maybe that’s because I don’t know how to use it correctly.  Within each PS effect are various options to utilize, those in “watercolor” being “brush detail”, “shadow intensity”, and “texture”---all Greek to someone like me who has no knowledge of the intricacies of artistic painting.

Leaves in Ink Outline

I’m not sure where these colorful fallen leaves were found---maybe in yesterday’s photo scene, along the wooded road.  In reality, any leaves lying on the ground today are brittle and curled, garbed in forlorn tones of brown accented with mud from melting snowdrifts.  In this part of the world we’re caught in that netherworld season which is no longer winter and not yet spring---definitely a drab and unattractive time of year.  If only Photoshop effects could be applied to my surrounding world!

Multiple Effects

Much to my surprise I’ve discovered that PS effects can be applied one on top of the other. 

To the above photo I first applied the “accent” effect, then “ink outline”, followed by “paint daubs” and “palette knife”, if I remember correctly.  Anyway, now the scene looks like a painting.

A comment on yesterday’s post mentioned the word “entertaining”, which definitely does describe this pastime of altering photos.  Plus, I find it to be very relaxing.

Zinnia Fun

My latest foray into Photoshop resulted in a zinnia makeover.  This first photo sports an “ocean ripple” effect:

And, this next one is dressed in the effect called “crystalline”:

The blue and purple flowers in the background are bachelor buttons.

Grained Photo

Guess I’ll end this blogging week with a detour away from the flower pictures.

  A few years ago on a cloudy, windswept Sunday afternoon in autumn I decided to take a photo-search drive around the neighborhood.  Why I chose to venture out on such a blustery day is a mystery, but before long these old-fashioned wire corncribs and their windmill companion came into view, lonely reminders of by-gone farming practices.  The cribs once held grain and this photo was altered with the PS “grain” effect.  Not that I used it just so I could type the previous sentence in today’s blog text---it simply looked good on the photo.

Dry Brushed Cosmo

One of the comments on yesterday’s photo described it as looking like a painting and that’s what this PS “dry brush” effect certainly does.  I feel sheepish altering my mostly mediocre photos this way, considering the time and effort that painters expend in the creation of their works of art.  The Old Masters of yore would roll over in their graves to see modern digital art capabilities, produced effortlessly by the click of computer keys.  Somewhere behind it all, of course, lies the genius work of software designers and computer programmers.

Reflecting

The PS “cutout” effect was applied to this photo which was taken in early spring a couple of years ago.  I was on my way home from a high school event, the road from there passing through a river lowland area which was flooded from recent snowmelts.  A grand and colorful sunset was in progress, being beautifully reflected in the surrounding water.  Quickly, I pulled onto the road’s shoulder, hopped out of the car and snatched a photo of the striking scene.  No time for hesitation---sunset reflections are very transient.

Another Ink Outline

I’ve been playing around with the Photoshop “ink outline” effect lately, so here’s another example:

Ah, yes, it was a lovely fall day when this photo was taken.  It shows an example of something which is very annoying to many farmers---the clutter of brambles and vines growing in a fenceline.  Such sights don’t bother me any, though---they are photo opportunities, for goodness sake.