From a Single Poppy

Gloria here.

I get immense enjoyment from photography and often use it as a springboard for various design ideas and the basis of new artwork. A year or so back, a new hospital was constructed in the area.  As a result of that construction, there were some gorgeous poppy fields that sprung up that I happily visited and photographed on several occasions.  Yesterday I drove over to see what the poppy fields might look like. Unfortunately, with the earth now settled, there were far more daisies and other wildflowers than poppies. Even so, I managed to find a few few to photograph. This is an example of how one poppy became the springboard to various ideas.

This is the original photo. It's not particularly good, but I like the flower in focus and the soft light behind it.

I used the "content aware fill" to get rid of the weed on the upper right, and I used the "exposure brush" to darken the left edge.

I then added a mask to the edge to create a frame. This I will print as is for my journal.

In this version, I played around with the colors, clarity, and edge to create another look.

One of my favorite things to do in Photoshop is chop up images, repeat portions, and see what happens.  I refer to them as "chop and repeats." I do this as a jumping off point to see what types of ideas might happen. It becomes very addictive, with one idea immediately giving way to the next. Luckily I recently got a new 3 TB hard drive, so I have plenty of space for play.  By the end of last night, I had a folder filled with nearly 50 variations (and I have no doubt I will be doing more, as the ideas keep coming).

 

Next I will print many of these "chop and repeats" along with the original source photos to add into my sketchbook. My hope is they will become a springboard for some smaller works in fiber.  I am already anxious to use the photo itself for some watercolor sketches.  What fun!