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Good day to all who enter here.
I`ve put together a few images that will make your photography hopefully more excing.
I do explain some of my techniques herein & trust me they are so simple, even I use them.
Simply by pasting eyes to some images of inanimate subjects, preferably where eyes should be brings a little intrigue to them.
You`ll notice below how intelligent Igor (pronounced; ”Eyegor in honor of Marty Feldman) seems to be, & he really is.
He`s partially responsible for this diary. I took a shot of him downloading images for me on his laptop.
He`s sitting on a brick wall to lend a bit more credulity to the process.
I have a habit of replying to any comment & usually with a commensurate image & will answer/explain any “how to” questions.
With a hat tip to Igor, let`s jump over the geometric orange Newton rings & commence this particular parade of pictures.
Downloading Images
Brown Bagging It
A coral Banded Shrimp attempting to steal food from an Elephant Ear Coral that has closed around its food.
Light Bulb
Fluoresceing
Where`s Waldo
Black & Colored
Dichotomy
This is similar to the explanation in the image below.
A bronze statue & a self portrait.
Story here;
http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/...
Double Exposure
This is two pictures taken at different times with the camera on a tripod.
First the picture of the table setting, then without moving the tripod, another picture is taken at sunset.
In Ps copy & paste one over the other & erase the bottom now dark table setting to reveal the one taken earlier.
These are easy to create & are exciting to view.
Simply cross your eyes while staring at the vertical dividing line & a 3D image will appear.
It will also be double the resolution since you are really seeing both images at once.
Cross View 3D
Black & Blood
A little frog that is in a large red plastic bucket.
Pac-Man Poppy
The Forgotten Ones
Story here: http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/...
Serenity & Jealousy
These two sisters have been at odds since childhood. Born in a village where beauty is the mark of royalty, one is extremely jealous of the other, a vice encouraged by other young ladies in their tribe, who could only hope to be as beautiful, who instigate conflict with rumor & innuendo. The other sister, true to her royal destiny, takes the abuse, as if it`s required of her, almost like a rite of passage. This only aggravates the situation with her sister, who thinks it is an effrontery, to hope she will eventually be queen. The way one perceives beauty is sometimes confusing. Is the scarred burn victim who comforts her younger brother who scraped his knee, less beautiful, than the young lady vying for the "ROSE PARADE Queen" title. You choose: Who is the jealous one & who is at peace with herself. The fate of the sisters rest in your hands.
Guardian
Green Eyed Lady
Bwwaaahh
Cold Nightmare
Long Lost Lady & the Blues
My Rescues
IRIS (Rescued as a little baby)
Backing Off
Color Chart
Black Magic
Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
Hawkfish & Green Bubble Coral
Preflight Check
(side)
(front)
Powder Blue
Morning Ritual
Here a little series reflecting the title.
Ohh My
Sunsets
I proudly post many sunsets online because they Happen here, most frequently in the winter.(so you can expect more, cause t`is the season).
I take single shots of the sunsets, but I also take multiple shots of the same sunsets in a sequence.
Here is a sequence pile of 10.
And here the finished sunset I make using only an eraser & a move tool.
Another sample.
Make your own scenes.
Knuckle`s Tow
Here is an example of using alternative lighting.
This is a timed exposure at night with the camera on a tripod.
I used a penlight flashlight during the exposure to highlight the accentuating red ribbons in particular.
I also have a shutter delay to start the the flashlight painting as soon as the timer activates the shutter.
I also shoot many of my night blooming cacti using my flashlight from above, behind & the side.
There are more examples of this easy technique below.
Fire Watcher
Story here: http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/...
Stalking Prey
This is a hard one, lent to a unique situation.
I`d noticed this Royal Gamma exhibiting this activity every time I entered my fish room in another part of the compound at my old house.
I studied it for a few days & noticed that when I came in it would get anxious but after about 20 minutes it would calm down & equalize.
If you`ve been in a descending airplane sometimes yawning will equalize the pressure, so I figured that is what the fish was doing, yawning.
After a few more days of observations, I got ready & timed it perfectly judging by the results.
Not to say that it was easy.
The fish had to yawn in the prefocused depth of field I`d set. A few inches back or forward & I would not have this shot to brag on.
An example of giving life to your subject, ironically, in this example it`s a Death Mask.
Life Mask
What Do You Think Of Evolution
Using a large piece of poster board accentuates the subject & eliminates at time distracting backgrounds.
Almost There
Posing for Scents
Fun With Baskets
(Here I was yelling at them to not even think of putting those baskets on their heads.
Nocturnal Wingspread (Another example of flashlight lighting)
Spirograph Sunflower
Purple & Orange Fungia (a coral)
Fly Me to the Moon
Full Moon Owl
Night Time Powder Puffs
Pretty Woman
Tiny Tim
Eye to Eye
Sandy
Coconut
(I rescued my great buddy over 15 years ago)
False Fruit Reflected
Walnut Table
One of my tables. I build only one of each of my designs.
This one is in a beach cottage I`d just about completed at the time I took the image.
Beach Cottage View
From inside the beach cottage
Banan Ap eel
For a little humor & to gain Ps tool dexterity, have some fun.
If your not having fun, you`re doing it wrong.
One more thing.
If the eye of my subjects are not in focus, I consider them useless
A little Blenny
Pasting subjects into unusual settings will generate interest. Be creative.
It`s free.
Boxcar Willie
Make things happen
Eggplant
Timepiece
Make little things look big (There`s that egg again, & the mantle clock)
Bring subjects out of frame.
Black & White
Escaping Confines
In this set of zebra shots, I experimented with Back & White.
I selected only the White from the original image, (which hangs in my bathroom btw) & pasted it onto a black canvas.
I also selected only the Black from the original & posted it on a white canvas.
Keep playing & have fun.
If you think something might be interesting, go try it immediately.
You`d be surprised.
Then come & share it.
We want to play too.
Cat`s Knows
Day & Night
Knight Watchman
Bloodied Survivor
Lakeside Fire
This is a copy & paste of the same image onto a new canvas twice the height of the original.
I leave one at the top, rotate the next one & move it to the bottom.
In filters, make ripples & now you live by a lake.
The unnatural color of the sun is because it is seen through the haze of a brush fire, one of the hazards of living in Malibu.
Treeflection
I walked by an old mirror leaning against the house out on my deck & saw the reflection of our large Sycamore.
I propped it up & positioned myself to take the shot with the brand from the tree in the mirror as a continuos body.
Agapantha
Girlie Man
Treasure Chest
One of my smaller reefs from the past.
You now know where I get such a plethora of marine shots.
I grow my own subjects.
Honeycomb Hopper
Broken Bottles Mended Fences
Story here; http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/...
Bluetail Skink
Hey, What`s Up
Twin Screw Gates
(Separated my client`s place from Brad & Angelina when I built them)
Pajama Pete
Full Metal Jacket
First Solo (from my hand)
Group Theory
Insistent
That`s All Folks
One more thing that to me is very important for anyone viewing my images.
They are all shot with a small point & shoot camera.
This means that nobody has any excuse based on lack of expensive equipment.
It is a hobby for all people.
I have nothing against the top of the line camera equipment, only that I can`t afford any of it, but I try to make do to the best of my imagination.
Thank you all & stay healthy & warm.
PS: Any & all errors in spelling and/or grammar shall be attributed to Igor.
He`s not all there, you know.