© Susan Weller 2010

© Susan Weller 2010

I have two new free textures for you to use on your photo manipulation projects! The photo started out as a shot I had taken at the park, you can sort of see the horizon line with super blurred out trees on the right. Below the horizon, which is/was the city of Syracuse NY, on the right side was ice covered water, the left was snow!

If you use this texture in your work, I’d love to see it, please post a copy in my Flickr comments!

Enjoy!

© 2010 Susan Weller

I had taken this photo last October or November up in Baldwinsville, New York. I was trying to capture the rolling hills that you sort of, well almost see in the background. Fortunately or unfortunately the sun was high in the sky and obscuring the hills! I took it anyway in the hope that I could use the open field and lone tree as a background for an image – which I did!

Titled “The White Witch” the final image has been added to my gallery over on RedBubble. When I added the image to my gallery I also posted a question. Since I post a lot of images on both Flickr and RedBubble I also spend time looking through all the images submitted by fellow artists and I’ve noticed that a lot of artists create images that are inspired by the written word – poems, stories, lyric etc. That started me thinking about writers and if they are inspired by images.

Well, someone answered my question with a wonderful poem based on my image! I’m really thrilled, the poem is so full of longing and sadness which is something that  I was not attempting to illustrate but when I look at it with fresh eyes it is there for all to see!

If you would like to read the wonderful poem please click here.

The image is also available as a greeting card and various size prints if you’re interested!

Copyright 2010 Susan Weller. All Rights Reserved.

Ok, so this was not taken at Onondaga Lake. I have enough images from the park…well at least for now! Its been cold and gray here lately so I decided to see what was happening over on Flickr. I have a lot of fun entering images in the various competitions that are held in the various groups I belong to. I guess I was pretty bored, I entered 3 contents! Well, I liked the individual images that were selected to use as a base so that always helps.

How the competition works depends on the group.

In one group I belong to the winner of the competition selects a texture image from the pool of images in that particular group, then you create any image you want as long as it uses that texture. Or in the case of the image above, the image to be featured in the competition is selected from another group – Creative Commons group, then you choose a texture image from their group and create your image.

Creating the image bubble image -  “The Fairy Godmother”

The per-selected image was of the field and an open sky. The texture I chose from their group has sort of a moss green hue with some very interesting edges and tones – is here, it’s actually one of my favorite textures!

I had found the model image – the fairy – on Deviant Art a couple days earlier and knew I wanted to use her in a image at some point in time because its a simply a fantastic shot! So I found the image on my hard drive, dragged it onto the top of the field photo and it landed, so to speak, in the sky area. Humm…I sort of liked the way it of floated up there. So I made the sky much larger or higher actually – it was a little less than half the size it is now. But then I thought, I can’t just have someone floating in the sky!! Had to somehow relate her to the sky or the field or something, she can’t just hang there!

The Good Witch Belinda

Then something made me think of the Wizard of Oz and the good witch Belinda – she floated around in this huge – I think it was pink – bubble! Around Christmas time I had found a Photoshop tutorial about making a snow globe. I never did anything with the globe but I thought I could just use the globe part as a bubble! And it worked perfectly. I also added some clouds to the sky to give it some dimension. Then I was thinking I sort of still had to relate her to the field, she was after all still just hanging there, so I used her perfectly pointed toe to make it look like she was getting ready to step out of the bubble.

The texture I chose adds some texture to the background but mostly it added beautiful dramatic hues to the original photo. The original field is a very vivid chartreuse which did not fit with the beautiful organic movement of the model and her clothing.

Just like a bubble

All in all I was very pleased with how this turned out! One of the reasons I enjoy the competitions so much is that I usually don’t start out with anything in mind at all, so the whole process of crating the image is very stream-of-conscious like, the image just goes in whatever direction the mind takes it… just like a bubble floating over a field.

Attributions: Original image by Shadowgate. Texture JoeSistah. Model from Auroradreams

© Susan Weller 2010

Is winter over yet!! Ugh, we have about 2 months of winter left to go where I live – insert eyeroll here. If the sun would just come out and stay out for a couple days I might not be as grumpy as I am right now….so come out, come out where ever you are!!

This photo is another of my “drive by” photos. I went over to Onondaga Lake Park a couple weeks ago, took some photos of the lake – another shot from this day is here – then decided to drive around to the other side of the park – camera at the ready in my lap as I drove. Why? Well often when I’m driving I see a shot, love it, stop the car, get out take a few shots. When I get back home and look at what I’ve taken I’m often disappointed at the angle of the shots, they are not exactly what I saw from my car window. Well duh.. at the time I was sitting higher off  the road! So what I’ve started to do lately is take the photo while sitting in my car! And I have to say… I feel very silly doing it but it’s worked out quite well, I’m getting more of the “shot” I wanted. Of course this only works on roads that I can safely pull off to the side and well out of traffic!

Since I did take this from my car window the original shot is actually not too good, it was a bit “soft” or out of focus but I really loved the way your eye traveled into the center of the shot. That being said, I couldn’t help but add a little something to make the shot more interesting!

Attribution: The photo and textures are my own. The shack is from Flickr – here

I’m so thrilled! Last week I had two images displayed as Featured Images on two different Redbubble group home pages! It’s such an honor to have an image selected, there are so many wonderful artists on the site and to see my work side by side with their images… well it’s just mind blowing!

My image “Winter Arrives at Onondaga Lake Park” in on the Grunge Gallery page – 2nd row, 3rd image from the left. My image “Dream Caster” was featured on The Women Photographer group home page – 2nd row, 2nd from left.

Winter Arrives at Onondaga Lake Park image is HERE.

Dream Caster is HERE.

Oh, and my little Bobblehead Snowman image won a competition over on Flickr in the Imago Fabulae group, I’m so thrilled!!

© Susan Weller 2009

This is another version for my Winter Arrives at Onondaga Lake. Difference shot than the other one I posted earlier this week and a totally different treatment has been used.

This is available as a framed print, a greeting card, a matted print and more:

© 2009 Susan Weller

I’m not a “winter person”. I don’t ski, I don’t ice skate (at least any more) and I don’t like driving in snow. But I have to say the the first “real snow” (more than just one or two inches) is beautiful. The way it sits on the trees and seems to cover everything with a light silence, it’s just perfect. We had our first real snow yesterday – about 4 or 5 inches fell. I had decided not to go into the office since most of the snow had fallen in the morning and I didn’t want to be out driving in it with all the crazy morning traffic. But around noon I had to get out, the sun had just started to come out and the snow was just gorgeous!

I grabbed my camera and headed out to my favorite spot — Onondaga Lake Park. I’m not sure what draws me to this park, but I think it’s the challenge I’ve set for myself of taking at lease one “perfect picture” there. I’m not sure this is it but I’m happy with it!

Attribution: The landscape shot is my own. The crow(s) in the foreground is from atomicjeep over on Flickr. The crows were added to give the landscape a bit more life and drama. The crows on the picnic table are real! The birds in the air and on the strip of land in the background, also added to give the image more life, are from and FritsM also on Flickr. The textures are my own with a little help from Flickr’s Boccacino (I love this texture!).

A print will be available soon! Click on the image to see a larger version, once I add the print to my gallery you will be able to see an even larger version which looks even better than the large version here!

© 2009 Susan Weller

I love this little bobblehead Frosty. I saw him a store a couple years ago and had to have him. I don’t even put him away after Christmas, he sits quietly on a shelf. He just makes me smile!

Photo is my own, textures are also mine.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Here is a fun background or wallpaper for your iPhone or iTouch. Feel free to download and use!

Attributions: Photo and textures are my own. Thanks to obsidiandawn for the Christmas Lights.

Print and Greeting Card available.

Isn’t that just the worst title for a print or what!! Ugh…I just can’t seem to come up with a good title – maybe Barn with Mallards? Yes…No, ugh! And I love, love, love this old barn. It’s located in Baldwinsville, New York and is part of a property and home that has been abandoned. The home is a beautiful square Victorian and can be seen in my Waiting for Winter photo.

Close up of texture - Please click to view!

This is a new print I’m offering though my gallery at Redbubble. The original photo was taken a few weeks ago and has been enhanced to look like a painting. I’ve added some textures to the photo to add a bit more drama. The pond is also a “new” addition, I added it, along with the mallards, to replace the ugly patch of road – that’s what I get for taking pictures out of my car window!

You can also see a variation of this photo on my cathairstudios Flickr photostream.

The photo is available as a greeting card, a matted print, a framed print and more. Please feel free to check it out!