Combining Two Photos . . . Three Results

A fun thing to do, just for the heck of it, just to see what you might get, is to simply bring two photos into one window and then run through the blending modes to see what happens.

I'm using Photoshop CS6. I opened a photo I took of an "S" on the side of a fishing boat. I then opened a photo I took of a boat hull reflected in the water. I put one layer on top of the other. Then I went to Photoshop's blending modes and clicked on each one, just to see what sort of image I would get.

In this case, there were three results that appealed to me, the three you see here. The last two photos are the two pictures I blended together.

Are these great photos? No. But they might be marketable, so I uploaded them to Fine Art America. You never know. I've got all sorts of other letter and number photos in my galleries there, so maybe someone's decorating a child's room and wants pictures other than the standard ABCs. If so, there I am! But that's not my point.

My point is that someone could give you a "recipe" for layering photos in Photoshop, and tell you that "soft light" is the best blending mode for your photos. So you might go to "soft light" and like it, but what did you miss by not experimenting?

I often know what a certain blending mode will do for whatever photos I'm blending together. But I would NEVER go straight to that blending mode and stop. Nope. I ALWAYS run through ALL the blending modes. All of them.

This way I see the blending modes that are useless, that are ridiculous, that are perfect, but maybe one of the ridiculous effects makes me think of something else, makes me wonder yeah, it doesn't work right now, but what if I did such and such?  Or what if I selected a different photo to blend in with the mix? And then I'm off on another photo exploration, using my imagination and my creativity and overall synchronicity to create something completely different.

The fun (for me) in making photomontages is experimenting. And by putting two seemingly unrelated photos together, one on top of the other, and then running through the blending modes, is one way to have fun and perhaps discover something completely new and different.

Now that's a good way to start a day!

©Carol Leigh, whose computer is back and seems to be working . . .

Being thankful . . .

We had a good afternoon the other day up at the docks. Lots of walking, lots of looking, lots of (really bad) photos taken, a tasty lunch. We have so much to be thankful for . . .

At one point this lone crow (hello, Laura!) walked along a heavy rope, something unidentifiable in his mouth. I was shooting straight into the sunlight and look at how the sparkles on the water turned into a lovely bokeh. (Pronounced with the stress on both syllables "bo-keh." The out-of-focus circles.) It was so pretty I added a few more sparkles down at the bottom using Photoshop. Not so many as to be really obvious and gimmicky, but enough to repeat the pattern and to keep your eye moving up and down in the frame as well as horizontally along the rope, following the crow.

Next is a simple shot of the door to a boat's cabin. I liked the dark triangular shadow lower left and how it echoes the dark glass of the window upper right. But the cool part was the patina on the lock/doorknob.

And finally, Chris snickered when we walked past a dumpster and I said, "Ooh, great paint drip! You scoff now, but I will use that!" "I know you will," was his response. "And you'll use it well!" So here it is combined with lettering on the side of a fishing boat. A very messy "S."

In this season of giving thanks, of being especially aware of gratitude, I thank you all for being here, for taking the time to stop by my blog, and, every now and then, taking the time to comment. May we all never take any of this for granted.

©Carol Leigh