Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Wednesday Heart - QuietDarling

I had it all planned out, the way I was going to describe this photographers wonderfully dreamy, child-like, nostalgic and slightly disturbing style, but she's gone and said it all in her profile:

"chapped lips and skinned knees
blanket forts and paper cranes
hiding behind the magnolia treedreams of whales and the milky way
memories and grandma
freckle summer and bubble tea
someone to read withold ghostssecret treasures and whispering secrets
sad ghosts
lace and grandfather elk
run-away dollies and pippi
sailing a wooden shoe and peter piper
honey cakes and pear piea garden of my own
these magical mountain forests."

That's what her photography is like. Take a look:

I love how a lot of her work is about what's not seen. And that each of her images is a one of a kind (OOAK for those in the biz) polaroid that comes to you framed and signed. Her style is so distinctive and I love the feel of her work, like the feel in the few minutes where a normal film suddenly becomes a horror film that both entrances and disquiets.

Quietdarling, I heart you!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Wednesday Heart - Mystique Island

I love etsy, and there are so many fantastic photographers on there. I'm going to review one photographer I love per week. This week is American-based photographer Mystique Island.
One of the things I love to see most in a photographer is variety, and Mystique Island certainly has that. I've chosen three photos here, and all are, I think, really good examples of different aspects of photography. This first one is just beautiful. I love the colours especially. The burnt orange leaves with the dark stamen contrast really well against the bright yellow of the background flowers and the high green of the grass.
It's also a great example of macro photography. The detail of the foreground works really well with the blurred background. On a slightly more symbolic note, this makes me think of how we tend to remember tragedy in so much detail, whereas the bright, happy times are more of a warm, fuzzy blur in the background. Therefore, this photograph symbolises the process of living, and you can't get much bigger than that :-)
The wonderfully vivid colours combine well with the framing to give the overall image an eerie sense of a life floating under the ocean in complete silence. Awesome.
And this one is in just because it is such a cute elephant picture
I heart you Mystique Island!

Friday, April 10, 2009

How to make patterns with your photos


Recently I've really enjoyed making patterns out of my photographs. I especially love how the high detail photos can turn into really awesome patterns that have a lot of texture to them.  Of course, it's really easy to do. 

First pick a photo that you find really interesting. Lots of detail and lots of colour I find tend to produce the best results.

If you're using Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 just click on "Effects" and then "Reflection Effects" and have a play around with the Kaleidoscope or Pattern functions. 

There should be a dice located on the effect screen when you've gone into one of the above and when you click that it will randomise the settings and create a new image. I always make sure my preview screen shows the whole picture because that can definitely make a
 difference.

The other thing I would recommend is playing around with your colours and so forth after you're happy with the pattern you've chosen. Especially go to "Adjust" - "Brightness and Contrast" - "Brightness/Contrast" and play around with those settings. You can give your piece a muted, ancient feel or perhaps a highly vibrant psychadelic vibe!

The one at the top of the screen is made from a picture of the water from a waterfall at the local Bontanical Gardens hitting the pool below. This one is from one of the fireworks pictures I took at Skyfire a few weekends ago: