Rearranging a photograph

I was in such a hurry to try and get this picture of a bee that the composition of the rest of the picture was just horrible:

Even when I looked at cropping it I couldn't get a good composition if I tried to include some of the other flowers.  So, hey, I thought why don't I just move one of the flowers over to get what I want so I moved it over and cut out the picture of the bee and flower which I put on top and then applied the filter poster edges, bumped up the saturation a little and changed the levels.

Photoshop Elements Gradients

Wanna know how I did this?

I create this as part of the first week of the online workshop Brushes, Patterns and Colour which starts on the 1 July 2012.  This demonstrates how you can use gradients and is only one of many videos over a 6 week period.  Come and sign up.

Ladybird

I'm getting low on my photographs again.  It's time to go out on a jolly and get snapping.  Quite shockingly I have never been up to London for a serious photo session.  When I worked there I never took photos - to busy working.  It's a bit like living near the beach and never going there!  I think it's time to organise a trip to London and do some serious photography.

Anyhow, I always take my camera along on my weekly walk with my dear friend and this week I glanced at a leaf and saw a lovely little ladybird so had to snap it.  I couldn't decide whether to crop it or not but rather liked all the spiky branches so left it as it was.  Here is the before and the afters.  I can't decide which one I like but I would be very interested to know which one people prefer.

Rhododendron

Dragonfly

What I love about PSE is that even if you have a picture which perhaps isn't the best you can still do something interesting with it.  I managed to get this picture of a dragonfly with my little point-and-click camera and I was disappointed that the leaf was obscuring part of it but I wanted to see what I could do with it.  It's a beautiful summer day in an otherwise wet season so I wanted something to reflect summer.

Here is the original:

Here is what I did:

I made it look like an old vintage picture and I would be quite happy to print that on a thank you card and send it to a friend.  The texture is by Jerry (and if you use a lot of his textures don't forget to leave him a donation - he does great work).

New Online Workshop

Sign-up for a workshop on Brushes, Patterns and Colours in Photoshop Elements.  Learn how use the PSE brushes, your own brushes and free online brushes to transform your pictures or to create unique art. Combine these with patterns and learn all about colours.

Water Bird

Now for something completely different

I took this picture sometime ago in Mexico and liked it but it wasn't very sharp so decided to play around with it.  Actually, I rather like what I have done - a bit different.

Victoria and Albert Museum

An exhibition called British Design 1948-2012 is on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London at the moment and I was lucky to be invited last week to a reception and viewing of this exhibition.  But just as wonderful as the exhibition was the courtyard in the middle where the lighting on the windows and pots was just stunning as night fell.

The theme of Photo Art Friday was black and white so I couldn't resist taking one of the pictures and converting it to black and white while still keeping the wonderful lighting.

Water Lily

Queen Anne's Lace

I walk with a friend of mine every Monday along the tow path of the canal and at this time of the year I just love the Daucus carota which grows along the side of the canal which has, amongst others, the common name of Queen Anne's Lace.  It is one of my favourite plants to manipulate. 

So here's the original:

And here's the result:

To see more examples go to my Flickr page.

Royal Holloway

Took one of my old pictures of Royal Holloway and played around with it.  Perhaps not one of my best but fun to do anyway: