Nerd Shots

Fractal Work by Mary Stebbins Taitt

2009-08-28T10:12:00.003-04:00

Fractal computer art is an art form.. let there be no mistake about that.

Yes, the image is created and exists (until printed) as electrons dancing in a box and on a screen, frozen in that dance, the dance itself determined ALMOST by random chance. Fractal geometries are based on the mathematics of nature herself and are interesting in that, like nature, the patterns persist at every scale, small to large, and therefore are not random and chaotic but instead random and yet organized and, as noted here, extremely beautiful to the human eye and brain.

God works through art such as this, make no mistake about THAT, either.

2009-06-09T12:55:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you get a photo that is pretty impressive but just too dense, kinda like a really overdressed movie idol who can't spell.

The bottom shot was impressive but didn't speak in clear tones. It had a lot of reflection effect, unfortunately, TOO much. To me that was overkill when mated up with text... the picture image would compete with the writing I wanted to do with it. So, I thought, crop out a nice portion that is simpler.

I uploaded the picture to the Paint program and used the selection feature to "grab" the part which kind of looked like the shore of an island, losing most of the distracting reflection effect of the original shot and gaining a great focus on the colors and the essence of the shot. Your eye could now capture the image more quickly and it made a more concise impression.

Sometimes less is much more... and I think a lot of modern graphic designers are going back to that as witnessed by the increasing use of simple, almost cartoonish images in many magazine ads and sprinkled iconic colored graphic illustrations in the text areas, too. It's a fresh look, using broad simple colored backgrounds or plain white rather than a lot of cluttered backgrounds.

Nothing's new, of course.... they did all this stuff back in the early days to illustrate all sorts of periodicals in one to three colors, where the images had to remain relatively simple. If you recall the early black and white Volkwagon ads or the placard ads in restaurants in the fifties for Coca Cola or certain brands of hot dogs or whatever, THEY used the principle of simplicity, never claiming to be high art. And the effect worked fine.

We can put photos in graphic framing or attention-getting backgrounds and mimic the same thing, which is kind of what this posting is all about.

2009-05-31T13:29:00.002-04:00

Picassa 3 is a neat program to experiment with. I don't normally use the "retouch" function (which allows for the removal of blemishes, etc). This lady's face did NOT need THAT! However, when I moved the brush width to maximum and disturbed the image slightly on the right portion of her face I noticed that the right side locks of her HAIR jogged to the left at a certain critical location. I'd restyled her hair electronically!

COOL! I said to myself, and saved the result. I cropped her face tight and applied sharpening, film grain and messed with virtually all the other effects to get what you see. Note that I definitely altered the color temperature... this allows a lot of surprising color effects to pop out when a picture has been sharpened (which increases contrast and depletes the number of discrete pixels... kind of an Andy Warhol effect.)

Every image is a combination of two things... shape (or form) and color. A photograph is not a single image but thousands of individual images (call these pixels if you want) arranged in some organized way. Our eye captures this organization and our brain compares it with previous experience stored in memory. That's seeing.

Is seeing believing? Maybe, maybe not... but when you see something that strikes a deep chord within you (in the case above: beauty, life, joy) it translates to emotion. You are either attracted or repelled by striking photowork. You are never bored!!

Elphie the Eloquent

2009-05-16T12:26:00.002-04:00

Gail Slaughter's two cats, Hybrow and Elphaba, are nearly alike, both being essentially black, but Hybrow has some white markings and therefore I can tell them apart. This picture is obviously Elphie, but something was perhaps amiss because I don't remember her so fierce when they all lived back here in Michigan. I can't say for sure but I think having the Terminator for your Governor may have some side effects...

Mermaid Manipulation

2009-05-16T12:10:00.004-04:00

The "Dude" is at it again... the top image is a creation accomplished with the cropping and effects available in Picassa 3. Almost. It also required smudging and sharpening in Microsoft Photo Editor. I find that MPE is fairly crude but in some instances these crude effects can be used to your advantage.

No, I don't really appreciate the changes introduced when Picassa 2 became Picassa 3, but when you are getting stuff for free, you have to accept what is out there and just view it as a challenge.

Gail Slaughter of California sent me the photo from her back garden, by the way. She has a thing for elves and fairies and for wizards and witches, too, I suppose, except we all know that only elves have any sense.

EXOBIG...Earthlike planet found

2009-05-01T10:31:00.003-04:00

s

sOOOO COOL!

Finding something earthlike out there in the universe has to be a thrill for whoever manages to do that. But this is merely a computer generated mockup drawing, since we cannot literally "eyeball" or even photograph anything so darn far away.

Even the Hubble "telescope" really cannot "see" so much as think. Why? The very faint photons of light the Hubble "sees" must be computer-enhanced (interpreted) to show colors in spectrum. Space colors are not possible without a little creativity. Space is really mostly black and bright white... colors such as "green" and "red" and "blue" and "yellow" are possible only with OUR eyes in OUR atmosphere, and that's it. To make Hubbles's photos palatible to our sensititive eyes we "doctor" them extensively.

Oh... without heavy filters on our space helmets' visors, space would blind us. No protective atmosphere.

Be thankful God made air!!!!!

Ywe

Gail's Art Critic

2009-05-01T10:15:00.004-04:00

This "final" version I created by selectively choosing portions of one of Gail's photographs in the Paint program, and copying cat parts. I could then "flip/rotate" and piece them back together symmetrically to make a whole cat!!

Moving the drawing into position was easy... just select and move. I used "color select" and "paintbrush" mode to make the grey areas uniform...

Cat as Catch Can

2009-04-30T10:54:00.005-04:00

Whoo haw!!! some time to blog!!!! AMAZING!!!

Gail sent me a pic from Cally forn i ya of her pussy cat (Elphie) poised to spring away from the camera, and with her latest artwork from the drawing class she's taking displayed (accidentally?) behind the puss.

I decided to see if I could isolate these two and piece them together again. I am showing the steps here...first paint out ther extraneous stuff. (in this case, using color-matched gray of the notepad paper.)

A Message to my Love, of my Love

2009-04-02T10:36:00.001-04:00

Fractal Flowers 536

2009-02-02T17:33:00.003-05:00

Mary Stebbins Taitt worked up this fractal computer painting and sent it to me, maybe as an early Valentine. Me being me, I did a little extra goofing with it in the Paint program, too, but the essence and substance is all Mary's.

Three Generations---

2008-10-20T22:14:00.008-04:00

Gail Slaughter, her son and the third generation pose for a New York City photo, and then Gail sends it to me. Big Mistake!!!

(Picasa and Paint Effects)

Sharpened Watercolor Flowers 1053

2008-08-30T22:52:00.004-04:00

I did this on Microsoft Photo Editor from a beautiful flower photo sent me today by Gail in California, without whom I am nothing...........

---m---

"Dune 740"

2008-08-05T18:24:00.009-04:00

Gail Slaughter of California took the beautiful dune shot to the left and sent it to me, knowing full well, perhaps, that I would take that beauty and mess it up with my OWN version, seen below.

How did I get so much sky?

Well, in Microsoft Photo Editor you can select a portion of a picture, copy just that section, and move it around. In this case I took a hunk of ground and all the sky I could, then copied that section lower down, repeat repeat repeat until I had pasted a whole lotta sky over the sand. (The "SMUDGE" tool works great for blending out lines and gaps and irregularities to make the effects look fairly seamless.)

"The Mind of Mary 1245"

2008-03-30T12:40:00.004-04:00

Mary Taitt sent me a sketch of a "Zen Rooster" she did, and I pictured her mind at work doing it for this posting. Again, just a way of having fun with the Paint program. And OpenOffice, and Picasa, and a few other tricks those of us lacking Photoshop play with.

"Andree's Visitor"

2008-03-29T01:55:00.004-04:00

This is a small "test" version of a larger posting Andree in Vermont is presently working on. It's a picture of a hairy woodpecker at her birdfeeder. Sometimes I do such things just to "try out" a given layout or composition, and see what's what. The poetry is by ME!

"Rainbow Easter Dream 1115"

2008-03-28T23:13:00.005-04:00

(Derived from computer art by Mary Stebbins Taitt)

"That Face 1115"

2008-03-27T00:42:00.010-04:00

Computer rendering in Picassa and Paint, by Michael Serafin, from a sketch by Mary Stebbins Taitt

"Sunflower Art" by Mary Stebbins Taitt

2008-03-19T01:15:00.002-04:00

"Trinidad Beach 1058"

2008-03-18T10:57:00.004-04:00

Original photo: Gail Slaughter

Framing and effects: yours truly

"An Irish Rainbow"

2008-03-17T08:45:00.002-04:00

The top picture is by Mary Stebbins Taitt (a detail of a larger work). Below is my St. Patrick's day greeting which was created from Mary's painstaking work. Incidentally, Mary tells me her Leprechaun was originally a picture of a Slovenian statue. Weird people over there!

"Skyking Project" in Picasa

2008-03-14T15:13:00.008-04:00

The effects shot shown at the top of the post lacked something when it was taken as a crop from a larger work. What to do, what to do. Finally I rotated the image and then applied various color schemes. The extraneous detail was lost by oversaturating, and then the image was sharpened and tinted several ways. The result was a nice bunch of backgrounds for something else later!

"Of Two Opinions"

2008-03-11T18:52:00.006-04:00

Which is "real" and which false? (Silly questions around HERE!)

The top version, if you look closely, has more "water" in it than the lower one. It was added in the Paint program using color matching and the Pencil function. With that much more water, for better balance it needed a reflection of the sun in the water, and then I wanted to recrop it. To do this, the whole right edge of the shot had to be "painted out" wider to match the original colors. (Which, if truth be known, aren't in the "original", either!)

"Open Door" from a shot by Mary Stebbins Taitt

2008-03-05T00:19:00.005-05:00

"Tennielle Revisited"

2008-03-03T13:53:00.007-05:00

Sir John Tenniell(e) was the illustrator who closely cooperated with Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) in creating "Alice's Adventures Underground" and "Through the Looking Glass", otherwise known as "Alice in Wonderland".

(original, enhanced)

"Fiske School Project"

2008-03-03T13:34:00.007-05:00

This is not an original photograph or a painting...not exactly, anyway. It is really BOTH. Andree in Vermont took a photo of Fiske School. I cropped the photo and adjusted it in Picasa. I then exported the result to Paint, where I retouched it to hide a TV antenna in the shot.

"Fiske S'cool Cupola"

2008-03-03T02:14:00.006-05:00

(Original photo: Andree in Vermont----Picasa work: Michael in Michigan)

"Commercial 532"

2008-03-02T05:28:00.001-05:00

"Doorway Rainbow" by Mary Stebbins Taitt

2008-03-02T05:25:00.004-05:00

Fine art? It's fine with me!

2008-03-02T05:05:00.006-05:00

The Engraver's art is handled by us every day in the form of fives, tens, and twenties, and we take little notice of the craftsmanship involved. Sometimes it takes an extraordinary example to begin to open our eyes wider and start to appreciate the skill and exquisite taste of the designers of our currency.

"Project 1910"

2008-03-01T13:07:00.005-05:00

What does it MEAN? Who says it means ANYTHING? Maybe I was just having fun! You be the judge!

"Wordless Wednesday...Approaching Storm 840"

2008-02-26T21:25:00.001-05:00

"Wordless Wednesday...Approaching Storm"

2008-02-26T20:31:00.001-05:00

My new (est) blog

2008-02-24T14:06:00.002-05:00

Do you like "blonde jokes?" Click here:

http://callingallblondes.blogspot.com/

"Total Lunar Eclipse"

2008-02-21T19:34:00.002-05:00

This wonderful photograph was taken by my excellent friend and colleague Mary Stebbins Taitt during the Total Lunar Eclipse of February 20-21, 2008. It is an enlargement of an original taken with a Canon EOS 30D with a 300mm telephoto lens, so she informs me. The temperature was only about 6 degrees but that was a GOOD thing...the atmosphere was clear and cold. (She was in Detroit, Michigan.)
(all reproduction rights reserved: Mary Stebbins Taitt. Used by special permission.)

"The Mars Effect"

2008-02-21T19:32:00.002-05:00

Effects: Michael Serafin
Original photograph: Mary Stebbins Taitt.
(all rights reserved)

"Detroit Skyline with Ghosts"

2008-02-20T03:45:00.001-05:00

This is an interesting composition by Mary Stebbins Taitt of the skyline along the Detroit River, accomplished with the help of................magic! from http://imagik.blogspot.com/

"Jungle Fortress 104"

2008-02-12T01:05:00.002-05:00

In this Picasa Experiment a small detail from Mary Stebbins Taitt's Lighthouse underwent a transformation in its digital state, with the result you see here.

"Grosse Pointe Lighthouse"

2008-02-11T23:30:00.003-05:00

This creative work by Mary Stebbins Taitt is a digital collage assembled from four separate elements (and a lot of careful computer work) to obtain what you see here. You can learn more about the work and how it was done (and about Mary herself) by clicking on the title of this posting.

"Senufo at the DIA"

2008-02-11T13:21:00.002-05:00

Mary Stebbins Taitt sent in this report of a visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts (one of her favorite places): "It was very cold and windy, the sidewalks were icy, and there was blowing snow, so we walked in the DIA and looked around. I participated in a workshop on Senufo, an African artform. I joined near the end, so didn't have as much time as the others to learn about it, but I had fun anyway." Mary sent in this picture to show us.

"The Inner Beast"

2008-02-09T21:27:00.002-05:00

If you look closely, you'll see the artist as she sees herself (at least sometimes!)

Original art by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

http://imagik.blogspot.com/

"Polar Coordinates Terrarium"

2008-02-09T21:14:00.002-05:00

This beautiful image was created by Mary Stebbins Taitt with Photoshop CS.

"Approaching Storm 840"

2008-02-09T20:41:00.001-05:00

This is an image created in Photoshop CS and colorized and cropped with Picasa.

The original was by Mary Stebbins Taitt.

This is a detail generated by Mike Serafin.

"Astrolabe 1210"

2008-02-09T13:06:00.000-05:00

An astrolabe was an elaborate three-dimensional apparatus used since ancient times to help chart the course of the stars and planets.

This vision was derived from a work by Mary Stebbins Taitt, and was processed on Picasa.

The finished original, "Equisetum Globe" can be viewed on Mary's blog http://imagik.blogspot.com/

"Self Portrait"

2008-02-06T00:19:00.000-05:00

The artist on too much caffeine? This is an experimental shot done with a Kodak C513

and processed with KodakGallery and Picasa.

It was taken through a store window and reflected from a mirror within "A Frame Above", in Jackson, Michigan.

Photo and effects by:

Mike Serafin

"Moonship"

2008-02-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit: http://www.nlpu.com/

Found at: http://hiraya.co.nr/

Thanks to Mary Stebbins Taitt for the reference!

"Sun King"

2008-02-02T03:46:00.000-05:00

This is a Picasa treatment of a photo by Gail Slaughter.

"Blue View"

2008-02-02T03:45:00.000-05:00

This a Picasa treatment of a photograph taken by Gail Slaughter.

"Icicle Detail 1"

2008-02-01T15:40:00.001-05:00

Photo: Dennis Whitehead

Crop and process: Adobe

By: Michael Serafin

"Tree Circle"

2008-02-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

Is this a cosmic tambourine? Not exactly. It's a new work by Kate Jackson, of Messing, England. Also see "Circle of Hearts" below for more information. Kate's link is

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=69463

"Circle of Hearts"

2008-02-01T07:02:00.000-05:00

"Circle of Hearts"---a new project by Mary Stebbins Taitt, in a technique which was suggested to her by Kate Jackson.

I understand from Mary that this project is "still under construction", and we may see updates later.

MARY SAYS: "After seeing Kate's tree circle, and loving it I wanted to learn that technique. I tried several earlier attempts from which I learned this: to get a full circle using Polar Coordinates, you need to use a square and place the items you want to make a circle of about 1/4 of the way up the square, all the way across. Then you simply apply the Polar Coordinates filter in Photoshop and presto, you have a circle. A little tweaking of the elements ahead of time seems to produce the best results. You want them to be even and symmetrical for the best results."

See more of Mary's work at http://imagik.blogspot.com/

"NOVA" Experiments

2008-01-30T03:43:00.001-05:00

All of these renditions were derived from one photo source original, and processed with Picasa to achieve all the varied effects seen.

You could go on by retinting the maze and blowing the image up farther.....MS

Top: "JUPITER C"

2nd: "NOVA I"

3rd: "NOVA II"

4th: "SUNSKIN"

5th: "MAZE of NORAD"

"Arcata in Sepia"

2008-01-29T20:29:00.001-05:00

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Sepia work: Michael Serafin

"Sky King"

2008-01-29T20:23:00.001-05:00

Detail of Photo by: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Earth 2809"

2008-01-29T20:10:00.001-05:00

Original Photography: Gail Slaughter

Colorization and effects: Michael Serafin

"Trinidad Detail 801"

2008-01-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects: Michael Serafin

"Downtown Venus"

2008-01-29T19:49:00.001-05:00

Digital Distortion

"painting" by Michael Serafin

"Purple Target 722"

2008-01-29T19:23:00.000-05:00

Photo: Gail Slaughter (michigan)

Effects: Michael Serafin

"Land, Sea, or Air?"

2008-01-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

Photo by: Gail Slaughter (michigan)

Rendered by: Michael Serafin

"Greybeach Inferno"

2008-01-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

Photo Origin: Mary Stebbins Taitt

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Fossil 548"

2008-01-29T17:53:00.001-05:00

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Sunset in Fog"

2008-01-29T11:05:00.001-05:00

"Sunset in Fog" was created by photographer, computer artist and writer Mary Stebbins Taitt and sent to me for my "collection" here.

"Sun King"

2008-01-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

Photography: Gail Slaughter (california)

Color Enhancement by: Michael Serafin

"Foolin"

2008-01-29T10:31:00.000-05:00

Original Photo by: Gail Slaughter (california)

Color Enhancement by: Michael Serafin

"SunSet"

2008-01-29T09:22:00.000-05:00

Original Photography by: David Pierce

(I use it as my desktop background, in case you're that curious.)

"Warm Winter Villa"

2008-01-29T09:17:00.000-05:00

Original Photo by: Mary Stebbins Taitt...........Enhanced by Michael Serafin

"Jackstraws in Winter"

2008-01-29T09:10:00.000-05:00

Original Photo by: Mary Stebbins Tait.........Enhanced by Michael Serafin

"Sunset Red Vertical"

2008-01-29T09:06:00.000-05:00

Original Photo by: Gail Slaughter

Effects by: Michael Serafin

"Sunset in Black and White..."

2008-01-29T08:59:00.000-05:00

Photographed by Gail Slaughter and rendered in B & W by Michael Serafin