Finding the artist within oneself many times is very difficult. Finding inspiration and learning the techniques of the art benefit from learning from others that have walked the path before you.
Thus, this past week my inner artist has been challenged by two lovely and very talented photographers. Using a camera as my canvas the potential of what I can do with it is truly limitless. But knowing how to use it, and what to do with the images I’ve taken in the digital darkroom is a whole other task.
A very dear mentor and incredible artist in her own right is Denise Ippolito of A Creative Adventure. I’ve been so fortunate to spend some close time with her this past year. First on the beautiful beach on Long Island where we spent several days capturing Common Terns, Black Skimmers and American Oystercatchers. And then earlier this spring at Longwood Gardens where we spent time with the blue poppies there.
This past weekend, she offered a special one-day event named Creative Expressions which was a classroom event where she shared with us some of her magical secrets in the Digital Darkroom. All of these tips and much more are included in her E-book “A New Guide to Creative Filters and Effects.”
To be honest, I have purchased this E-book, but have yet to open it up and read it. I’m one of those learners that do best by doing, not reading. So this workshop was perfect for me. Denise had set up photography stations with flowers for us to practice with, and then showed us ways we can become creative in the digital darkroom following the photography session.
And so the next creative photographer and her ideas step in. Enjoying a recent Creative Live class “Creating Painterly Photographs” by Kathleen Clemons, she had shared the idea of using tulle and printed backgrounds to enhance flower images in the field. So I brought some lace and textured backgrounds to play with in the workshop.
For the image above, I placed the lace over a bright textured background and set it behind this flower. Creating a simple composition, I then brought it into Photoshop CC and added a texture and brought in some of the flower detail.
Amazingly, the overall task was quite simple, but it was with the inspiration and guidance of these two amazingly creative ladies that I was shown the path.
Denise Ippolito has another lovely image that I have admired and I’ve done my best to do my rendition of her image.
This one actually needed a bit of forethought as Denise had taken dried Hydrangea blossoms and kept them for some creative work. Placing them on an light box, I assembled them as desired. Once I brought the image into Photoshop CC, I tried my best to figure out Denise’s magic. This was the closest I could get by using the Photo Filter option.
It’s as if I went to the art store and bought new pencils, and paintbrushes. Now that I have some new tools, I can begin to create my own digital art. Let the painting begin!
Categories: Photo Tips
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Very pretty
Very creative indeed. Beautiful Emily!
It’s so much fun to learn and create Marie. I’ll get you hooked I hope. 🙂
Thank you Sherry
Thank you very much Sherry. Sorry for the delay in responding to your comment. This one got lost in the shuffle.
very beautiful
Thank you so much.
Fantastic renderings!
Thrilled you liked these so Pit. Thank you!
Sounds like you’re well and truly on the right path now Emily, sometimes all we need is some inspiration. This is lovely.
I’m trying Miriam, but I feel like I’m really stretching myself as an ‘artist.’ Wish me luck. Thank you for your support.
I wish you the world of luck Emily. Believe in yourself. Life is all about stretching ourselves. xo
Lol! Thanks Miriam
Absolutely delightful and thanks for sharing the links of your fellow creative photographers 🙂 I haven’t played about with my lightbox for ages but I think I’m inspired to do so again soon!!
Oh I hope you do Sarah. I’m tempted to get one. What type is yours? And truly my pleasure to share my discoveries.
Oh it’s just a cheap one from Hobbycraft! Does the job most of the time. I also sometimes use one of my studio lights with the softbox diffuser on it if I need a bigger surface area!
Super idea and thanks for the suggestion
My pleasure Emily 😀
Superb!!! Delicate…
It’s been fun Rebecca. I think of you when I’m in the garden. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these ideas and links Emily. Very delicate.
It’s so fun to learn and I’m more than happy to share my pain. LOL !! Thank you Chris.
Very stylish. Enjoy your new challenge. 👍
I’m trying, but it’s a rough road. Wish me luck Fatima.
Beautiful, Emily! I love transforming my photos in a similar way – it’s amazing sometimes to see the number of moods that can be created from one image!
That is a wonderful idea, and thank you so much. It’s fun to create new things isn’t it?
How absolutely gorgeous and such a fabulous experience you for you – once again I’m green with envy, lol!😃
Thank you so much Joanne. Perhaps you can join me next time.
How fabulous would THAT be?! {sigh}
A fascinating post! I have many of the same tools you mention, but I’m wishing I could have attended the workshops and leared more. Your results are beautiful, and I tapped the “Press this” button, although I’m not sure what it did.
Thank you so much for sharing this post with your readers Skip. It reposted it on your page. Brilliant ! The Creative live one is recorded and you can purchase it and you own it forever and can watch it over and over. I’m learning and tried yesterday some of the techniques but didn’t quite get what I wanted. I’m going to keep trying though. Have a wonderful day!