Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Escape #1 or #2


"Escape #1"
Double Exposure

"Escape # 2"
Double Exposure

Which double is scariest, but not so scary you hate the picture?

Sadly, life in West Texas isn't all tumbleweeds and tequila. Sometimes it is also dust storms and oil field warnings. We aren't scared by them. No sir. We are Texans, by golly. (Me, I'm a little scared. And I'm only a little Texan, too. "Naturalized," they call it. "D*mn foreigner" when I'm not around.)

Today we have a couple of photos (actually, four) that didn't make the A list. But, like I've said before, I keep even my blurry, crappy pictures, though I wasn't entirely sure why. It was only a few weeks ago I learned I could Reduce Reuse and Recycle. Yay for Photoshop's Apply Image (Multiply) function!

Today's subject, "Escape" (although I'm not sure this is the kind of escape she had in mind) is courtesy a (new to me) Australian blogger, Chosha, of A Little East of Reality. She recently wrote that her three New Year's Resolutions were to 1. Read more non-fiction, 2. Take more pictures, and 3. Make more friends. Wonder if she'd mind my stealing her resolutions?

Chosha recently went to Japan. From that trip I fell in love immediately with two of her photos -- the one with the golfish bowl hat guy (you read that right, "goldfish bowl hat guy") and another photo of a young man that she said when he smiled "his face became more beautiful, like a room suddenly filled with light."

The sound you just heard is the woosh made by all my lady bloggers rushing over there to see the beautiful young man.

Photo info --
For those who stayed, here are the two original photos for today's double exposures. I've noticed I seem to have the best results when I take a man-made image and double it with something from nature. Today I went to eBay to see what old affordable versions of Photoshop might be available. I checked my version, 5.5, and alas there are only "Upgrade" versions. What does that mean? Rima? Anyone know? Full versions of CS2 and CS3 for Windows and Mac seem to be available for somewhere around 200-300 USD. Anyone have experience with the less expensive Adobe Elements? I'm hanging onto my 5.5 (like a clam), but I thought others might be interested in this topic.


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15 comments:

Bobbie said...

I love how these double exposures turned out. You'd never guess that the originals had anything to do with the finished products. I am most frightened by #2, having lived out there for a mere 8 years just the thought of poison gas scares the ... outta me.

Andi said...

Hi Debi. Child and I both vote for #2. It's scary and cool!

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

Number 2 is...BRILLIANT!! I love it. Really like it.
I am drawn to text but I am really drawn to this image. I also love number 1..it's a FANTASTIC image.n I could see it as a CD cover or something like that. By a kittens whisker I'm going for Number 2..but I predict it will be a tight race between them!

nelda said...

Amazing pictures. I like #1 best, so I guess #2 scares me more. I really like the colors in #1 and find it more appealing.

Irene said...

I like both of them very much, but I like number 2 the best, because it is so very American. It is so very authoritative and full of dangerous warning.

You're doing a great job with the double exposure and the color of the images.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'm not sure which one I like best. No. 1 is very apocalyptic looking; sort of doom's day-ish.

No. 2 was humorous in that I thought, this looks like a sign you'd see underwater in a swimming pool! (And I'll leave the rest of my thought in my head.) My second thought was, if this was the 80s and Russia was still that country we all feared--godless Communist, nuclear evilness, etc.--this could be a picture straight out of that era.

Both are an excellent melding of four pictures.

Rima said...

?!*)*%^#$@!! blogger ate my comment earlier - the gist of which was:
numero uno is it for me - because it's beautiful on its own, even without seeing the originals, and the context.

as for upgrades on photoshop 5.5, my guess is that it's probably not worth it. I am saving my pennies myself to move on to a Mac, and whatever newest version of photoshop will exist in that century.

Anonymous said...

#1 is ominous but dreamlike; a jaundiced, barren landscape, but I want to stay to know more though I feel at risk.. so I'm voting for #2 for scariest: Distorted letters jeering like those mirrors at a carnival; I'm drawn in to decode the text then quickly repelled when I decipher the message. Flee this place! Maybe I'm too text bound!

John M. Mora said...

2 is remarkable, I feel the distortion and the heat and as if toxic fumes are dulling my senses and my balance.

The image just dances and your wavy manipulation even created a typo.

John M. Mora said...

I also really like the b&w image of what appears to be cotton on the ground.

Anonymous said...

not only is the yellow light flashing, the sign's on fire with noxious chemical fumes! A danger completely understated.

Hannah's Mom said...

#2... I love both of them though. I really like the colors you used in these. Simply wonderful!! :)

Kris Cahill said...

I am frightened by and love #1, love that yellow. The light coming from within the photo is gorgeous, if a bit scary. :)

#2 scares me too much, but it's effective.

Anonymous said...

Ooo...#2!! Wonderful color and I'm pretty sure I even see the yellow light flashing!!

dianeclancy said...

Hi Debi,

First, Photoshop 5.5 is decent. you should be able to upgrade from that. If you go up, make sure your machine can support it ... it is a real problem. Some of the filters don't work with the newer versions either. There is also student versions (which do the same thing) ... teachers, students can buy them .. much less expensive.

I LOVE these BOTH ... and even more so once I see the source pictures. You are doing amazing things here!!

Choice time, choice time, I am getting hives with all these decisions!!

ok ... #1 ... Partly because #2 looks so manmade and sometimes they are scarier.

~ Diane Clancy
www.dianeclancy.com/blog