Self portrait

4) And the final result became this three layered composite, of original background, filtered and painted background duplicate layer, and the self portrait. Each of the added layers had its opacity adjusted, while the back layer was left with original density.

3) The background seemed to be in need of a little playfulness, or abstraction so I decided to apply some white paint, streaking the cement background with the paint bucket… But first a duplicate image was made, creating a new layer, so that I could play with opacity later on. Then I decided to apply the blurring filter, creating the somewhat random flow of colors amidst the grey/blue scale of the picture.

2) The first thing I did was work on the self portrait, transforming it to grey scale, and then adjusting the grain and heightening the contrast. After trying various filters I settled for a dramatic film grain, creating a softer image.

1) The creative process began with two images, my own photos, one taken in slightly dramatic reverie this past spring, and one which came to be while traveling across Russia this past July. Since I have been working on a series of color photographs of water reflections for the past years, I thought I might play with that idea…

~ by sarahamcneill on October 2, 2007.