Photo-Texture-Word Art

The combination of three things...a photo, a texture and some inspiring words, can bring about new art.

I started with a photo of some clouds that I had taken on my iPhone that I later edited in Snapseed...

Image © 2013 Cheri Wenger Design Photography

Next I overlayed one of Kim Klassen’s “just a touch” textures found here.

Original Image © 2014 Kim Klassen (This is just a screenshot to reference 

the image. Go to the link above to download the texture and to register 

to receive other textures created by the talented Kim Klassen.)

Recipe: Used kk_just a touch2 texture with linear burn overlay at 78% opacity on a layer stacked above my cloud image, shown above to get the blending of image with texture.

Final step in Photoshop was adding some words in assorted sizes and colors on separate layers in Photoshop. These have to be stacked on top of the texture and photo layers so that they are visible.

It is always good to save your layered Photoshop file for future editing before flattening and saving your composited final image as jpg, tiff or other file format for sharing.

The Beauty of Textures

This is another photo art creation using photos taken of a bouquet of carnations. I merely wanted to take a picture of them to preserve their beauty so my daughter could remember that Valentine’s day gift. I couldn’t photograph them indoors because the lighting just wasn’t right, but when I simply placed them out on the table on our lanai, magic happened. I was able to photograph them like a painting and convey the beauty that my eyes were seeing. However, in adding Kim Klassen’s textures to the image, really turned this piece into art. 

Beauty Fades

© 2012 Cheri Wenger Design Photography

Photo art featuring textures by Kim Klassen.

To see the evolution, you must see the original photo. 

It has a warmth to it, but I love the vintage look of the finished art 

achieved by adding Kim’s Just Blush texture plus some of my own textures 

and quote to it! Check out Texture Tuesdays challenges with Kim. This is her justblush texture:

Here are the two of my own photo textures that I applied to the image that helped to add that dreamy, watercolor look to the image. For those of you not familiar with photoshop, you can layer photos, textures, text and color over photos in varying opacities with different layer style choices to achieve very dramatic or very subtle effects.

The two photo images above were photos taken of the glass block window in our master bath. The third image, below, was a closeup taken of our textured wall. So you see, creativity exists all around us, just waiting to be used and appreciated! 

In the first image, I changed the hue to a sepia tone look. It includes wispy textures from the floral arrangement that sits on the ledge.These are all colored textures, however you can use b&w textures/photos to create effects. Don’t be afraid to experiment & live life creatively!

Here’s a peek at my layers palette in photoshop so you can see the order of the layers used. 

A Mother's Day Tribute

This photo art was created as a tribute to all moms...whether you have given birth, adopted or fostered a child, or simply have been thought of in a motherly way. I started off using a photo image taken of an arrangement of carnations given to my daughter Kai on Valentine’s day. See below for a peek at that image so you can appreciate how it was transformed into the artwork you see on the right. I used two great textures that I purchased from Kim Klassen's Bens Collection.

Kim offers a Texture Tuesday challenge which inspires artists and photographers to use her textures creatively. For this piece, “In the Garden”, I wanted to create a painterly, watercolor effect. I used a combination of layers and effects at varying opactities. From the Bens Collection, I chose textures 2 & 6, and selected a quote attributed to Claudia Chandi as my verse.

So how did I create this?
I used Photoshop with my original photo on the main layer, add the textures on top. To make the type more interesting I mixed two fonts and three coordinating shades of colors: a deep olive, dark red and a medium shade of rosey pink. Now take a peek below to see all of the original images that were combined to create this art.

Here is the original photo image...

And here are the two textures from Kim Klassen’s Bens Collection that I used...

Check out her Texture Tuesday Cafe,

and be inspired!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great moms out there who daily work your mommy magic!

Another Photo Art Creation from Cheri Wenger Design Photography

As I am getting things kicked into full swing with the photography end of my business, I am loving all the possibilities there are in combining all of my creative worlds together. Here is an example of some photo art titled “Contemplating” which was created using my photograph combined with Kim Klassen’s “little things” texture...part of her Texture Tuesday challenge for this upcoming week. You can check out Texture Tuesdays here...



Curious about the two images used to create this photo art? Let me give you a peek at those files so you can comment about the final art.

I started with this image that I took recently at a nearby park on a windy spring day.

Next I worked in photoshop overlaying Kim Classen’s Little Things  texture with a style effect...

I merged the images (note that I always keep a copy of the layered elements should I want to edit anything) and used assorted grunge and distressing brushes to create the photo edging. And the final result is this photo art. Be sure to check out my post on Kim's texture tuesday challenge.

Be sure to leave me a comment and like my Cheri Wenger Design Photography Facebook page.

More to come on my new photography website.

A Tribute to Mom

 

Mom, today is your birthday, but you’re not here to celebrate it. Still cannot believe that you truly are gone. You’re not gone from my thoughts. You’re not gone from my memory. And you will never be gone from the hearts of those who love and miss you. Remembering you on your special day. Hope you are showing those angels how to age "grace"fully in heaven!

The above tribute to my mother-in-law was creating using the happy heart texture from Kim Klassen’s Cafe, a Texture Tuesday download from her blog. I enlarged a snapshot taken before my days of owning a SLR digital camera. I masked it in photoshop, did retouching and applied layer effects to blend the photo with the background for a ghosted, subtle photo effect. The remembrance text was added along with design elements created with some of my own digital brush designs. To finish the vintage feel, a grunge border and some small distressing was added.

Texture Challenge = Inspired Art

A true sign of a creative talent is someone who is willing to share their gift with the world. This is truly the experience I found today signing up for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday list. There are some simple guidelines for receiving and using the free downloads, all of which are very easy to follow.  And did I mention the challenge that corresponds with the texture? Today’s challenge lead me to a fun mini still shoot, that I refer to as White Hot Shells. I plan to share more of these series of photos as I work on them, but I want to encourage everyone to check out Kim Klassen’s Cafe website and blog.

If you are a photographer wanting to experiment with combining textures and your images, you will feel like you found the pot of gold in the selection of gorgeous textures available on her site for purchase. And for those just dabbling, you can try out some of her freebie downloads...all are stunning! I purchased the Bens collection and the group of rectangle textures to get started. For my photo art project I combined a few of these textures, plaster & teddy, with one of her freebies, called Simplicity. Each of which I applied different layer styles, opacities and some masks. See what you think of my first photo art creation...

Be sure and leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Here is what the original image looks like:

Here are some of the textures I used on this image. You can see the texture collections here.

simplicity

plaster

teddy

I challenge you today to step outside of your creative box and try 

something new like I did. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results!