Trying Different Directions

There are different things I like about photography. On the one hand I really enjoy trying to capture a a great picture. In most cases post processing merely involves very basic touching up so that the end product is a fair representation of what I actually saw. But there is also a part of me that loves taking a photograph and making it into something different than what it started as. In the past this has mostly been funny stuff like this. Lately, however, I have wanted to do things with textures and colors to add a different feel to the photograph. Here are my two latest endeavors.


This didn't start with a photograph at all. The toucan is a piece of vector art that I got for free from a website. I followed a Photoshop tutorial to achieve the various effects. I do not have the full version of Photoshop, I just have Photoshop Elements 4.0. I am discovering what my program is capable of as well as the greater degree of control that Photoshop CS3 gives you. For now I am content to use what I have, but I think some time in the future I will upgrade.


Here is the original picture of my husband and my daughter flying a kite.


Here is the end product after I did some photo editing. I really like the way it turned out.