I was so impressed with the discovery that flawed photos can be salvaged that it was naturally the first thing I posted in this mini-series. But another thing I found really interesting was that adding drama to an otherwise ordinary picture can be so easy and oh-so-worth-it that a great bonus is that I’m learning to train my eye to see beauty where it isn’t readily obvious.
So my third entry will be semi-philosophical. Why? Because I said so, and I need to feel smart and profound for once in my life. (Oh great, now I’ll be hearing both Sinatra’s and Stevie Wonder’s voice in my head all day.)
What I learned at the CS3 Power Tour:
3. If you can perceive something beautiful or visual interesting hidden in a photo somewhere, CS3 can readily help you unearth and expose it.
So here’s a small yellow flower I snapped this summer while vacationing in Trinidad. It was a pretty little thing, but the wall there prevented me from taking a frontal shot. I know, I know. I could have walked in there and taken it anyway. But we were visiting some relatives, and I don’t think they would have liked it if I stepped on their nice cordoned off garden to take a picture of this little flower. I should also note that I was starving at that time, and was more than mildly distracted by the smell of lunch cooking.
Oh, and I used my trusty videocamera to take this shot, so I know it won’t win any awards for quality or clarity. But that’s what makes this so great. (Frankly, I would have forgotten all about this photo if Scott Kelby hadn’t used a similar flower shot to demonstrate how to artfully use lighting effects.)
First, I cloned out the other stems and the little bud on the lower right. And while I liked the little bit of orange in the background, I cloned that out too because it just didn’t really belong there. (Although now I’m thinking maybe it does, but that’ll be another experiment.) Then I hit Auto Levels (hey, he said I could!) and already it started looking a lot better.
Nice, I thought. Then I added some lighting effects (I followed the workbook and used flashlight), sharpened it up a bit here and there. Then, for good measure, I slapped it on a poster. Just because I can (thanks to the seminar), and because I never know when to stop myself. Which is fine when it comes to Photoshop with the undo levels, but not so fine when it comes to chocolates and home-baked pies. Or cookies. Or cinnamon rolls.
So here’s the before and after comparison:
Now it actually looks like art. Doesn’t it?
Please tell me it does.