Beyond Layers II

Inspirational thoughts and projects hosted by Kim Klassen

Day 14 ~ Brushes, black and white with a touch of color

Kim's videos touched on different formats for turning photos into black and white and then pulling back in just a touch of selective coloring.  I opted for the Pioneer Woman Action which I had previously downloaded and moved into Photoshop.  Utilizing a black and white gradient layer and layer mask, color was brushed back into the photo. 

                                                 The before:

She also provided a video on how to make stamps utilizing the brush tool.  I quickly worked this next image in the time I had.  I really need to take some time, once again, to revisit the process.  There was no limit to the brush stamps that can be made and utilized for signature, water stamp, etc.

                                                 The original photo

   Conversion to black and white with the slightest brush of color back in.

                          Adding a brush stamp  'from barb's garden'

Day 15 ~ Whisper Art

Kim provided us with one word to take us through the week and interpret in whatever form we wanted. The word was 'whisper'.

My interpretation:

Day 16 ~ Whisper Tricks

Kim provided us with different techniques for lightening a photo to give photos a more dreamy look. We utilized the lens flare to lighten from the top, applied the bottom output slider on levels, applied textures and did some inverse to bring back a bit of color into the image. I felt that my effort got a bit too washed in the process, but then, sometimes it has more to do with the subject matter and contrast to really achieve the desired effect.

Day 16 ~ Just a whisper

The first of my Dinner Plate Dahlias opened yesterday. It was a sweet yellow and measured about 9 inches across. I decided to utilize it for my first attempt at Kim Klassen's Day 16 Whisper Tricks. Although I'm taken with the beautiful work that Kim does, it's still very difficult for me to break away from the "bold and colorful" to achieve the light and dreamy processing so common in her work. With her detailed lessons and videos however, I do feel my resistance being chiseled away, bit by bit!