Category: editing and effects

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: The art of houseplants.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography14 Comments

Hi there, welcome to your Monday morning dose of photographic fantasmagoria, The Cosmic Photo Challenge.

This week we’re getting creative with our indoor greenery, with the prompt; The art of houseplants.

I try to take good care of my growing collection of housebound horticulture, so it’s nice to showcase the plants in their very own photoshoot. I also made a few artistic edits.

I love the way this one sheds excess water with its crying leaves

Now it’s time to share some shots of your indoor vegetation…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Shadows.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography14 Comments

Hi there, welcome to your Monday pick-me-up, The Cosmic Photo Challenge, here to usher in a new week of photographic creativity to take your mind off the daily grind.

This week we’re concentrating on a lack of light, more specifically; Shadows.

After the blisteringly hot weather we’ve been having, I didn’t think I’d have any problems capturing some nice, stark silhouettes over the weekend, but the skies remained stubbornly overcast and I thought I was going to have to resort to archive pictures.

But it occurred to me that photos taken at night are chock full of shadows, in fact they’re mostly shadows, so I took a few of those in the garden.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, the sun made a brief appearance for about ten minutes, reflecting off windscreens of cars parked outside the window. This created an overlapping collage of shadows, made from the net curtains, a window hanging and a spider plant, all cast on my living room wall. After a spot of fiddling with contrast and brightness, I had some wonderfully arty images.

These are all single exposures, the ones at night were just a bit longer.  ;~}

I even appear as a reflection in the picture frame

What shadowy activities did you get up to since we last got together? Go on, you can tell us…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Distortion.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography12 Comments

Good morning, welcome to a new week and a new Cosmic Photo Challenge to start your Monday with a bang, or at least a snap.

This week’s challenge is all about; Distortion.

As I cheekily suggested in Friday’s prompt, this could be a chance to play with editing features you maybe hadn’t experimented with before. But any images of distorted objects, shots taken through an obscuring surface, etc. however you wish to interpret the theme is, as always, up to you.

I used an app called Glitch Lab to produce my pictures, the originals of which I have also included for reference.

Now let’s see what sort of twist you gave the prompt this week…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Nature in black and white.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, nature photography, photography12 Comments

Good morning, welcome to a monochrome edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which this week is looking at; Nature in black and white.

I took my pictures in the garden and on my Saturday morning walk, trying to find mixtures of textures to replace the missing colours.

Now it’s time for you to showcase your shades of grey.

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Symmetry.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography20 Comments

Hi there, it’s time for The Cosmic Photo Challenge to start your week, with today’s theme being; Symmetry.

I used the natural forms of ferns and trees to create my symmetrical artworks, their fronds and branches making wonderfully intricate patterns when multiplied.

Now let’s see if you were in a reflective mood at the weekend…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art for art’s sake.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography10 Comments

Good morning, welcome to a bank holiday edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which this week concentrates on creativity, with the prompt; Art for art’s sake.

I spent a few hours yesterday, making one of my surreal collages from so many photos, I lost track of the number I used, but there are lots. I had particular fun with the reflections in this one…

Where did your artistic muse take you this week..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Abstract.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography9 Comments

Hello there, it’s only two weeks until the holidays, but here at The Cosmic Photo Challenge we haven’t got festive yet, in fact we’re positively vague about the subject of today’s theme; Abstract.

That gave us almost unlimited scope for our photographic offerings this week and I spent a Zen-like couple of hours yesterday creating this abstract collage from strips I cropped from pictures of random objects around the house and other old photos.

Where did your artistic muse lead you this week..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Autumn landscapes.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, nature photography, photography12 Comments

Good morning, welcome to The Cosmic Photo Challenge, following a very wet weekend here in the UK.

Fortunately, having set the prompt on Friday, I managed to get out that afternoon while the weather was still cold and bright, to capture some images of; Autumn landscapes.

I took a walk up onto the hills above Barnstaple to take my pictures, some of which might only have glimpses of the landscape in the background, but I like them nonetheless.

Where did your search for wide open spaces take you at the weekend..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Pick a shape.

On By dalecooper57In arts, editing and effects, photography11 Comments

Hi there, I hope you had a good weekend, now there’s just the small matter of The Cosmic Photo Challenge to attend to, before you plunge headlong into another Monday.

This week your mission was to; Pick a shape.

Any shape will do, as long as it somehow informs your choice of pictures, whether that’s by subject matter or design.

I decided to go with circles, using two separate layouts to create my images; a random selection of circular household objects for one; and some records from my collection, chosen for their colourful vinyl (and a small rug), for the other.

Now let’s see what geometric journey you went on this week…

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The Cosmic Photo Challenge: Art for art’s sake.

On By dalecooper57In editing and effects, photography18 Comments

Well, hello there, how the devil are you all this fine autumn morning? Welcome to another splendiferous edition of The Cosmic Photo Challenge, which today concentrates its creative focus on images that are; Art for art’s sake.

You probably won’t be all that surprised to learn that I stuck with my chosen oeuvre and constructed some photo collages to meet this week’s brief.

I had two initial ideas; firstly to use a shot of the tubular steel rings in my interesting perspective post as concentric frames for three separate images; secondly to try and give the impression of the sea rushing out of an open doorway.

The first concept wasn’t a problem and I was very pleased with how that one came out. It contains 11 individual photos, all painstakingly placed, erased and blended by hand. However, I couldn’t find a suitable shot of a doorway for the second one and, due to my impatience and tendency to get sidetracked, I chose a photo of the pannier market to flood, instead. I believe that one is made from 9 carefully layered components. (Each composition took roughly two hours to complete)

Then on Saturday night, while looking for something completely unconnected, I stumbled upon a perfect candidate for my doorway idea, so I produced a third, bonus collage, which could even be the best of the lot, see what you think.

I think my favourite part of this one is the swan in the clouds
Those stalactites on the ceiling are actually only three inches long
A second appearance by Death (he’s also a stall holder in the market, above), along with my favourite ever bird photo

Where did your artistic muse lead you over the weekend..?

*****

To get involved with the challenge; check out the Cosmic Photo Prompt each Friday, then post a photo (or photos) on your blog the following Monday, with a pingback link to my Monday post.
Tag your posts with #CosPhoChal.

Any and all effects, editing, Photoshop, Instagram, morphing, collages, animation, gifs, or whatever other post production techniques you fancy are permitted, (in fact, they’re actively encouraged!) so get creative and turn your photos into artworks for the Cosmic Photo Challenge.