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Abstract

to what the program could do. So I decided to throw away all the rules and go all ‘arty’ instead.This led to my very first artistic photograph.<figure id="8ff1"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*OKwd99msZh5Pm7VomMWtMQ.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="0ece"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*tWilwyeIDWSBWyX2HnXZjA.jpeg"><figcaption>The original (left). The edit ‘Desert Portal’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.</figcaption></figure>After getting rid of excess objects in the bottom corner, I reflected the image horizontally, and then vertically.Then other edits can be made, in this case, a lot of playing with brightness and contrast. You definitely need a focal attraction when ‘kaleidoscoping’ a photo. If you start with the right photo you can create a really stunning piece using this technique, the rest just look messy.Desert Portal started a series called ‘Reflectory’, a reflective image with a story, which I add to every now and then (Lowside, the banner image, is also part of the same series). I was lucky to officially launch Reflectory at the Melbourne RAW art exhibition in 2017.<figure id="6c86"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*SQjJgptzYOZiaksh0CCo6g.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="32cf"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*SDSfmiNW1s5jKEb_ATZcfg.jpeg"><figcaption>The original (left). The edit ‘Cathedral of Light’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.</figcaption></figure>This is another abstract series that became more ‘art’ than a photo but has a pure photography base. In each piece, I enhanced the colours with the contrast tool to make them pop before playing with the Motion or Radial blur filters.<figure id="5e11"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*UWUa6TeJTaUHonMQLHpoNg.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="6b75"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Ujrqsp9pRpJvv7kA1Bz1hA.jpeg"><figcaption>The original (left). The edit ‘Vintage tracks’ (right). Photos by author.</figcaption></figure>Just a ‘happy snap’ to begin with, nothing special. I converted it to black and white, played with some vintage colour and grunge overlays to give it more of a historic feel.<figure id="ff14"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*IBeM0ms81j_mVY7j4aCMLg.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="000c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com

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/v2/resize:fit:800/1*65XOtugu4_2GxDfPE-k0Cg.jpeg"><figcaption>The original (left). The edit ‘Rising Dawn’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.</figcaption></figure>I originally took a lot of cloud photographs to reference in an artwork I was painting. In this series, I put one photo on top of the other and played with the Blend mode of the top layer. Then I put a colour gradient either on top of or between both photos and played with the gradients Blend mode.<figure id="a6fd"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*u8HM1bOB-N9bUzESQMnlrg.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure id="1408"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Naydqr4JJBlnGszMYcBe9Q.jpeg"><figcaption>The original (left). The edit ‘Morning Remembrance’ (right). Photos by author.</figcaption></figure>This is one I took at an ANZAC Day morning service. It was pouring with rain, I was standing at the back waiting for the procession to start from the war memorial down to the clubrooms. But it was so wet that part of the event was canceled.I got three photos, all were from the back of the crowd with umbrellas, which I only took to start figuring out what camera settings to use in low light.All three were terrible, this was the worst, for obvious reasons.I made it black and white, played with the levels, and threw on a lens flare overlay. In this case, getting rid of the colour helps contain the dreariness of a cold wet morning, and lets you explore each character more without distraction.<figure id="59c3"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Ini_Bji9z_2ZB9xB9PuO2A.jpeg"><figcaption>‘Rose lens’, part of the motion series. Artwork by author.</figcaption></figure>Taking rejects and just playing with them in an editing program has introduced a whole new realm to my creativity.And while there may be a bit of a debate as to whether these are still photographs or not (definitely interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on that), I can say I’m very happy with the way they’ve taken on a whole new life as photographic artworks.If you’re ever in despair over what you’ve been capturing, try to use it as an opportunity to have fun and do something new with them that you would never have considered before.About Me Hi! My name is Joy, it’s nice to meet you. I’m an Aussie who loves all things creative and the environment. I also love writing about my experiments, whether they be with cameras, painting, or a computer.</article></body>

Some of my best photos are rejects

But they can turn into amazing artworks

Recently Gareth Willey put together a story of photo-editing advice from some Medium photographers. I was kindly surprised when he sent me a message asking if I’d like to contribute.

You can see what I, and others, said in his post here:

Some of Medium’s Best Photographers Offer Their Photo-Editing Advice

Have you ever wondered how other photographer’s edit?

medium.com

This started me on a journey of thinking about my photo editing process. I don’t really have a set thing I do to my photos. I was never formally trained in photography, and have learned on the fly when it comes to editing for different mediums.

The process I use now when it comes to editing, which is pretty irregular in its system, stems from about 10 years ago.

I wasn’t in a great place with my photography. Everything felt like it was going wrong and I couldn’t produce a good photo. They were all average at best, and I was seriously considering giving up.

I loved photography, but I didn’t love the feeling at the end of a day of photographing coming home and looking at what I’d taken and not even seeing one I liked. I needed a plan before I would let myself go out on another soul-destroying shoot.

So I sat down and looked through what I’d taken in the past year and had a think. There were hundreds of photos. Surely something could be salvaged? Maybe there isn’t such a thing as a bad photo, maybe it just needs the right editing?

This gave me a little brain spark. I took 10 random photos and decided to experiment. I wasn’t allowed to give up until I had something decent.

There was a small problem. I wasn’t great at ‘proper’ editing, and my Photoshop skills were limited compared to what the program could do. So I decided to throw away all the rules and go all ‘arty’ instead.

This led to my very first artistic photograph.

The original (left). The edit ‘Desert Portal’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.

After getting rid of excess objects in the bottom corner, I reflected the image horizontally, and then vertically.

Then other edits can be made, in this case, a lot of playing with brightness and contrast. You definitely need a focal attraction when ‘kaleidoscoping’ a photo. If you start with the right photo you can create a really stunning piece using this technique, the rest just look messy.

Desert Portal started a series called ‘Reflectory’, a reflective image with a story, which I add to every now and then (Lowside, the banner image, is also part of the same series). I was lucky to officially launch Reflectory at the Melbourne RAW art exhibition in 2017.

The original (left). The edit ‘Cathedral of Light’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.

This is another abstract series that became more ‘art’ than a photo but has a pure photography base. In each piece, I enhanced the colours with the contrast tool to make them pop before playing with the Motion or Radial blur filters.

The original (left). The edit ‘Vintage tracks’ (right). Photos by author.

Just a ‘happy snap’ to begin with, nothing special. I converted it to black and white, played with some vintage colour and grunge overlays to give it more of a historic feel.

The original (left). The edit ‘Rising Dawn’ (right), part of a series. Photo/art by author.

I originally took a lot of cloud photographs to reference in an artwork I was painting. In this series, I put one photo on top of the other and played with the Blend mode of the top layer. Then I put a colour gradient either on top of or between both photos and played with the gradients Blend mode.

The original (left). The edit ‘Morning Remembrance’ (right). Photos by author.

This is one I took at an ANZAC Day morning service. It was pouring with rain, I was standing at the back waiting for the procession to start from the war memorial down to the clubrooms. But it was so wet that part of the event was canceled.

I got three photos, all were from the back of the crowd with umbrellas, which I only took to start figuring out what camera settings to use in low light.

All three were terrible, this was the worst, for obvious reasons.

I made it black and white, played with the levels, and threw on a lens flare overlay. In this case, getting rid of the colour helps contain the dreariness of a cold wet morning, and lets you explore each character more without distraction.

‘Rose lens’, part of the motion series. Artwork by author.

Taking rejects and just playing with them in an editing program has introduced a whole new realm to my creativity.

And while there may be a bit of a debate as to whether these are still photographs or not (definitely interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on that), I can say I’m very happy with the way they’ve taken on a whole new life as photographic artworks.

If you’re ever in despair over what you’ve been capturing, try to use it as an opportunity to have fun and do something new with them that you would never have considered before.

About Me Hi! My name is Joy, it’s nice to meet you. I’m an Aussie who loves all things creative and the environment. I also love writing about my experiments, whether they be with cameras, painting, or a computer.