Vase and Dying Flower Study

Spent a couple of hours just playing with a vase of dying flowers the other day and then taking just one design into photoshop to see what different colour combinations I could get. I was looking for the resulting image to be fundamentally based on  two main colours. I found four I like and ten popped them into a panel. The first five images here are the result. Not what you would call subtle colours. 

I then started playing with some of the other images from the session with some pleasing results. 

It’s funny how sometimes you set yourself a mini project in a single session and struggle to find an acceptable result and then other times, like this you find quite a few.

All images here started as in-camera multiple exposure (mostly in dark mode if I remember right) and then  work in Lightroom. All images then developed in multiple layers in Photoshop, including the blending of two or more images.

 

In Camera Double Exposure

Back in Early April Sue and I took the camper van to Sandringham. We decided it was a nice day for the beach and took a drive to Old Hunstanton. I decided to play with the Olympus OMD EM1 mk2 facility for double exposure. This is one area of the Olympus that I find poor compared with my Canon. On the Olympus you can only combine two photos with very little control ie no in camera blending modes. In comparison the canon has four blending modes and the ability to add up to 9 images (way over the top probably). Anyway Having spent the afternoon on the beach playing I am quite pleased with the results.  All apart from the last two where post possessed only in Lightroom. The new update (a few months ago) added a texture slider, It adds or takes away a 'grittiness'. I found on these in camera double exposures that using this slider with Highlights, shadows and Clarity I was able to pull more detail out of the file.

Image 10 and 11 where a combination of an in focus image with an out of focus image (Orton Effect - sort of)

The last tow pictures are not actually in camera double exposures, I took the an image on the Cameras 'Art' Filter and combined it in photoshop with the 'normal image'. The Art filters are quite heavy in there own right but I have found that I can reduce the effect to a pleasing level in photoshop by blending with a straight shot.

All good Fun :)

CCC Wednesday Workshop - Movement

Last Wednesday the Cambridge Camera Club met for their normal Wednesday Workshop Special Interest Group. This time Paul and Charles had us in the field playing with Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) and 'The Orton Effect' - this is where you take two photos with second photo out of focus and then blended back with the in focus image to create a dreamy effect.

An interesting evening.

The Orton Effect

The first four images show the Orton Effect (sort of). The first three of these show:-

1. The Infocus Image.
2. The out of focus image
3. The combined images 'In Camera' (I was using my Olympus OMD EM1 mkii)
4. The forth image was an image duplicated in photoshop with the the second image with Gaussian Blur

 Intensional Camera Movement (ICM)

You will have seen on my blog that I quite like playing with ICM. I don't often think about rotating the camera, I normally just go up and down or side to side. I tried a bit of both. The success rate is very low. The images here are ones that please me, I am not saying they are 'great' are a result of about 250 photos taken. I have included a non moving image in some instances.

Up and Down

 Round and Round

I then put my fish eye on. Just a slight movement in the central position can make an interesting difference.

I decided to try and blend in Photoshop a Non Movement Image with one with movement. I was playing around with the blending modes and just tried 'subtraction' and got a pleasing result. Two there, one in colour and one in monochrome. Not sure which I prefer.

ICM with Flash 

I then tried a circular movement with a burst of flash to start with.

Jedi Knight Phil 

 ....then swung is Light Sabres