Chairs for Two

Ever have a memory that’s fuzzy and splotched with time, but there’s one element of the memory – a person or a thing – that stands out clearly? This image represents the clarity of that pair of rocking chairs, just waiting at the lake for someone, or a pair of someones. I created this image as part of my work in Photoshop Artistry, a creative-life-changing online class I’m taking from artist Sebastian Michaels. This was specifically for Challenge 1: Painting With Light.

Challenge Requirements:

1. Take one or two of your photos … (can be of anything, but if you can incorporate a landscape, that would be great) …
2. Add to the mix nothing more than the following images from the Bonus section: 2 textures from the Kim Klassen bonus texture set, 1 of the “Grunge Film Effects” as an edge, and 1 vector from Vector Set 12. That’s it.
3. Feel free to choose any canvas orientation. Duplicate layers however you like. Use Cmd/Ctrl-T to Transform any element however you like. Add any Adjustment Layers, Layer Masks, and Blend Modes. And use anything from the Filter Gallery.
4. And finally, you MUST incorporate techniques from the “Painting With Colored Light” video in Module Two. (Bonus points if you also incorporate any of the other “Painting With Light” techniques.” Just make the focus on creative or dramatic lighting!)

 So here’s what I did:

• I shot the original photo of chairs on deck at lake (in Brookberry Farms, Winston-Salem, NC) on an overcast day, so it had a very boring sky; I took a second sky shot and replaced the sky (hard light, 85%) and its reflection in the water (hard light, 55%).
• I then painted with light on chairs using curves layer.
• Vector 19-01white – Multiply, 75% masking out chairs, deck, and tree line
• Texture kk_allard – Multiply, 100%
• Texture kk_mixed – Hue, 70% with gradient mask
• Mask Film Edge 8 – Soft Light, 75%