Seeing Possibilities in the Mundane: Altering Photos for Art Use

Recently I was sitting on a beautiful deck shaded by a canopy of trees. I couldn't help but notice the intriguing patterns the sunlight was casting all around me. Then I began to look really closely at other features in this idyllic spot -- the rough bark of the trees, the pebbled surface of the concrete path leading to the deck, and the "toothlike" appearance of the wooden steps across from where I was sitting. Thinking I'd like to add some photos to my inspiration file, which I like to tap for collage elements and painting ideas, I grabbed my camera to capture these humble subjects before the light shifted.

Here's a small sampling of what I ended up with:

An ordinary tree trunk

Rotated sideways and altered in Photoshop it becomes a textural element for a collage

Rotated in the opposite direction and colorized, it might be the basis for a future abstract painting

Shadows where a vertical wall met the concrete sidewalk

Changing its color and exaggerating the saturation results in something quite different!.

Ordinary wood steps on the deck

Those same steps look more interesting now, don't they?

I really liked this pattern on the patio lantern.

Photoshop turned it into something quite dramatic.

Playing with the color and saturation levels introduces a whole new look entirely.

Even if you don't have access to a photo editing program you can still take pictures that can inspire you, be used as image transfers, or be altered manually. With digital photography the sky's the limit! An indispensable guide to dozens of techniques for altering photos is Image Art Workshop: Creative Ways to Embellish and Enhance Photographic Images by Paula Guhin. It's a go-to resource for me. You can check out Paula's blog, Mixed Media Manic, by clicking on the link in my blog list. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

A quick update on my pouring experiment, described in my previous blog post:

I'm still tinkering with the painting. I think I'm done messing with it now, but I need to go back and clean up the edges where I put blue painter's tape. Overall, I'm happy with the way it looks, but I need more practice with pouring. As soon as I make it presentable (!!) I'll post a photo, probably toward the end of this week.

Text and images ©2014 Lynn Edwards