Withered thistle

[mistress_elaine]

In which I go all Warhol on your arses and ask how you like the experience...

Last night I made this and posted it to bestshot, a delightful new photo community which all the serious photographers among you should check out.

Comments

[silverclear]

First of all, what a great community! I'm looking back through the recent posts and really enjoying it.

Re your colours, I do love the first one the most. It suits the subject. Having said that, I think the green is sort of funny (in a good way) for a dried up plant, so I rather like that one too.

The red and the lighter yellow don't really do it for me, and I can't put my finger on why.

[mistress_elaine]

First of all, thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it when people take the time to type out a response. :-)

Yes, bestshot is a lot of fun. It's no 500px (probably the best photography forum on LJ), but I like the variety and the atmosphere, and some of the photos posted are just excellent. I find it inspirational without being overwhelming, if you know what I mean.

Seems you and I agree on the colours of my thistle. The brown one is my favourite, as well, followed by the green one.

(On a completely unrelated note, have you seen anything else at the EIFF, apart from Firefly? I'm a major film festival junkie, and I'm always on the lookout for tips...)

[silverclear]

So far I've only seen Serenity plus 1½ other films. I was about to launch into a review, but I think I might post that on my journal today.

[mistress_elaine]

Please do. I'll read it there, then. :-)

[shizunde]

*hugs*

that's deffinitely better than my ice-cream

[mistress_elaine]

Heh.

*laughs out very loud*

[shizunde]

my favourite is the 1st one. in fact i love it, seriously. it's elegant, beautiful, balanced. please, don't remove the shadow: it would be dull otherwise.

yes, death doesn't require bright light it looks like the poor plant is being microwaved. (don't kill me)

the green one is nice too, but once you've seen the 1st version... and the red one is too red.

how did you changed the tones? i have a way of doing it & i'm pretty happy with the results i'm getting.

[mistress_elaine]

my favourite is the 1st one. in fact i love it, seriously. it's elegant, beautiful, balanced.

Thank you. I'm very glad to hear that. And I agree that the first one is the best.

please, don't remove the shadow: it would be dull otherwise.

That's what I thought, but I was curious to hear whether others would feel the same.

it looks like the poor plant is being microwaved.

Heh. Yes, it does rather, doesn't it? Thank God dead plants don't feel anything. :-)

the red one is too red.

I think I agree. It looked nice while I was doing it, but looking at it now, I wish I'd made it lighter and browner. I'm definitely going to try that later.

how did you changed the tones?

In the most basic way I know. After taking the whole picture through the Levels, Contrast/Brightness and Channel Mixer process, I colorised it through the Colour Hue/Saturation menu and picked different colours and saturation levels I liked. Then I played with Curves, sharpened the picture somewhat, added a border, et voilà.

So how do you go about it?

i don't like big fonts, sorry

[shizunde]

this is a tip i read in a comment somewhere -- very useful and simple, and i'm following it.
so,
when i want to make a picture monochrome, i turn it to greyscale, then back to rgb, and then use the curves and change one or two channels. i love it because it's simple, and you can get nice plays of 2 tones, and you don't loose any resolution or contrast. this is how i did this one

the idea is not not desaturating until the end, but turning it to greyscale - because desaturation & hue changes make them loose a lot of quality, it adds a lot of grain, sometimes the pixelating becomes very obvious and the picture looks rough.

for example, let's imagine i was already happy with this picture.
you can make it "golden" sepia or soft blue
you can go wild on green and pink (with only one channel)
or you can give it drugz (twisting curves like a madman

[mistress_elaine]

OK, this is interesting. And confusing. Tell me, do you turn your pictures into Greyscale and then back to RGB immediately, or are there any steps in between (Levels, etc.)? Because going from RGB to Greyscale and back to RGB without doing anything in between (as you seem to describe it here) doesn't seem to make sense to me

[6ft5]

What would happen if you moved in closer to the subject? maybe placing it more offcenter? I like the first one and I like the green one. Perhaps I´d like them even more if they were alittle darker and richer in contrast.

I took the liberty to play alittle with your picture. Hope you don´t mind!

[mistress_elaine]

Hey, that's pretty interesting. And no, I don't mind your playing with my picture at all. I rather like the title you gave it

[mistress_elaine]

You know what? The more I look at your version, the more I like it. I was going for a subtle, tender, vulnerable effect, but there's definitely something to be said for your powerful approach. I think I will give the off-centre approach a try, and I may somewhat increase the contrast, after all, as well. So thanks for bringing it up!

[6ft5]

Hey! That´s just great. I feel flattered :)

[mylastsigh]

You made me smile.

I agree.

But you could make a series out of them as well.

[mistress_elaine]

I'm glad to hear I made you smile. I aim to please. :-)

I will probably make a series out of them at some point. I can think of quite a few colours I'd like to add, but if you have any suggestions or requests, let me know. :-)

[mylastsigh]

I tend not to make too many suggestions to artistso.

I own an art gallery here in Massachusetts.

I find suggestions are often like telling Avedon that his lighting was too "broad," or Picasso his color was to "bold," or Arbus her cropping was way off. etc, i.e. it's too grainy, not enough contrast.......

If I have something truly constructive to say, I will; meanwhile, let art be art. Go out and see.

[mistress_elaine]

Heh. I see your point, and am flattered beyond words to be mentioned in one post (even if not quite in the same breath :-)) with Avedon, Picasso and Arbus. For the record, I'm a rank amateur who has never, ever thought of herself as an artist, unless you include writers in that category. I hardly know anything about photography; I'm embarking on my first course in a few weeks, and until that time I'm just playing. So, actually, I do welcome suggestions. But I see your point, and fully respect it. :-)