Hello, my name is Fermicat, and I am a photoshopaholic.
PDM got me Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Mac as a birthday gift. Here it is just a few days later and I am already addicted to messing with my digital photos. I lusted after this program for months. Digital photography is fun, and I wanted to take it to the next level: creative art (or pure crap, depending on your perspective). Not only do I find lots of stuff in my photos to fix (limitations due to both camera and photographer), I keep seeing really interesting, unnatural special effects on other people's Flickr photos that look very cool. I want!
So much to try... old fashioned hand tinted look, Orton effect, fake HDR, fake LOMO, removing clutter from photos, mixing objects from different shots, or creating a totally unique effect. While experimenting with these special effects, I am also trying to learn how to use Photoshop Elements. I know enough to be dangerous. There are probably better ways to do what I am doing, but learning by trying things is not a bad way to go.
This distraction is not good for my study plans. Another downside is that I am monopolizing PDM's Mac. Oh well. The newness will wear off soon and things will calm down. In the meantime I am having a blast taking ordinary photographs and making them into something special.
The Varsity street scene at the top of this post is my first attempt at the LOMO technique. It took me a couple of hours of adjusting to achieve. The boring photo I started with can be viewed here. The one below combines the Orton effect with fake hand tinting to create a dreamy, ethereal feel. I made a Flickr set to showcase my creations. There are several Orton photos in there, some hand tinted shots, and an attempt to recreate a vintage postcard type of look.
12 comments:
And to think, just a few months ago you didn't even realize that there is (or would soon be) a new version of Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Luckily for you, you know a Mac-aholic/pest. Even better, you have a husband who was kind enough to buy it for you ;-).
Now just look at what you're doing! You are very good at it. Seriously.
What? No cat pictures?
Erm... am I at the right blog?
:ewink:
It's not hard to convince PDM to buy Mac stuff.
I've been seeing these photoshopped things on Flickr for so long - it is fun to finally try my hand at it.
ll - my very first photoshop project was a picture of Zima. I'm sure you'll be seeing it on a Friday real soon...
Sometimes my kidding doesn't always resemble kidding in hindsight (I wish it was possible to edit comments here, the way it is at Flickr; I've worn out the edit button there ;-). I know you already knew about Photoshop. I was only referring to Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac, which went on sale only two months ago. My comment was, in part, intended to play off of how new it is.
Can't wait for more!!
I'm always glad to see others who can play with stuff like this and learn, understand things about photography. Unfortunately, it only makes me really envious though cause all I can do with respect to photography is basic aim and shoot, then download and pray that the shot is half-decent! I am getting a bit better at scoping out clutter when I snap but better housekeeping methods would probably eliminate that problem from the get-go too! That and not having two little ones who can trash a whole house in record time!
This stuff looks great, fermi! If only there were an app like Photoshop for our lives. Imagine how fabulous we'd all look, and how error-free our days would be. All the dull, stupid, nasty stuff could just be gotten rid of with a few mouse clicks.
stuff looks great!
I always learn by messing around too LOL - sometimes I have destroyed a few things but oh well ...
have fun. give yourself photoshop breaks during study time.
Nice. I'd like to get Photoshop sooner or later.
The Varsity never looked so good - great picture.
mw - yes, comments editing would be nice, since I so rarely proofread mine and notice the mistakes later.
wa11z - I am sure you won't be waiting long...
jeni - I love being able to fix a shot later, to correct for all the flaws. You can't fix everything, but you always improve what you've got.
twg - yes, wouldn't it be cool? I'd airbrush the cat hair off my clothes every day.
dianne - learning by doing is a good way to do it, imho. I did some power studying on Monday when it was slow at work.
jim - tons of fun. I recommend it! Your photo blog posts would be even more "kick ass" than usual.
dave - thanks. You may also enjoy my photos of the Fox theater from Ponce de Leon and from Peachtree Street with the marquee.
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