I'm Not Kidding! Yet.

 Proof that I'm serious about being back. Here's another old oldie:  

Girl In The Treetops.

Another LuminarAI edit from a 40+ year old negative scan.

Nice Set of Headlights on That One!

Yeah, I'm back.  At least I think I am.  Got three new posts on the Hare-Brained Homestead blog, so I thought it was time to freshen up here, too.

Hiatus.

Taking a cue from the Europeans, I'm taking the Summer off.  Posting will return when it cools off..  meanwhile, enjoy this..

Cactus Flower

Recently, I started practicing extracting elements from images.  Yesterday's "Moonshine" image was the first try, and it seems to have worked out well.  Here's another "assembly" of old and new images.  The prickly pear blossom was shot just this afternoon.  The nude, about 35 years ago.

Blossom was "extracted" using Photoshop Elements "Magic Extractor".  Tree limbs were distorted with Elements' "Liquify" filter.  Black and white image was colored using "Tint" tool in Picnik.  Other tools used have slipped my mind.

Simplicity

Original: color print

Another stab at the "Photocopy" filter on Photoshop Elements; Painted white, then some bits were colored.

Wood Nymph

Yeah. I suppose you could infer a play on words there. A photo montage of two different images.. one originally color,(yes, you've seen it before), one a silly black and white.

Tried out some new software for this. "Nymph" cut out using something called Picture Cutout Guide, which is an easy way to separate different elements from an image. It's a memory hog, though, and very slow, but worked well for this purpose. Coloring was done using GIMP, which is free editing software similar to Photoshop, which was also used. I need a lot more familiarization with it.. has a few tools Photoshop doesn't have.

Color It!

That's right.  You have permission to download to your printer, then have at it with your box of Crayolas, colored pencils, or bodily fluids.  Stick it on your refrigerator, or put them online and post a link in the comments.

This idea came from the fine folks at PhotoJoJo.com.  It's a good site, with fun photo ideas. Check 'em out.

POV#2: Curiosity

Like a headstone.   Pun intended.  Or maybe like plucking morel mushrooms.

"Embossed" tool from ACDSee Pro, colors from Picnik.  Original B & W negative.

POV#1: Discovery

First image of an erotic tryptych.

Old School Racer.

You'd be hard pressed to find any rider wearing the nearly non-functional "hairnet" helmets these days. But this image was taken around 25 years ago at a street race in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I'm thinking that when this lady has her hands down on the bars, she's probably not very aerodynamic. Then again, that's not really a bad thing, is it?

Because it's "old school", I used the "1960's" filter in Picnik.. fades the color and puts those weird rounded corners on the image. Just like all the snaps in your parents' attic. It's also been lightly posterized.

The Twins

Your pride is showing.

Girl On A Swing

Except for cleaning dust specs, and increasing saturation, this topless young lady is posted "as is"...

Air-Cooled Part 2.

First, let me state right off, that my Photoshop skills aren't all that well developed. Over the years, all the photo manipulation that was needed was performed by Margaret.

Turns out that the task of removing the rest of the model's bikini could be accomplished with ACDSee Pro. The extra accoutrements were added using Photoshop's paintbrush tool.

Which version do you like best?

Let The Sunshine In...

Click to play

Another day, different colors.  The sun makes it warm.

Like yesterday's image, from the same session, this was first converted to black and white from the original.  Needed a lot of cleaning up, as the scanner was really picking up the "silk" texture, and all of these old 5x7 enlargements are really starting to curl bad.

Added the sun in ACDSee Pro, the graduated tint for "sunlight" in Picasa, then painted the colors back in in Picnik.  The original:

Reversal

Color print original, converted to black and white > reversed (back to color) > then "painted" black and white on the flesh only (plus the bits of interest!). Yeah.

Board Broad

Original Black & White

I think I like the "painting" more than anything. Another black and white negative. Colored with Picnik, and added "HDR" effect. Kinda reminds me of Mel Ramos pin-up artwork. Finished with a fake Polaroid Insta-Print look.

Shower Door #2

Speaking of being sneaky....  this was one of those times.

Now, this could have been done two ways. I could have taken a normal image, and applied the "bathroom window" effect on ACDSee Pro, - or - I could have actually taken the image through the shower door. In this case, it was the latter, rather than the former. Black and white negative, colored with Picnik tint tool. Gallery frame also from Picnik.

Leave Them Be?

Some of the images I’ve run through the flatbed scanner are complete works in and of themselves.  They’re enlargements from actual photo shoots where I was attempting to be serious, rather than 1) sneaky, or 2) prurient.  They would require very little in the way modification to get posted here, except…  they were printed on really obnoxious silk-like texture paper, and the texture shows up in the scans.
In this particular case, I used the smudge stick filter in Photoshop Elements 5.0 to cover the silk texture, and added a border in ACDSee Pro.  The image was also obviously cropped, and inverted from the original.  The result is a more hand-drawn appearance to the image, without going overboard.

Here are a couple more images that have pretty much been left alone.  The interesting part here, is that these are scanned from 120 film square negatives… in a 35mm film scanner.  It was tricky, but I got it to work.  The image on the left, was a candid taken of customers at the counter of the camera store I managed in the Seventies.  I cropped out the surly boyfriend, (you don’t want to see the original!), and  used the Sepia tool in Picasa.  That’s the extent of the changes.  I was amazed how the feel of the picture changed with just that little bit of modification!
The image on the right is of one of my oldest friends, (although I haven’t seen her in more than 10 years).. we’ll call her Suzie.  She wanted a portrait for her husband at the time, and I was happy to oblige, being a perpetually  broke college student at the time.  I borrowed a friend’s apartment, gave Suzie my suede “hippie” hat and got to work.  This is also a scan from a 120 black and white negative that I somehow shoved into the 35mm scanner.   It was also given the sepia treatment, along with the soft focus tool.
There you have it. Not all old images have to be turned into weird and wacky abstract works.  Sometimes they’re just fine the way they are. 

Shower Door

Another of those ambush shots. In most homes, these lanquish, hidden in the bottom of the sock drawer. Here they become part of the gallery.

35mm black and white, with effects from ACDSee and Picnik.

Kosher

No.  I’m not.  Title is merely taken from the unusual pattern on the necktie and,... well.. the obvious.
From an afternoon’s delight in the Seventies.  Black and White original; Creative color and beam effects from Picnik.