The One Four Challenge for November is in its third week. This is a fun and very useful photo processing project hosted this month by Nic, whereby we work on an image of our choice and process it in four different ways over four weeks.
Week Three Interpretation
My intention this week is to visually represent the flight path of the dragonfly through the grasses, echoing its apt name “the banded flutterer”. This gives me the chance to apply some of the techniques I am learning from the Photoshop Artistry course I am currently taking. It is fun to try different effects and I am slowly getting a little more comfortable with layers, masks and composites.
In Photoshop, using the week one edit as the base image, I did the following:
- Created a background copy and applied a graduated filter all around the dragonfly at 80% opacity, which had the effect of creating a strong vignette, however found the image was now too dark!
- Added a curves layer and an exposure adjustment layer to brighten the image and make it a little more luminous around the dragonfly
- Created another layer and imported a custom vector graphic file from the Photoshop Artistry library showing colored swirls that mimic the flutters of the dragonfly
- Fiddled with the size of the graphic and placement over the dragonfly image
- Found some of the graphic was going over the wings, so masked some parts of the swirls
- Finally added the watermark and used the free transform tool to make it follow the shape of one of the swirls
Here is the result – a bit out there, but it was fun to experiment and apply what I learnt from the second module of the course.
Dragonfly – Week 3
The slideshow displays the progression from the beginning of the month:
Kind feedback is welcome. Let me know what you think.
There are quite a few of us taking part in this digital dark room exercise, so do check out what other participants are doing by clicking on the One Four Challenge link.
Sv-Anui 
Beautiful! You are inspiring me to try something like this challenge with some of my photos.
Oh good / do join us! Wr have a break next month but start again next year!
The bright wings are amazing as are the ribbons
I had a lot of fun with this version. It is good to do the course and pick up new techniques, so this challenge is a great opportunity to apply what I am learning. Thanks Sue.
Very interesting variation – the grass swirls work really well…
Thanks Eliza – just an experiment, really!
Adding the coloured swirls is a wonderful idea. It looks really good.
Thanks Agnes, I was not too sure but had fun experimenting😊
Very nice! I like it!
Thanks 😊
I like the color swirls too! Evokes a playfulness. 🙂
Thanks Nic😊
So intriguing and so interesting, you have given me a lot to think about and try.
Thanks Charlie! Glad you found it worthwhile.
Nice use of vectors, glad to see you are making progress in the PA course, this challenge is a great place to experiment with the new things you learn 🙂
Hi Stacey – started the course a while back then had a long pause with family upheaval… Back on it now and learning heaps. Thanks for visiting!
I did a similar thing with having to be a student for a while, its good to get stuck back in and fun too 🙂
gorgeous!!
🙂