Another photo art of a dog

After doings shots of Yuna (see earlier post), I have to do some shots of Mizu too. Mizu is Yuna's companion. Mizu calls the shots around the house. She barks at every dog that passes by our house, while Yuna remains unperturbed.

Hahndorf, as I view it

Hahndorf is a picturesque little German town outside Adelaide. I love it because it conjures up for me images of bygone days. In real life, of course, the scenes are not like what you see here. But in the eyes of my mind, Hahndorf is as quaint as the scenes below.

Impressionist dog

Her name is Yuna. Following on my other "impressionist paintings", I thought that Yuna might make a good impression (pun intended).

Vegetables in still life

If you Google "still life vegetables" you will find excellent paintings and photographs of the most common things we encounter on a daily basis: vegetables. Most of us will probably equate a lovely vegetable as one that is fresh and palatable. Many will probably view them only as food for eating but not food for the eyes.

Vegetables make a lovely subject for still life photography. It has always been my interest to capture them as art on a camera.  Below are two images I just did; one rendered in low key and the other in high key.

More impressionist paintings

These two images were taken at Mont de Lancey. They have been post edited to give them the antique painting look.

Seascape in Williamstown

This image was taken in Williamstown in 2013. I thought it makes a good candidate for an impressionist painting, especially the threatening clouds and the setting sun lightening the horizon. A wild sea with some thunderbolts would have gone better with the dramatic sky, but then I doubt I would have been there to make the shot.

How I created an impressionist painting

One of my favourite impressionist painters is John Constable. I particularly love his paintings that depict the countryside. Here is my maiden attempt at turning a digital image into what I hope looks like an impressionist painting. 

The post processing technique used here is relatively simple. I increased the saturation on the original image, blended in a grunge background using Soft Light blend, then repeated with another layer of blending using Overlay blend with opacity reduced. Finally I "painted" in some lights and some shadows judiciously.

High key images

A high key image is one where the background is intentionally white and featureless. If you Google for examples of high key images, you will see what I mean.

Today I managed to create a high key image that I feel good about. In particular, my greying hair no longer reveals itself starkly against a dark background. So for you guys out there, when your hair turns grey, you might also want to consider high key portraits of yourself.