Every photgraph is now a great photograph -

"Cornfield"
photograph by Ann Ballard

This is the original photo by my good friend and poet, Ann Ballard. You can see the manipulated image at MICKMATHERSARTBLOG or at Thursday Challenge. Now that we have such a wide variety of photo editing and manipulating software available, any photograph can be turned into something much more pleasing, hopefully. In my case, photography was always a medium that I was bound and determined to use in a more painterly way ... that ideal is also enhanced with the digital tools we're privileged to be able to access today.

My old friend -

"Old Man in the Sink"
photograph by Mick Mather

Here's the other photograph that was mentioned at today's post at MICKMATHERSARBLOG. It was tough choice between this and another tree for the weekly post at Thursday Challenge. I love this tree and it's been the subject of a number of photographs and a few drawings over the years. Sadly, it's gone now. Victim of developers who built a number of patio homes in the little depression this grand old man probably called home for the better part of a century.

"Old Man in the Sink (Manipulated Version)"
manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

Same photo as above except that the super secret array of photo editors, filters and manipulators at the Secret Visual Laboratory were pressed into service. A little more moody well suited to the ever changing light conditions of this small, wild acreage.

A peek at the first layer -

"Complicated (Original Photograph)"
photograph by Mick Mather

If you were just looking at the finished image at my daily weblog, MICKMATHERSARTBLOG, this is the original photograph of a children's toy that was taken at a dentists office. It's a little bit dark and the process of cropping and resizing leaves a diffused, smoky-looking set of shadows behind. So the color balance was modified, making the image brighter and sharper. The next step was to run it through another filter ...

"Complicated (Alternate Version)"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

... the result of that process - running the photograph through a filter - revealed a diamond pattern that was layered over the original photo. This alternate version wasn't completely satisfactory and I decided not to use it. Instead I went with the manipulation at 100% as seen here in the finished piece at MICKMATHERSARTBLOG.