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Photominimalist

Photos and creativity
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For the last month I’ve taken on a project that I initially started in 2008 when we traveled around the US with our camper. Every time we stopped for the night I took out the GPS unit and entered “place of worship” in the search criteria. I then selected the one closest to our location and drove to it, where I took a series of photos. My intent was to create something from that series. Every time I attempted to use the images I was disappointed with the results.

St Johns Meth Kingman AZ by Photominimalist

The images were documentation of the places. Some of them were decent but most left me unimpressed. It was less about the technical quality of the shots or even the perspective, and more about the fact that none of them really expressed any sense of the places. So during November I started to work through the images using some of the new tools I’ve been working with.

Shrine of the Ages - Grand Canyon AZ-2 by Photominimalist

I’ve developed a little deeper sense of control in my edits. Where I had used filters and overlays on the whole image (mostly) I started using layers more extensively. I segment the images into areas that can benefit from different treatments, then lay them back together and blend them with different modes. Overall I’m happy with the results as they deliver more of a personality to each of the churches.

Winter Presby Casper WY  by Photominimalist

At the same time I’ve learned a lot about the controls I’m trying to use, though I still have plenty of learning and experimenting to do. But using the different effects on different areas has made a difference in my ability to evoke a sense of each place.

Wilsonville Baptist Newport TN by Photominimalist


As always I understand that the edits I make are personal to me and don’t please everyone. I still struggle to find an audience, but I’m less concerned with ‘likes and clicks’ than I am with being able to develop my own skills and to find a mode of expression that suits me.

First Baptist Moriarty NM by Photominimalist

Though I have plenty of church pictures to draw from, I still managed to edit some other images in November. I have a fair number of flower pictures, most of which were shot on my lightbox.

Sunflower-2 by Photominimalist

And at the end of the month I started recording (some of) my edit sessions as screencasts. I’ll continue this for 2 reasons: 1-they may be of use to someone who wonders ‘how did he do that’, and 2-the process makes me think about what I’m doing just a bit more analytically.

Lemonaid Stand on Rt 66  by Photominimalist

I’m still not happy with the level of understanding I have over the tools, and I want to expand the variety of editing that I do. In some cases I see myself falling back on similar tools, making the images too similar for my liking. I don’t believe that I’ll ever develop a particular ‘style’, but I do notice that overall I tend to prefer brighter colors that go beyond reality.

Lexington ky-Grazing by Photominimalist


December will be yet another set of experiments.


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During the month of October I produced some images that (in my opinion) spanned the gamut between light editing and extreme modification. I'm happy with some of them and embarrassed by some others. But overall I was really trying to understand the editing tools that I'm using. It's a mixed bag and that mix is changing all the time, making the task difficult.

Furman Tower by Photominimalist


I'm not complaining or even whining about having such a burden. It's really a privilege to be able to have the opportunity to try to understand these programs. Just this month 2 of my favorite tools got updates (OnOne Perfect Suite 9 and Topaz Impression) and I've spent some time working with them on a variety of images.

New world by Photominimalist


I've continued to cull images from my existing catalog but I've also shot some images on my lightbox - mostly flowers. And I've been learning lots about layers, masking, blending modes, and texture overlays. Sometimes I have an idea of what I want to get from an image, and I attempt to achieve a specific outcome. But most often I'm simply exploring what the image already contains and what I can draw from it using the editors.

Wheat by Photominimalist


If I do come across something I'm pleased with I'm usually surprised, though if you've looked at any of my production you probably can see that I favor bold colors and tend to over-accentuate them.

The Jag too by Photominimalist


My goal in all this is to understand the tools so that I am able to have some control over the final output. For now it's a fairly hit and miss situation that leaves me both (sometimes simultaneously) satisfied and frustrated.

Confused flower by Photominimalist


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This is month #2 in this current venture. While I don't expect to continue to count the months, I do think it's interesting to tick off the first few if only for my own reference. In reviewing the work I've done during September I notice a few things that I would not have expected going in.

Being that I'm increasingly relying on plugins to modify my base images I'm using layering a LOT more than previously. I still use Lightroom as the repository for my images and for initial processing tasks - and also for final tweaks before publishing. But using masks means that I have 2 choices: Photoshop (CC 2014) or OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 8 (hopefully version 9 will be delivered this month).
Waiting for the dark by Photominimalist


Both these programs offer layering, but one significant difference is that while Photoshop supports 3rd party plugins, Perfect Suite doesn't. It's kind of frustrating when I need to use a particular plugin and then want to apply some of Perfect Suite's textures or its masking (which it does much more easily and better than does Photoshop).

And while I love the plugins I've also been experimenting with more of Photoshop's built in filters. The new special blur filters are (or at least can be) magical. I'm still working with them and making lots of mistakes, but being able to create blur on a path or in a rotation, and do so in non-destructive mode allows me to recover more easily from my mistakes and simply start over.
Out for a spin by Photominimalist


The other thing I've been relying on is my light box. I built this last month and have been using it to create images with white backgrounds. These lend themselves to easy background removal for transparent backgrounds, or simply for nice high-key shots.
Lilly and by Photominimalist


I've been using an LED light as well as my ring-light to illuminate the front of the items on the light box, and the control I'm able to exercise is very interesting. The combination of backlight that comes through things like flowers and leaves, combined with directional front lighting is fun to play with and creates some interesting colors.

Lastly, for my light box shots I've been leaving my camera on the tripod. The Fujifilm S1's battery and memory card are really poorly placed. In order to remove either one it's necessary to remove the tripod mount. That would make for a lot of unscrewing and much less fun. For that reason I've been using the camera's built in WiFi connector. When I'm done shooting my subject I simply click a couple menu items, the camera attaches through my WiFi network to my computer, and the images automatically download - then the camera turns off.
Purple scratch by Photominimalist


All that's left is to import the images to Lightroom and review them. Because of the way Lightroom's 'watch folder' works I'm not able to automate the import, but there may be some tweaks I can make either in the import module or in Lightroom to resolve this. Either way it's not a big deal since I generally set file names and keywords at import time.

With Autumn here I may actually get outdoors and do some shooting of the changing colors in the mountains. But I still have thousands of images that seem to offer me inspiration and lots of ways to experiment.
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One Month In

2 min read
The last month has gone by quickly and I've been able to use a mixture of images that I took with my (new) camera and others culled from my archive. What I've discovered is that there are nearly endless possibilities to create photo art from images. What seems to be most important is that the original image has some element of interesting design.

Rebirth by Photominimalist


For some subjects like flowers, the design element is simple - flowers are beautiful. For other natural scenes it's more important that they include good overall composition elements. And for other subjects I simply encourage myself to think beyond what I see in the original image. Sometimes that means making significant modifications to the image using plugins and filters. Other times it means adding elements through the use of layers and masking.

Sunrise Blue Ridge Parkway by Photominimalist

Overall I've been both satisfied and disappointed with my efforts. In the last 30 days I've created images that range from mild modifications to surrealistic representations that barely reflect the source. 

Look back by Photominimalist


As for the camera itself - I'm even more convinced that the necessity of ultra high resolution images is overkill. As is often the case, "the best camera is the one you have with you." And because nearly any modern camera can produce images that are more than technically adequate, one of my stable of cameras (Samsung Galaxy 4, Sony RX100, Fuji Finepix S1) is pretty much always with me. 

Inversion by Photominimalist

I challenge anyone to tell me what camera was used to create the original image in any of my current work without looking at the metadata. Rather, let me know which, if any of them you find interesting.

Autumn Colors by Photominimalist
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Image Voicing

2 min read
I've shot less than 100 images with the new camera I bought last month. For me, 100 images is usually just enough to check out my equipment before I start to get serious on a shoot. Most of the shots are still what I'd term 'experimental' as I try out the different features, the quality of different modes, and how to access functions through the menu.

Even so, I've been posting an average of 1 image per day here, and on other social media. I've been perusing my catalog of images from the last few years and selecting the images that seem to offer an opportunity for expression. Pretty much every image that I've been producing consists of the base image and multiple (between 3 and 8) filters or plugins. It's an exploration and while I'm enjoying it and for the most part am pleased with the results, I don't feel that I have a full grasp on the image manipulation tools that I'm using.

Campbel Covered Bridge by Photominimalist

But knowing that art is always about experimentation, I'm glad to be finding new ways to make mods and to use the various tools in different ways and to blend them to achieve something that is close to a 'final' result.
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Featured

Month #4 - November by Photominimalist, journal

Month #3 - October - Learning the Tools by Photominimalist, journal

Month #2 - September - Exploration by Photominimalist, journal

One Month In by Photominimalist, journal

Image Voicing by Photominimalist, journal