veni spiritus sanctus

Come Holy Spirit

(Latin translation)

Sometimes I'm not quite sure what I will end up with when I start the creative process, but here's how I got there on this little bit of photo art:

1. For some unknown reason I've been quietly humming this old hymn for the past few days:

I don't know quite how or why it started. I figured that it must be some sort of inspiration, and I'd best see where it took me.

2. Then there's the handful of autumn leaves I collected impulsively the other morning on the way home from the gym. (I was feeling a bit sad, watching the brilliant colors slowly fade away a day at a time.) I wasn't sure just what I would do with them, but I brought them home anyway.

iPhone 5

photos SOOC

Pro Camera app

3. Add to that my current reading list:

• Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art:  by Madeleine L'Engle
• The Creative Call: an Artist's Response to the Way of the Spirit by Janice Elsheimer
• Lumen Fidei ('Light of Faith') the first encyclical by Pope Francis (this was actually the centerpiece of a wonderful three-night retreat we attended this week at our church)

4. And I've been wanting to get my hands on my 'big' camera, and just play around with it, so I assembled a simple little still life and shot a few versions. (Not to worry, Dr. J...I put the camera on a tripod, 'cause it's still too heavy for me to be lugging it around.)

Original photo SOOC

Canon EOS 6D

Canon EF 28-135mm lens

ISO 400 75mm f/5.0  0.3 sec.

5. And since I enjoy creative photo editing as much as photography, I jumped right into Lightroom and Photoshop. I also pulled out this wonderful book: Art Beyond the Lens, by Sarah Gardner, who has developed her own unique approach to the process.

Here's the same image, with a little play-by-play...

I've been playing around with this for three days now, and here is the second and final version. After some extensive editing/playing in Lightroom, I headed over to Photoshop, where:

1. I applied Kim Klassen's kk_booklight (Overlay blend mode 64%) and de-saturated that layer a bit.
2. I lightened and softened things up a bit with Kim's new kk_2110 (Soft Light blend mode 58%)
3. Then two of Sarah Gardner's textures: BEYOND_stormrain (Soft Light blend mode 31%) and BONUS_Glaze1 (Multiply blend mode 38%).
4. In the midst of all that is my text, in two layers (Color Burn blend mode 80%; then duplicated and changed to Multiply blend mode 47%). Font: Mutlu

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Texture Tuesday

Friday Finds