Long Time Coming....

I have seen many panoramics of the city of Chicago and have always wanted to do one.  There are those by the day, at night, in color and the classic black and white.  When I finally had the opportunity to shoot the skyline (one of the best spots is located by the Aquarium and Planetarium) I took advantage of it, capturing many shots to create my dream panoramic of the city.  Those familiar with my style know that I am a true creative at heart, I love to create something new and different.  It took me a couple of weeks to figure out how I wanted to piece it together, deciding to keep it in color or go the black and white route, I played with a variety of techniques and finally created a product and piece that I am so proud of.  The image itself is made up of four unique shots of the skyline, then I edited each of those pics before stitching them together and creating a final edit and style to the skyline of the city I love most.  Below you'll see the end piece and beneath the panoramic you will see the original four shots help create the final product.

"Chicago Painted City" (c) 2012

The Mosaic Effect....

There is a pretty cool effect and treatment that you can apply to your photographs that is available in Photoshop and I have used it on a few of my pieces.  It is the mosaic filter.  Now, it is not for every print or piece that you produce but depending on the end result that you are aiming for, it is a filter to consider.  On the example below, I used the filter on a photograph of a glass bottle (hence glass being a phenomenal way to use the layer, especially if you are new to using it).  Initially, I saturated the colors and used some other techniques that you see in the final product below, but I also have the original image as well so you can see the differences between the two and what a great final product you can end up with using some of the more interesting filters that are offered in Photoshop.

"Crackled Glass" (c) 2011 

"Got A Spigot?..."

"Got A Spigot?" (c) 2012

Normally, my favorite things to shoot are subject matter relating to nature or architecture.  But I have been slowly but surely shooting outside my favorite two genres.  The above shot is one such example.  I happen to come across this lovely stone bowl filled with water spigot handles during an excursion to an antiques sale.  What struck me most was the richness of the stone and the different pops of color with the knobs, some were bright and others were rusty.  I further enhanced the image by saturating the color and a couple of other tricks that I have.  The original is below so that you can see the differences between my final piece up above and what I initially started with.