Just Create!

I constantly learn new things while creating images.  There is so much to learn with processing, it can become overwhelming.  I try to do just a little bit each day to add tools to my toolbox.  I learn new things from reading books and magazines, watching tutorials online, going to workshops with talented teachers, and by simply playing on the computer.

I was very surprised, initially, to find that

I enjoyed working with the images using the computer as much, or in some cases even more than the initial hunt for the images out in the field.  While working on the computer with images, large amounts of time pass very quickly.  I seem to get lost in the creative process.

What I have found to be helpful to me is just to experiment.  If working with a new program or plugin, I simply start playing with things to see what happens.  I take each slider and take it all the way to the left then all the way to the right to see what effect it will have on my image.  I learn so much doing this.

The weekend before last, I finally had the opportunity to take a picture of some very photogenic and frequently photographed trees found on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  While I loved these gorgeous trees, there really wasn’t much else going on to make it a wonderful image.  I needed snow, wonderful colors found during sunrise or sunset, a rainbow, fog, or a unicorn walking up to the trees to make it a more impactful image.  I found none of these.  But, I did take the picture.  I knew that someday I would find something to do to showcase these spectacular trees.

Earlier, that same morning, I went to another location on the Blue Ridge Parkway, for sunrise.  There were beautiful colors in the sky that morning.  I created the image below hoping to use it in some way.

When I sat down at the computer the morning I decided to process the image, all I knew was that I wanted to create something using these two images.  I just began using what I already knew, trying to add to what I know by playing around, and saw where it led me.

After a half an hour or so, I ended up with this.

It wasn’t something I was ready to put on canvas right away.  But it made me happy.  I enjoyed creating it.  I was in a peaceful place when I was working on it.

After creating the image, I shared it with my family and on social media.  I will save how that turned out for my next blog post!