Photo blog

dream versions

2008-10-14T23:08:00.003+05:00

i wanted to make a photo of a dreaming girl for 365 project. so i took a bunch of photos of me on the floor. I chose to work with high ISO because it gives nice effect to black-and white photos. then i started adding semi-transparent layers in photoshop. to make the new layers look more appropriate i added noise to them (forgot to add to some however). also was experimenting with rendering a lens flare... have a look at all variants :)

1.
i liked the 'dream' layer.. created it with some brushes and liquefied. but probably it's not suitable here.

2.
tried to make it more transparent to match the photo better

3.
i liked this one.. and didn't like at the same time. mixed feelings. can't explain

4.
tried fixing the previous one through adding color... can't say it fixed my feelings :D

5.
new layer.. worked with brushes, blurred through Gaussian blur, set to semi-transparent. i like this one actually :)

6.
changed colors with "curves"...

7.
... and added a lens flare

8.
applied some filter (don't remember which one)

9.
removed transparency, added wind effect

10.
didn't like it with the wind effect, added lens flare instead

11.
added "glowing edges" filter. i like this one the most!

12.
added noise

13.
added lens flare (again)

14.
desaturated

still think 11 is the best

365 projects

2008-09-23T00:34:00.005+05:00

OK so as you know (or don't) i have started this new photo-blog (Daily photo from Irina) where i'm posting one random photo for each day of the year. it's really a fun thing to do and well sort of responsibility. However, the photo may not be taken on the day i'm posting. some photos are from my archives, but which i'd like to share and which i like!

Nevertheless in matters of improving photography it's highly advised not to post old photos. the next time (after this 1-year project is over) i will keep that in mind for sure!

Anyhow. It's not all. There is another 365 project. Where you have to take one photo for each day again, just not of anything you'd like. You should be taking a photo of the same subject... and the subject is yourself! This way you will be obliged to make your imagination work every day to make interesting photos, not just a dumb photo to say "yes i took the photo".

Here is my flickr set of this project:
my 365 days set

and here is the group i send the photos to: 365 Days

And here is another fun blog by Kirsten, who talked me into doing this. Something cheeky. Also she gives more information on 365 self-portrait project and a link to her flickr 365 set here.

photoshop magic - 3 - watercolor and frames

2008-09-19T19:58:00.003+05:00

OK so after i finished making the following photo

look like a watercolor, i added a frame.

yes you have seen these photos in the previous post, however you don't know what i used to get that frame. First of all, I installed PhotoFrame Pro v3.1 plugin with its library. there are around 4000 kinds of frames and you can generate any kind of effects. it's a very convenient thing to use!

Of course alternatively you can simply create your own frames, but this plugin will save you much time :)

Now, after getting the watercolor effect described yesterday, i started playing with the result. i hid the 2 copied layers making only the background layer visible. It's the same as opening a jpg file and applying filter -> median with 26px radius and got the following:

after that i applied another filter: filter-> watercolor. And added a frame. see the result:

photoshop magic - 2 - watercolor

2008-09-18T22:19:00.005+05:00

Compare these 2 photos:

i just turned the original photo into a watercolor artwork using photoshop magic. (no it's not by applying the 'watercolor' filter ;) ). I've learned it from Igor Ulman's (www.compartstudio.com) videolesson.

0. for achieving best results, it's good to have a blurry background and a big object(s) in the foreground with clear outlines. otherwise the objects in the background will add too much noise to your 'painting'. but of course you can just blur the background using the same photoshop :)

1. open the layers palete, and copy the background layer. until the end of this point we will work with the copy.
a. Desaturate the image (ctrl+shift+u).
b. now apply filter -> stylize -> Glowing Edges. suggested params are: edge width: 1 ; edge brightness: 11 ; smoothness: 5. but you can play with them of course. just be sure not to lose details!
c. Now open "levels" panel, and move the white slider towards the black one to enbrighten the image (suggested value: 116).
d. Now invert the image.
e. Apply filter -> artistic -> Cutout. suggested params are: number of levels: 7 ; edge simplicity: 3 ; edge fidelity: 3. Again you can play with the values (but again don't lose too much details!).
f. regulate the levels again. this time move the black slider to right until the dark gray lines of the outlined object are black. and now move the black slider of OUTPUT levels to 50.
g. set the blending type of this layer to "overlay" in layers palete

2. now copy the layer we were working with.
a. apply filter -> blur -> Gaussian blur and set radius to 5 px.
b. in layers palete set the blending type to "screen" and brightness to 50%
c. now create a clipping mask (ctrl + g)

3. now switch to "background" layer (original image)
a. apply filter -> noise -> median. suggested value of radius is 26 px, however it totally depends on the image and your taste :) the bigger the object, the bigger the radius.

The end.

however you can add a frame which will give your painting a final look.
see another example of what i did:

This is the boring original image. I changed the color of the lily to the left, applied this watercolor effect and added a frame. this is the result:

I hope you found this useful :) in the next post i will speak more about the frames.

sun made of glass

2008-09-17T23:24:00.004+05:00

sometimes you can look at the world not only through the lense of the cam... but through other objects at the same time. I actually couldn't decide which photo i liked more and decided to post both here. :)

black and white

2008-09-08T01:18:00.004+05:00

sometimes color distracts. sometimes if you take a photo in color it will be so trivial, so uninteresting, that you will immediately delete it afterwards. black and white photos to the rescue! it will draw our attention to the object or to the action.

the link

twins

affection

"being a paparazzi again?"

ghost ship

Pisa in cube

spider smile

world of shadows:

Ying-Yang twins

2 more photos that you might have seen before:

photoshop magic

2008-09-05T17:43:00.000+05:00

sometimes we take photos which are not great for a great many of reasons (light is bad, no composition, too much tilted, etc). however don't hurry to shift+delete them, because sometimes something great can turn out of it. Bad can be material for good :) so here are 2 photos which i fixed today. the first one was kind of noisy, and was a boring photo by all means, also too dark.

the other one is a fragment, which had the shape of a trapezium. I duplicated the image and flipped it horizontally and vertically, to add the upper corner. the lower corner i filled with some other elements.

Just first of all you have to decide whether it's really something good and worth of wasting your time on editing :)

update

2008-08-29T01:34:00.000+05:00

it doesn't look like there is much sense in keeping this blog, since i am uploading photos directly to picassa. however, i will not delete this blog and will transform it into something else.

I will simply post 1 photo for every day, and once a month i will also post thumbnails of all photos of the previous month. well you will see soon :) i'm going to start on septermber 1st.

i'm thinking whether i should:
a) delete all previous posts here and start from a blank space
b) delete some of them
c) leave the previous posts intact.

i would like to hear your opinion on this subject :)

landscapes of Lori

2008-08-11T22:39:00.000+05:00

the winding road went up from the bottom of the gorge to its top.

if you look carefully you will see a car on it (it's that white spot in te potos)

after going up all the way from the bottom of the gorge and thinking there will be just a plateau with a church... we saw this view - fields and farms, a whole village and more mountains in the distance.

"barekamoutyun" ensemble

2008-07-30T23:14:00.000+05:00

Armenian dance

Russian dance

Jew dance

Spanish dance

classical dance

Khor Virap

2008-07-29T18:14:00.000+05:00

on the way there. these 2 hills look like Ararat replica :D (btw on the left one there is a person standing)

and here the man is on the right one already. the second photo is a close-up

central church

there are many places you can discover for yourself out there

and there are swallows' nests inside of the church. the parents kept feeding the chicks and then flying out through the narrow windows (they were really aces of flight!)

yes through the window behind Michael ;)

So then using the metal staircase we go down inside the pit where st. Gregory the Illuminator was kept. view from the staircase (there were some other people inside)

Now i'm standing whith those people and watch Michael coming down

and here we are standing on the solid ground again

ascending the staircase to go out and see the blue sky again. the red spots on the left photo are soles of my feet

and the second pit which is smaller. you would have to duck down before using the staircase here

view of Ararat. as usual there is a cloud resting on top of the higher peak

no no we didn't jump down from that wall

views of the central church again

tired...

growth of cayenne peppers

2008-07-09T00:37:00.000+05:00

from the life of the crows

2008-06-23T22:48:00.000+05:00

Can you find the third crow?

Counting crows

the people

2008-06-19T22:09:00.000+05:00

it's one of the interesting themes for photography - the people. i think the best way to capture someone (and their emotions) is when they don't know about it.

Michael... man of my dreams (and reality) :D (yes there was no other way I could start this theme)

the photo is taken from WC at mom's work (9th floor)

taken from route-taxi window. believe me he didn't look like jumping

money beggars. so different. even though the man is old and blind he doesn't just beg for money. he plays the old armenian instrument.

thinking, smoking

I had posted this one earlier, but it fits here perfectly. "the midnight beast" :D

thirst

if at first you think you see what i thought i saw, look closer.

cobbler

jeweler (engraving my name on the silver cup. the other cup with "Michael" engraved can be observed in the photo)

WIB (Women In Black)

mrs. Beauty (she is 60 +/- 10 years old)

the armenian queen. "slender waist, delicate fingers, gracious and womanly, majestic bearing, arched eyebrows" it's what all armenian poets of all times were praising.

the dance

2008-06-19T01:54:00.000+05:00

the split

mystique

freedom

lust

place: opera house
ensemble (folk dance group): "Barekamoutyun" (friendship)
i will post more photos of their performance soon... just have to filter them some. took too many :) (though in matters of taking photos there is no such thing as "too many". take as many as you can... you can always delete the bad ones later ;) )

floristic colors and games of light

2008-06-07T22:22:00.000+05:00

This is a lemon flower and its smell is really very strong!

Children's day - june 1

2008-06-03T01:39:00.000+05:00

First day of summer is the Children's day! don't forget it :)

water element

2008-06-02T01:02:00.000+05:00

M - macro, mystery

2008-05-28T00:07:00.000+05:00

What can you find in a coffee cup? sometimes a window...

music. vibration. disco.

"Mexican in love"

Here no effect was applied. i didn't edit the 2 photos at all. the last one is only brightened to let you see myself and to give you some idea of scale and space. If you tell me how I did this you will get smth as a prize :) but shhh let this remain magic for others :D

bird life

2008-05-27T01:09:00.000+05:00

Some photos from the life of my pets:

rain, rain... it's falling rain

2008-05-20T20:11:00.000+05:00

Ararat and Aragac

2008-05-17T21:18:00.000+05:00

Note: when you are going somewhere and see something you would take a photo of, don't hesitate and do it. if you think that you will take a photo on the way back, remind yourself that you may go back using some other way or your battery can be dead or smth else :).

Aragac is still covered with snow

view from the Kievyan bridge.
at first LinkGard was situated in that building in the right corner with big round windows.

new pet

2008-05-16T18:09:00.000+05:00

first acquaintance with the camera

sleepy after a long day

trip to London

new toy

RGB 2 + glamour 2

2008-05-12T23:04:00.000+05:00

RGB

2008-05-11T00:56:00.000+05:00

R.

G.

B.

Since at the "G" stage i had a model to pose for me, there are some variations on that. And not to have you watch too much of G, i have added to variants on R and B.

glamour

2008-05-06T01:23:00.000+05:00

Note: if there are problems with the light or background, just choose a plain background which will somewhat return the light and set a strong flash.

zoo

2008-05-04T18:55:00.000+05:00

Note: set your camera as necessary *before* going on a photo-hunt if you know the approximate conditions under which you will be taking photos.

ms Beauty, 2008

Emo horse :)

such an angel! but look at the shadow...

lama the model

raven: what is that silly horsish animal doing?

"please, give me that bread! i liked it very much!"

you know the russian story about Аленушка, don't you?

"what a hot day! i'm sooooo sleepy!"

-hey...
-hm?
-please don't get mad but... that guy is here again.. and is asking me out...

-oh i told you not to wear that short dress! now we won't get rid of him!!
-oh.. you are mad.

-!!! look, Jafar, what that idiot is doing!!!
-mmmm yummy! some like salad, some like bread. i like iron!

colorful han i must say.. with a beautiful voice. raven's envy

Michael's favorite animal

welcome

2008-04-29T23:45:00.000+05:00

Finally, I have created this blog. I want to keep a separate photo-blog because I didn't want to turn my personal blog into a photo one (but it's what has been happening).

Also, it took me long because I actually designed the page myself. I looked for some good templates on the internet, but whatever I found had some unacceptable "but"s, so I ended up redesigning one of the found templates. And since in the design of the page I used the hot air-balloons, I decided to post the photos of them first. It's a bright, happy and optimistic start I think :)