In my Photoshop class we are working on a project that is supposed to channel the art of photogravure. Photographs done in this style are often soft images with a sepia tone and a textured look to them. To say that is really simplifying things, and the link I provided goes into much more detail and gives many examples if you are interested in taking a peek.
This week I have been busy creating a series of images that hopefully reflect that style. Here is one:
ISO 200 18mm 0ev f/5.6 1/400
I will show you the original image at the bottom of this post so you can see where I started. It was very cold this week, but I went for a quick walk in a local park looking for an image like this that I could work with. This photo I shot with my point and shoot camera, because I knew that it could capture an image like this one well. I also knew that my final print for my project will be a small one, no larger than 8×10.
When I got home, I opened this image in Photoshop. I created a duplicate layer and then used the Filter-Blur-Field blur to create focus on the plant but blur the background. Then I created a Gradient Map layer. My gradient goes from dark maroon to blue to pale yellow. Then on another layer I brought in a background I had that is a journal page. So those are my three layers, they are stacked in the order that I mentioned them. The plant is in a normal blending mode with an opacity of 45%. The Gradient Map layer is also in normal blending mode but set at 67%. The journal layer is set to blending mode multiply and 80% opacity.
Here is the original image I was working from:
ISO 200 18mm 0ev f/5.6 1/400
The theme this week for the WordPress photo challenge is juxtaposition, and my take on this theme is to create a single image out of the snowy scene and a journal page, something that you might not think of as being complimentary. Do you think this combination works? What do you think of my editing? Feel free to leave a comment below. This photo has also been added to my Picfair portfolio.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 