Challenge #5...Lily Pulitzer (aka My Mom!!!)

If you've ever visited the Maine shores down through Cape Cod and all the way to Palm Beach, you've seen Lily Pulitzer clothing. Her brand was very well known among "the socialites" vacationing by the seashore. Soon, Lily Pulitzer dresses were worn by the "common" women and my Mom was one of those women who loved Lily's simple dresses. And this image reminds me of my Mom..a snippet of fabric taken from her collection! Blended the original image with some Nik solarization, then placed on top of the original blending to overlay and then cropped. To me this image has a summery aura that makes me feel "pretty and feminine"...just the way Lily liked it! And no, my Mom is NOT Lily!!! But she loved her clothes.

(Sony Nex 5...Nik, PSE)

Challenge #4...Hazy View

Some desaturation and a bit of haze to portray a dreamy , warm image.

(Sony Nex ...PSE, Topaz)

Challenge #3...Luminous Flora

I have been following Marc Garrison's photography and I really like his vision. He uses multiple images to converge on one another, thus, his "Convergent Media" portfolio. This is my first attempt at doing something similar to his work. I took the coneflower shot and after much processing and blending, I came up with this. I blended the original image several times using different blending modes, then added a texture, and then the tulip. I love to view other photographer's works as it gives me ideas and inspires me to continually "up my game" and knowledge. I think the image is "fair" and  it definitely needs work, which will be on my to do list in the next week!

(Sony Nex...Topaz, PSE10)

Challenge #2 - Surreal Coneflower

Same image...different processing. This one isn't so "out" there in terms of crazy processing and yet, it still has a "dreamy, surreal" aura IMO. I used Topaz for all of this...a bit of diffusion and then Adjust 5 with the setting of Surreal and changed it up a little. I definitely like this one!

(Sony Nex...Topaz)

Challenge 1... Child's Drawing

When I posted the Coneflower Octopi the other day, I had so much fun with the image that I decided to challenge myself. Take one image and process it differently for a week or so to see what I can come up with. After the usual processing, I went into the PSE filters Ocean Ripple and Glowing Edges. This is the end result. It reminds me of a child's drawing of coneflowers...a bit psychedelic :):):)

(Sony Nex ...PSE Ocean Ripples and Glowing Edges)

Coneflower Octopi

So...I started with the typical wide angle shot of the coneflowers blooming right now. I did the usual processing, added a little diffusion and said to myself, "That's pretty, Beth". BUT it's also boring. I've seen thousands of the same shot and while I still like the image, I was thinking to myself that I needed to "live it up" a little. So...did a bit of Liquefy and then went to the Blue Omni lighting effect and voila! I feel like I'm peering to in the deep blue sea watching the octopuses in their habitat!!! That's my vision for the day! Enjoy!

(Sony Nex...PSE 10 and Topaz Fx Lab)

Simply Red

Love the vibrant red against the beige background. And I really like the curves of the stems and the flowing red petals...I guess you can gather from my comments that I like this image! The original BG was harsh concrete so I used the Topaz Simplify to soften the BG. I also wanted to portray the flowers in a flowing manner and Simplify was just right for that.. A simplistic image IMO.

(Sony Nex...PSE 10, Topaz Simplify and Fx Lab)