In Pictures and Words .....

In an effort to pull myself back from the brink and re-engage in my work, I have been entertaining myself with experiments in online exposure.  Yeah…....................no…...................... nobody wants to see pictures of me naked ............ or otherwise.  Although, I have to say naked is a great word. 

Anyway, back to exposure.  I think the point of online exposure is to sell stuff.  You know, advertising.  I think.  Usually I get lost in the process.  There are actually approximately nineteen gazillion ways to get lost in the process.  And all of them are free.  Apps.   This is not a great word.  It’s totally utilitarian and sort of ugly.  Fortunately for app developers they don’t mostly have to work to sell them.  (Hey I made a split infinitive.)  Especially if they are free.  The apps that is, not the split infinitives.  Split infinitives are always free.  

Ah the illusive point.  My point, which I have yet to get to, is that it is amazingly easy to get distracted messing with pictures.  For me, part of the goal of the process is to make the thing look the way I see it when I am holding it.  Pictures are flat and the things I make are not.  The apps allow me to give the flat picture the illusion of not flatness.  Not flatness is not the same as roundness.  If you know what I mean.  So I have been posting pictures which I have manipulated and I figured I could show some of that process here.  So what follows are some pictures from the originals through various manipulations.  I think it’s a pretty remarkable technology.

App #1  -- pixlr'o'matic

 

These first pictures are of a copper feather I made a couple of years ago just for fun.  

The spine is a piece of steel pencil rod so it was actually a challenge to weld the copper to the steel. Since copper is such a good conductor (that is why it is used for electrical wire) it is difficult to weld.  The piece has hammered texture and a heat patina.  It's actually quite elegant.  Unfortunately it photographs kind of flat and personality-less.  I wanted to give it something. 

Original photo taken on the work table in shop ambient shop light.  

The first thing I tried was the film roll (?) filters with this free app.

With the Hagrid ( I don't name them ) filter.

This filter shows the brings out the texture and color in the feather.  Then I applied a filter from the light bulb category.

With the Scratches filter applied.

 Adds romance.  Eh. Finally the border filter. 

With the Old border.

I really like it with the filters because they take a pretty bad picture and give the feel of the piece as I see it.  

App #2  -- pixlr express

So I figured I'd try it on a picture of a bed I did before digital.  I started with a scan of the picture. The bed was made for a guest house and designed around the window in the wall. 

A scan of a photo of a bed in the lighting available in the room.

First thing I did was autofix plus a little brightness and contrast which you can do with this app.  

It's a little warmer and brighter. 

Next I applied the effect filter called Rusty.  I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Not sure I love this.

Then the Olga/Bogdan overlay. 

I don't know.

And finally the Border filter.  White ripped/Fjorton.  Really truly I can't make up these names. 

I think I well let you be the judge. 

 I think maybe I need to try this again.  I'm not sure I made it better or more visible.  I also don't think that I was able to convey my feelings about it.  I probably should have stopped when I was ahead.

But as you can see a lot of time can be lost messing with pictures.

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Now back to work.