I've been experimenting with Photoshop

[mikejduk]

As one judge claimed at a recent photographic competition I was attending, Photographers are perhaps better described as 'Image Makers' nowadays. So, in my attempt to create an image from various photos I had taken I have come up with these. I would appreciate your views and which one you think is the better of the two, if at all either of them. But I am learning so humour me

[Donald]

As one judge claimed at a recent photographic competition I was attending, Photographers are perhaps better described as 'Image Makers' nowadays.

What were they before if not makers of images? The means of achieving the final image may have evolved and developed, but the act of creating a visual representation of a subject resulting from light captured through a lens seems, to me, to be pretty much a constant since Hill & Adamson were in the business of making calotypes.

In terms of your creations, Mike, I don't think there is a 'better' or a 'poorer' one. They are different and create different moods and emotional reactions. Peopel will, of course, 'prefer' one rather than the other, but that is going to be about personal taste.

[tclune]

I much prefer the first. The second is just too busy.

[Geoff F]

I much prefer the first. The second is just too busy.

Yes, my thoughts also. One of those situations where less is more.

The only thing I wounder about is whether that face is fractionally on the dark side. Very little though.

[mikejduk]

Thank you for your input, I feel I have to agree with you about the busyness of the 2nd one. I would have liked a starry background but no lens I have would be capable of capturing such scenery; and I do feel I should only make a composition from images I have taken myself. I will try lightening the mask on the 1st one and see how it looks.

[gaijin]

I must be thick - I don't get any meaning in either of the images: a mask that I associate with the theatre, a world globe representing the Earth as it is today, a sea...? In the first one the mask could, perhaps, just perhaps, represent mankind...

[Kris V]

From a purely visual point of view, I prefer #1.
As for the meaning behind the composition, I'm clueless.

[GVincent]

Like the first image for what it is, second is way to busy makes me dizzy looking at it. Although photoshop isn't for me i appreciate it for what it is and what people can create.

good effort keep at it

[Gospelflier]

I like the first one better. The second one makes me dizzy and nauseous due to the background.

[mikejduk]

Thanks for your input everyone. Not sure I set out with any particular meaning in mind; just a case of trying to merge different images together really. Though I think it was Shakespeare that described the whole world as a stage and perhaps this could be the director looking down on the mess we're making of it

[Magog]

Not sure I set out with any particular meaning in mind; just a case of trying to merge different images together really.

The first thing I thought of, on seeing shot #1, was the iconic sequence of the Earth and the Star Child from "2001 - A Space Odyssey"....

The second thing I thought of was of Man looking on with indifference as the Polar Ice melted.

A very good image Mike.

[chrisletts]

Originally photography was a means to capture a 'likeness' whether that be of people, places, landscapes etc.
These days more and more photography is use merely as the means to achieve an artistic result, and in that respect is more like abstract painting.
For myself I don't like the majority of 'photo-art'. I do however take some issues with those who say they cannot understand the above pictures. You don't have to understand it to like or dislike it !

[GrahamH]

Hi Chris,
I realise you have used 'likeness" with quotation marks.
Was it highlighted to indicate a different meaning to likeness? If so, what definition were you meaning?
Otherwise I read it as "likeness" = image intended from the artist. And from there I'm not sure what point you are trying to make is?
Thanks.
Graham

[Mark von Kanel]

meaning smeening! images and art in general need not have meaning, but appeal to the viewer. There is no right or wrong just opinion. My opinion is that i like no 1 its a nice image and i wish i had your photoshop skills. no 2 however makes me feel that im glad ive not just eaten.... keep up the great work.

[gaijin]

Well, these images certainly can't be likened to abstract paintings - there is nothing abstract about them after all. That being so, and given that they are constituted of several parts, it seemed to me reasonable to believe that there was more to them than a haphazard juxtaposition of these parts. If they had been described as surrealist then that would have made more sense, however poor the result in that context. However, as mere exercises in using Photoshop techniques they clearly do take on a meaning. That being said, if I have to either take them or leave them as images, I choose to leave them.