Making Photo Art from Photography

Making Photo Art from Photography 

This image was created using Photo Shop and  two original photographs.

The first image, the one I used as the background layer, is a frosty morning photograph. After opening the background image make sure to save this as a new file so the original is not replaced.

     The second image I used was a picture of a full moon in clouds.  This image was dragged on top of the background image. I chose a Blending Mode of Multiply for the second image layer (the moon layer). To make the moon smaller and fit better with the background image, I used Edit > Transform > Scale, making sure to hold down the shift key and drag from the corners to constraining its proportions. I left the moon a little large for effect.

      The moon was centered and too large in the original photograph. It did not cover the background image after being re-sized and repositioned. To make the sky of the  moon image big enough to cover the background layer, I selected and copied parts from the edge and added them to the side then used the colon stamp to blend the seams and surrounding areas. I  reduced the opacity of moon layer to 80%. I also used a large soft edged eraser to erase parts of the moon layer lighten the shading/ shadows on the snowy field and some parts of the trees. The eraser opacity was set at 20%.  Then, I cropped the image to clean up the edges and frame it the way I liked.

     Next, I flattened the image which became the new background layer.  I duplicated that layer by dragging the background layer to the duplicate layer button in the bottom of the layer pallet. Using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur in the menu bar, I applied a 7% Gaussian Blur to the duplicate layer. This gave the image a  painterly effect by smoothing and soften the appearance of the pixels.  I reduced the opacity of the duplicate layer to 85%.

Next, I selected the background layer and applied a strong (around 200) unsharp mask filter to it.  (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharpen)

Finally, I flattened the image and saved it as a new file. 

The % of adjustments can and should be adjusted to what looks best for the image.

Many of these tricks I learned in my college classes but applying them this way I learned by looking through tutorials and instruction guides on the internet. Refining the technique is a matter of trial and error and practice.

All of the original pictures were photographed by me.

Squirt Hockey at the Van Andel Arena, Home of the Griffins, Grand Rapids, Michigan

On Saturday, March 5, 2011, I was invited to attend a youth hockey game at the Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan, by the Cummings family who son is a ten year old player on Team 4.  This was the first hockey game I have attended, the second was later that day when I watched the Griffins play.

The youth hockey games was part of the "Growing with the Griffins", a youth hockey initiative. The game was played between GRAHA Teams squirt teams 1 and 4. As part of this special day the players and their families were given tickets to the Griffins game later that day.

What follows are some of my favorite photos from the youth game. I was not allowed to take pictures at the Griffins game because my camera and lens "looked" too professional. The following images were shot with my Pentax K10, in RAW format, with a 1600 ISO, a shutter speed ranging from 250 to 350, and f4.5-f5.6 the lowest my lens would go. Eventually I will have a camera that can do these type of images justice but for now "the best equipment to use it the equipment you have". By shooting them in RAW I was able to adjust the exposure later. It is a little more work but a great tool to have.

Sometimes the background gives the photograph a new meaning.

 To quote my husband "Cool, he has wings."

This is one of the coaches making sure the kids stay hydrated.

Cummings, number 5, in a white helmet and with blue laces on his skates, is in each of these images. Here he is headed to the bench looking up at his family. I was a guest of his family. I have the team rosters but was unsure of publishing the rest of the children's names so they are not included.

A little air time.

They play like little pros.

The challenge here was the low light conditions, distance from the subject (I used a 300 mm zoom for most of these), the speed of my subjects because they are very fast 9 and 10 year olds, and the limits of my ISO and aperture.  For my first time attending and photographing a hockey game I found this it be a very fun day.