These are two ceramic figurines that are in a bay window. In the past they have always photographed very dark because of the back lighting. I tried several variations and it was either center-weighted or spot metering that got a better exposure for the figures.But foliage and a light grey deck in the background came out lighter than I wanted. I started to play with filters and painting in transparent layers to darken those areas. I also flipped the figures and turned them since the angle of the photo made them seem off balance. I think I eventually "Inverted" the photo which cause the middle background to darken.
To get an effect I was more interested in I layered in an unrelated photo (the basin of the water fountain I used last week - solarized and recolored). I played with the opacity of how much the second photo would show through. The final result was a little too gold, so I added a green filter, but erased it from the figures themselves.
While I love looking at more straightforward photos, I'm finding I'm not satisfied with my own work until it is (in an artistic sense) "destroyed" or undone to a certain extent. I still want to see what the subject is, but through layers of intended and accidental transparencies (?) - "filters". Then I'm happy.
You are such an artist! I love the way you layer, alter, distort, and add color to make images more intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI would never know, without your description, where these statues were. I would have perhaps guessed they were in a window front of a store like Dree's or something.
I would have assumed that when the photo was shot there was some amazing reflection coming back, not that you'd actually layered a whole other image over it.
Very nice, very creative!!