From Ordinary to Wow!
I can’t help but think Photoshop is one of the most incredible creative tools available to any artist/photographer today.
Case in point: a humdrum and rather ordinary photograph of a mum was easily transformed into a dramatic B&W image in a matter of minutes. It still amazes me how much this technique changed and improved the original image.
Using a simple technique with the Curves Adjustment Layer tool I was able to get a Solarized (or Sabattier) effect that totally knocked me out. There are a lot of tutorials online if you want to try this technique. Careful though…you might get hooked.
Be aware that it doesn’t work with all photos, but when it does the results are amazing. Images with strong contrasts work best. I happen to prefer solarized images in B&W, but color images are pretty cool solarized, too.
A special thanks to photography friend Jim Hulme who got me interested in solarization with his lovely photo of Naked Tulips.
Here is the original photo of the mum appearing in all it’s ordinariness:
And here is the Photoshopped mum converted into a dramatic diva.
Are you impressed? I sure am!
Spectacular!! It looks like one of your lovely drawings!!!
[…] are interested you can see both the original mum photograph and the digitally solarized versions here. This is what it looks like as an etching:Solar Mum (proof); 2014; Photopolymer etching; 8″ x […]