Crop Challenge #16 - Comments

[echoblue]

Comments on Challenge #16 entries go here. :)

Thread for posting the photos: http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?p=318892

[echoblue]

Wow!! So many great entries already! Wonderful job, everyone. :cool:

* Tina: Very nice technique - the statue looks like made of marble, and the background has an ethereal aspect. Beautiful!
* Toni: Another lovely delicate variation. I like how the stroke and frame accentuate the pastel tones.
* Zeria: The darker tones and black border give a more dramatic look, and bring out the red of the flowers and the colour of the statue.
* Bill: Fantastic idea!! She looks like she's actually picking flowers... It's amazing how the shift of position of the statue gives an entirely new perspective to the image.
* Al: A great first entry! I love how the flowers stand out, with the colour and sharpness against the soft tones in the rest of the image. Nice crop, too. Congratulations!

Many-many thanks for the kind comments on the photo, and the wishes for tomorrow... I'll let you know how it all went! :)

[echoblue]

More beautiful entries... :)

* Tony: I absolutely love your idea - the mirrored duplication added symmetry and a kind of movement to the plants in the background.
* Kimi: Another very clever idea, to isolate the portrait and add this oblique eye, LOL. Great work in the colorations, too!

:) :cool:

[echoblue]

The ideas are getting better and better!! :cool:

* Lisa: AMAZING, original concept and lovely colour contrast. It somehow reminds me of crop circles... :p
* Norma: The red stroke and dark border bring out the green and red beautifully. Very nice job!
* Smiles: I love the oval "cameo" frame and the work you did with the texture!

Again, thank you all for the nice comments and your wishes for Monday (well, it's already Monday here) - very much appreciated! :)

[smiles]

Maria, thanks for the compliment! I really didn't want to crop it, it's such a beautiful image!

[echoblue]

Oh, thank you so much! :)

I took this picture (among others) on Saturday afternoon. I was always puzzled by this statue at the edge of that little triangular park - the placement is unusual (instead of being in the middle of the park, it stands at a rather odd position, closer to the longest side of the "triangle" and not at equal distances from its edges). It is visible from the road and on a very central spot, but I was shocked to discover that very few people actually know it's there! :eek: What has life in the cities become, we just hurry past without seeing or hearing anything... :(

I loved all the interpretations so far - everyone's take is so imaginative and unique! :)

[Bamagirl]

Echoblue,

This picture is a beautiful image. I hope that your big day tomorrow turns out the way you want.

Clara

[billz]

Maria - Thanks for taking the time to comment!

You gave us a great image to work with. I like the torn paper edges on yours!!

Bill

[Aussie Nan]

Tony, you said, Was playing around with a tessellation tutorial and thought I'd try it on this one:

Now you have me wondering what that actually is. Any links?

Toni

[TonyW]

Toni: It came out of Photoshop Creative magazine (Issue 26 I think) and I was hoping no one one would ask because a) the tutorial is very hard to follow and b) I modified and simplified it but I'd still have a hard time explaining it :o.

But basically tesselating is creating a repeating pattern which I did by first making a pattern from the selection, making a new document exactly 3 times the pixel height and width of the pattern and filling it with the pattern so now you have 9 repeats but you can see the joins.

You then clone from the original to the top edge of the centre pattern to get rid of the join, select again (exactly the same size as the original pattern but so what was the join is now in the centre). Make a new 9 repeat from it which should now have the vertical join gone but will still have a horizontal join, repeat the cloning on the horizontal join, make a new pattern shifted to the right so now you should have a pattern where you can't see any of the joins.

OK: Based on what I just said I'm sure no one could follow it and you have to try it to figure it out. And I did it quickly and didn't do a great job cloning so the edges of the pattern don't merge as well as they should. But it's a neat technique and I was planning to try it again and do a better job.

Tony

[echoblue]

Clara, thank you! Everyone's good wishes worked perfectly - yesterday went much better than I'd ever imagined! :cool: :D If all goes well, the (musical) result will be published around Christmas... A big THANK YOU to all for the support and good vibes!!

Bill, many thanks for the comment! :)

I was very happy to see some more amazing contributions...

* Suzanne: I love the oval crop and the butterflies - this would be a great layout for a postcard or a scrapbook!
* Clara: The reference to Les Fleurs du Mal is a really neat idea. Very nice work with the brushes and the white marble look of the statue.
* Vesta: I like the border fade and the smooth, dreamy appearence of the statue and flowers, without compromise of the colours.
* Echo9er: Another lovely layout for a postcard. Nice treatment of the oval crop, and the lavender colour does justice to the composition.
* Tony: Very interesting technique - thanks for explaining tessellation! I was intrigued about this, and a new challenge is always welcome!

[Bamagirl]

Maria, that's what I get for being a redneck Alabma girl. I just put a brush on the picture and did not even notice the words. I know now that they mean flowers of evil and I think that makes it very Halloweenish. Thanks for the kind comments.

Clara

P.S. I meant to say too that you are the greatest.

[echoblue]

Oh Clara, don't say such things... I'm all purple! :o :) But thank you very much for your kind words!!

As for the Flowers of Evil, I think the fact you used this brush wasn't entirely coincidental - sometimes (make that always, LOL) the subconscious works in strange ways and "knows" things our conscious mind doesn't know yet. Baudelaire (the poet of Les Fleurs du Mal) very often used the symbolism of a young woman tempted by beautiful but dangerous flowers... ;)

* Tony: I almost missed your second tessellation example... This one is even more impressive - I love this technique and will try it for sure!
* Glenda: I like how the colours and forms turned out, especially on the statue...

[TonyW]

Tony: I almost missed your second tessellation example... This one is even more impressive - I love this technique and will try it for sure!

It was a late addition :). Still playing with the technique but it does have a lot of potential and is quite easy to do with the right picture. Once you have the final repeating pattern you can apply it as many times as you want. The hardest part is figuring out the pixel size of the document so it all fits.

Tony

[echoblue]

Tony, thank you for the explanations! :)

I've found a pattern that I think will do... I'll give it a try tomorrow and see how it goes! ;)

[echoblue]

John, thank you for the kind comment. :)

Great work with the texture - it looks very natural on the statue!