One Photo Focus–July

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One the first Friday of each month, Stacy Fischer’s AfterBefore Friday Forum invites all participants to work their magic on the same image–an image that is selected by one of the participants in advance.  Hence the title of the event is “One Photo Focus.”

For July,  I drew the straw for providing the image and so, in the spirit of the U.S. July 4th Holiday tomorrow, I selected the image below.  The efforts of the other participants can be found at Visual Venturing and I hope everyone will check them out.  I am sure there will be some interesting demonstrations of creative imagination.

2015 06 01 Before

The Before Image

Now I certainly hope that the current occupants of the building do not mistakenly conclude that what transpires next is anything other than a demonstration of certain image processing techniques.

As is my usual practice in One Photo Focus, I wanted to try some new things and a good place to find them is among the many Filter options available in Photoshop.

 

2015 05 01 PhotoFocus Before 03B

 

The image was opened in Photoshop and I used the Filter–>Distort–>Shear option shown above.  The 5 black dots in the grid square can be dragged to the right or left of the centerline to createa variety of effects.  The setting above produced this:

2015 05 01 PhotoFocus Before 02A

Now any attempts to introduce commentary about the dangers of moving too far from the center line will be quickly called out for what they are:  brazen attempts to politicize an innocent and well meaning photography demonstration.

Besides there is more work to be done.  Thus, the Filter–>Stylize–>Solarize option was introduced which produced the rather somber results shown below:

2015 05 01 PhotoFocus Before 03A

This would never do. So a rescue operation was launched using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer as shown below.  A very heavy application of Saturation (+76) was applied.

2015 05 01 PhotoFocus Before 04B

The result, shown below, is at least more colorful than before.

2015 05 01 PhotoFocus Before 05A

Final Result

I wasn’t really happy with this outcome so I started over and tried something else. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find my notes. But here is the result.

2015 06 01 Globe After 02

I hope everyone who celebrates the 4th of July has an enjoyable day tomorrow.  In the meantime, please check out One Photo Focus hosted by Stacy Fischer at Visual Venturing.

 

 

28 thoughts on “One Photo Focus–July”

      • Thank you! I was astounded when I saw them all! The ones with the flags are really cool and the dinosaurs!! But yes I am intrigued by the circular outlook that you created – very cool.

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      • Thanks, I really wish I could find my notes on that version. I know it had something to do with Photoshop’s polar coordinates function, but I have played with that tool several times and keep getting different results. Apparently, the content of the image has a lot to do with the results.

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  5. Robin, I have to admit, I really like your circular image the best – but then I’m a symmetrical kinda gal 🙂 I would love to know how you did it, but I understand about the note thing 😉 I do remember Ben applying this effect way back when, so I just may have to pop back through the posts and find it. Thanks so much for providing a great July photo! It’s been fun to see everyone’s interpretations.

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    • Thanks, Stacy, Actually, I also prefer the circular one. I do recall it involved a mirror image, then the Polar Coordinates tool. The The black starry sky was done somehow with the gaussian blur technique I think.

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  7. First of all, thank you so much for letting us all edit your wonderful photograph this month! I really like your circular edit one. I completely understand about the notes – have the time I haven’t a clue on how I get to my final outcome :-). Thank you again

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    • Thanks so much. I was gratified to see such a wide range of interpretations and I enjoyed seeing them all. I really liked your watercolor approach. I haven’t commented on it yet, I wanted to look over your description of the steps a little more.

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