Those who follow my art know that I love all media… especially fluid ones that allow a painterly approach. But I have also taught some photography, have good gear and love taking photos. Recently I was asked to take a workshop to help people get more familiar with their camera and the possibilities it offers for creative art. I talked of the usual dof, aperture, iso etc. Towards the end I introduced them to the idea of creative post processing. such fun. Yesterday my children’s class were asking about how they could do some abstracts. They are good at drawing/copying what is in front of them but are ready to explore more. A perfect opportunity to share my digital “play”. The question is though…  are these images realism or abstraction? I hate labels sometimes.

So I decided to post 3 images that show the joy of discovery with our amazing cameras and basic editing on Apple Mac photos. I did not even use Lightroom or Photoshop and used only a JPEG file not a RAW file. The fun is in the “creative play”, decision making and discovery.

Original digital photo…. Bull Kelp, Tarkine Coast, Tasmania

Edited in “photos”….. exposure, colour, levels adjusted then rotated. That is when I discovered the mask.

Image cropped to focus on the “mask”. A digital voyage of discovery.

“Mask in the kelp”…. was masked n the original image although now when I look back it keeps jumping out at me even in that photo.