Hiatus.

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

A Pedestal's Not Good Enough

Instead, I placed (a teenage version of) my bride... on a local hilltop. And since I had the cactus flower lying around on the desktop..

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.

Double Shot of Moonshine

This one took a couple of hours, and has numerous effects, as you might imagine.  Only the smooth, young buttocks are from an old scan, (original below).  The moon, and hawk are from current digital captures.  In fact, that's the famous "Super Moon" of just last March.

Elements were separated from their original files with Picture Cutout Guide, and assembled in Photoshop elements.  Some additional lighting effects were also added in PSE.  Many effects in Picnik, went into the final image, including "Thermal Image", "Doodle" (the clouds and stars), and of course, the "Mom" tattoo.

Original image from mid-Seventies

100% Pure Aryan Goodness

I don't know that for a fact, but she was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, with a German surname. Close enough.
I could regale you with amazing stories of things that went on in her mother's kitchen while her mother slept less than 20 feet away, but that would just leave you frustrated... use your imagination.

A pretty straight hand-colored image from scan of a black and white 35mm negative. Added "soft focus" filter in Picnik, then un-softened eyes and lips.

Oh! And because Mother's Day is coming up: the tattoo!

POV#3: Committed.

What once was a black and white, homemade porn snapshot, may not be quite your idea of "art", but you gotta admit, it ain't what it was.

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.

Sheer.

Every day could be an exhilarating, terrifying adventure.

Starting point: a very small size digital file, (under 50 KB) from a scan of a Polaroid SX70 print. Using ACDSee Pro,eEnlarged to around 450KB, added "glowing edges". In Picnic, painted out all undergarment lines to accent the sheerness of the dress. Played around with light and exposure to get an effect of "nothing under the fabric". Added border.

POV#1: Discovery

First image of an erotic tryptych.

On The Prowl For Sausage

All those lucky bikers must be just around the corner...

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.

Trouble.

....And if you can't see that, well, you're on your own, friend.
.

Beach "Bum"

On a beach on an island in Lake Michigan, about 1986.  The usual techniques.

Climb It.

Once the "Dune Flyer" has descended the dune, they have to make the less graceful ascent.

When I created the original Dune Flyer image, linked above, my "painting" skills in the Picnik editor weren't as finally honed as they are now.  For instance, I didn't know then how to create subtler color tones, which is why the model here, a former college classmate,  is no longer a bottle blonde, but has hair  much more her natural color.

Coldstone Creamery.

It's OK. It was a _________________ cemetery. (Insert a religion you love to hate. Easy one for me.)

Haven't posted a picture of the fabulous Margaret recently, and this one hides a secret I won't tell. See previous.

Air-Cooled Coochie

(and I spelled it right without having to look it up)

I bet my friends who were involved with this project will scratch their heads in puzzlement, because they won't remember this, until they realize there's some digital undressing going on here. My technical skills aren't quite at the level yet where I could remove the top as easily as the bottom, and we weren't paying her enough to do it "live".

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.