Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Of Pearls, Pears and Peacocks

Exams have ended and summer is officially here! I've been packing mostly and tying up loose ends, but not before pausing for a little photographic interlude. Snapshots taken on my first afternoon of summer, capturing the lush green and sultry elegance of the season...
I've been wanting to experiment with a faux "Through the Viewfinder" look for some time, and while looking for a tutorial I found the Noise and Dust Through the Viewfinder group on Flickr, established as a sort of texture database for use in layering over digital photos. The ones layered over my photos above are an altered mixture of the lovely work found here, here and here. I adjusted the colors a bit to achieve a deep brownish black, sepia tone, and also increased the saturation on my digital photos, to heighten the color visible through the haze of the overlaid viewfinder. Try some of these yourself, the look would be perfect for vintagey scrapbook pages.

19 comments:

quaint handmade said...

oh, i love those. i'm not sure how to do it, but i'd like to try it, too. thank you.

Jennifer said...

How fun! I'll have to try that out one of these days.

Flickr never ceases to impress me. Aside from being a fantastic photo-sharing site, there are groups on there are serve as wonderful resources.

Livy said...

Some further info if you want to try it...
I did them on Photoshop elements. You just have to select the "multiply" option for the viewfinder photo layer, that will make it sort of "see-through" in all the right places. So, that's the gist of it...sorry I can't be more helpful as I was sort of just experimenting myself :)

quaint handmade said...

thanks livy! this is so cool, i'm going to post about it tomorrow and reference you.

i don't have photoshop elements, but i was able to copy the image and then use my magic eraser to take out the white. i probably removed too much "dust" but it still looks neat and is a good place to start.

thanks so much!

Livy said...

Cool, that is great! This technique really makes me want to make an old-fashioned scrapbook....but I'm a little behind in that department and definitely don't need to take on another project. I've been trying to finish my graduation scrapbook for two years now...the shame!

Stacy's Designs 88 said...

Thanks Livy for such a great new tip. Learned something super neat today...Yayyy!

Hope you have a fabulicious summer Livy. You surely deserve it with the computer melt down and your computer aftermath phoenix revitalization/rebirth.

You deserve a fun filled summer. Stacy ;)

Mary Richmond said...

very nice blog! came here through an etsy forum post ;-)

oldbagcrafts said...

Your blog is absolutely beautiful, gorgeous colours and stunning pictures. Thankyou :)

Sweetest Petula said...

beautiful blog. I just found you and will be back.

Rachel said...

I love the atmospheric quality of viewfinder photos and these are beautiful! I especially like the third one!

Erika said...

gorgeous, I have to try it myself now!

ElegantSnobbery said...

Those turned out beautiful! I love that vintage look of photographs. So romantic and dreamy!

Sara Czukal said...

Very lovely! I love the greens and the technique you used.

T.Allen-Mercado said...

Thanks for sharing. *Swoon* your blog is always so refreshing and delightful.

brightonEarly said...

I always wondered how that was done...

SpinachNPeace said...

gorgeous! I might try that out:)

especially love the pearls!

flbreezes said...

Your work is simply beautiful! Sandy flbreezes@iwon.com

Dancing Monkey Jewelry said...

Beautiful photographs.

Cate Holst said...

Love your blog! And I've learnt something tonight. I've been adding 'dust' to a few of my images and having some great fun. I'd like to add you to my blog too..

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