EYE FOR THE UNUSUAL

Watermarks. The white residue from overflowed water became the image for layering with modes.

Creating Abstractions with Photography is one more way of collecting imagery to use for layering with modes with Photoshop. (process described throughout the month of June)

Collecting interesting papers and images for collage can also be enhanced by letting your imagination notice imagery in close-up view! Photos of ice crystals on a window, or crazing of old paint can expand your collection. Noticing a spill on a glass tabletop where several plants get light from the south window, led to photographing the pattern, and using it to create imagery. The spill became more noticeable as more overflows occurred, and dried so the residue built up in layers. It looked like wax. I even cautioned friends not to clean it up.(The water mark was cleaned off after photos were taken)

Finally I took four pictures of the watermark, from different perspectives, three with the flash, and one where the flash did not go off. Then I processed them on the computer, copying them into  one Photoshop document. The stains were cut away from the plant part of the image, and included some of the dark of the table, and the negative shadows around the plant leaves.

I forgot that it is important when working on a project like this to keep the background completely open. If the images are merged, they cannot be moved around or changed again, nor can a layer be copied into another document without the solid background coming along with it. I found a way around my mistake, and will show that later on.
Actually, I explained it on my Montage blog today. To see how that worked, use this link to that site, post dated July 6, 2014. 

The four different angles were put into different layers, flipped, up, down and sideways over the open background. One was repeated in a fifth layer. More possibilities remained for placing the shapes in other configurations.

The shapes were arranged, so that the composition could be layered in Photoshop as a continuing experiment for use with modes. The dark forms resulted from the photo when the flash failed to go off. The contrast is dramatic, and seems quite amazing and other-worldly to me. Please Note: The Jpg image below has recorded white where transparent would appear in a Photoshop document.

Watermark Abstract created from repeating a photograph of a water stain, by flipping horizontally and vertically. Unfinished.

More variations from these shapes will be shown on the next Post.

Writing and Images on this post are the Copyright  © of Ruth Zachary.