Alien Beauty

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:56 pm

Here's a link to one of my recent pictures. Opinions please?

http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/showl ... oid=647984

Post by **Mike** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:55 pm

Very haunting, it looks like a funeral mask from a medieval / dark age knight. I liked the strong bold colours too.

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:03 pm

interesting take on what is an iconic historical artifact. are you going to try it in other such bold colours? a deep green would seem apt if a little predictable for the alien theme.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:49 pm

Looks good, but it would be interesting to see it in several different colours to get a feel for which ones work well, although I suspect keeping it relatively dark is going to be a better option.

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:57 pm

I wanted it to look more like crystal that the wood it is actually made of, so stuck with the colour of the Rhododendron that forms part of the image.

I did look at the other available colours with a quick sweep through Hue/Saturation in Photoshop, but decided that natural was best.

As always, it's a judgement call.

Thanks for the comments.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:12 pm

Oops, thought I'd better clarify that my keeping it dark comment was actually in favour of your colour choice there, it seemed a bit ambiguous upon re-reading it. After having a second look, I don't think you could get much better colour-wise. The image itself is kinda growing on me as well.

TAOWBST · Post by **TAOWBST** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:33 am

Nice work, John. Its a bit bright for in colour for my liking but thats just me lol. Just out of interest where did the black criss-cross patterns come from in the top corners?

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:53 am

The first picture was a wooden mask suspended on wires from a wooden building. The secind was a rhodendron bush in flower. The two were put together and the wooden parts selectively removed using Magic Wand. This is perfect because some of the original remains as the deleted parts are not totally deleted (usually). So the remaining bits add the textures and lines and the bits that make it look more like crystal. Then opacity between the layers can be adjusted to taste, blending modes used to bring out the desired effect and finally levels and sharpening.

Time for completion around 10 minutes. The key is to find the pictures that blend to make the effect you want.