Autumn… a second spring

Autumn again, and time for me to celebrate the season’s spectacular beauty with a wee bit of photography and calligraphy. I can’t believe that a year has passed since I last did this. It’s actually my third autumn post (view my first and second), so it’s already beginning to feel like a tradition. To be honest, the only reason I feature autumn in a post every year is because it’s my favourite season, and my blog gives me an excuse to wallow awhile in its magic. I do appreciate the other seasons’ merits, but the sights and smells of autumn, to me, are the most evocative.

A few days ago I pulled on my walking boots and began my search for an autumnal scene with potential… one that I could photograph and feature in my still-to-be-written autumn post… but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I wanted atmosphere and colour and composition, but the scene also had to include an inviting empty space into which I could slip an autumn-related quote. The difficulty lay in trying to envisage such a final image, complete with quote, while walking in circles around various trees and mounds of fallen leaves, assessing their potential… a pastime that drew curious glances from a steady stream of dog-walkers.

On top is the original unprocessed photograph, complete with bench and lamp-post. Below shows the photograph after being horizontally flipped, and shows the cropped area that I used (note the absent bench and lamp-post). Click image to increase size.

Fortunately, when I eventually did discover a scene that I thought might work, I was carrying my mobile phone (a Sony Ericsson Xperia which has an absolutely amazing camera) so I was able to capture the scene without attracting too much attention. I intentionally snapped a bigger area than I would need (see top image on left), so that I could experiment with the composition. The resolution on my phone’s camera is so good that I was able crop the image at a later stage without losing too much definition.

As you can see, the original unprocessed photo definitely wouldn’t win any photography awards, but I saw potential in the golden-leaved tree and its carpet of fallen leaves, and I was able to manipulate the image quite easily on my iMac to suit my requirements.

First, I tweaked the basic image’s Levels and Curves in Photoshop, then I cloned out the bench and the lamp post behind the tree. Using PhotoTools, a Photoshop plug-in, I gave the image an instant HDR effect. I then placed two different textured layers above the image and set one to ‘overlay,’ and one to ‘hard light.’ Utilising the Rule of Thirds, I cropped the image’s dimensions to zoom in on the tree, then added the distressed border. Finally, I flipped the image horizontally, simply because I felt the quote would look best on the left side of the tree.

All that was left to do was find the perfect quote to write and insert into the image, but that task proved as difficult as finding the perfect photo. After reading dozens and dozens of autumn-related quotes, I eventually drew up a short list of four worthy contenders. I chose, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” because I thought those sentiments best complimented the image.The other contenders, which I’ll hold onto till next autumn, were…

 “Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground.” (Andrea Gibson)

 “Autumn… the year’s last, loveliest smile.” (William Cullen Bryant)

 “Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.” (Chad Sugg)

With those three quotations already in the bag, all I have to do next October is search for another appropriate scene to photograph. But even if the perfect scene proves as elusive as this year’s, I can think of few better ways to spend autumn afternoons than wandering through my local park, camera in hand. Particularly when ‘every leaf is a flower.’

Amazing the difference a few days makes!

POSTSCRIPT

Today, I became aware of the fleetingness of Autumn’s beauty when I walked past the tree featured in the above post. Unbelievably, during the few days since I photographed the tree with its abundance of golden leaves, it has become stripped of its splendour, and its branches are now almost bare as shown on the left. Since it was more by luck than by design that I stumbled upon the tree in all its glory, I feel fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. Hopefully, I’ll be just as fortunate in my hunt for the perfect autumn scene next year!

Harmony in Autumn

I can’t believe that a year has passed since my last Autumn post… where does the time go? So with only a few weeks left in November, I thought I’d better get cracking with a new piece of autumnal calligraphy, before winter sets in and I miss the boat!

Even though my main passion in life is for calligraphy, I love photography, and I get kind of snap-happy in Autumn. There is so much colour to capture at this time of the year. And I love to marry my two interests by using my photographs as backgrounds for my hand-lettering. I enjoy searching for that certain scene that will eventually lend itself to an appropriate quotation. I can’t think of a more satisfying way to create original artwork.

A professional photographer once shared a tip with me. He told me, “when you’re out walking, looking for subjects to photograph, every once in a while stop and look behind you. If you don’t, you never know what amazing shot you might miss.”

So, on a recent walk through Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, I followed his advice. I stopped on the path, turned around, and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was Glasgow University Tower rising high above me, perfectly framed between the bare branches of surrounding trees. It couldn’t have been better positioned if I had asked it to pose for me. There were golden leaves everywhere, and the darkening sky just added to the mood. So I raised my camera, took the shot, and hoped for the best.

I later imported the snap into Photomatix, (HDR software) where I tweaked the controls to emphasise the autumn golds, and to make the sky heavier and more moody.

I then imported the snap into Photoshop, where I placed textured layers above it and altered their blending modes to “hue” and “soft light” to create a monotone effect, with emphasis on complementary shades of gold and brown.

The bottom third of the photograph was almost entirely free of foliage, making it the perfect place to position my hand-lettered autumn-related quotation. I used the colour-picker to sample the colour of some leaves on the right, and transferred the colour to the focal point, “harmony in autumn.” I coloured the remaining text in a more neutral shade, just to provide some much-needed relief to the vivid autumn colours that dominate the photograph.

See the finished piece at the head of this post.

I used a similar technique to manipulate the photograph featured above, that I took of Glasgow University while standing on a bridge over the River Kelvin. The only difference being that I applied a horizontal gradient effect to “watch the leaves turn,” in an effort to simulate the changing colour of leaves in autumn.

These images were a lot of fun to create, both calligraphically and photographically (and, of course, photoshopically), and I’m really pleased with how they turned out.

So, coming soon is my traditional “Winter” post. I must remember to stop and look behind me in the hope of discovering further serendipitous photo-opportunities… weather permitting!

A magical event

Last September I posted a piece of calligraphy that I created to celebrate Autumn. At the time I wrote, “now that I’ve covered Autumn, I feel committed to creating a further three pieces of artwork to complete the seasonal set. Watch out for Winter, Spring and Summer appearing sometime within the next 12 months.”

Famous last words!

The original photograph, before being cropped and texturised. Note the metal fence on the left side, that I removed using the clone tool in Photoshop.

I did take photographs during the heavy snowfall in November, with a view to using them as a background for my calligraphy, but somehow never got around to creating the “Winter” piece that I promised. Now that the crocus and daffodils are making their presence known, I have made a rather belated effort to get back on track. Especially since I have to start thinking about a “Spring” piece soon.

I took the original photograph of a row of trees in a local park, just after a particularly heavy snowfall, and imported it into Adobe Photoshop. I wrote out the quotation in Italics (using black ink), then scanned it, and incorporated it into the artwork. I coloured the lettering white and applied a subtle drop-shadow to it. I overlaid the photograph with a number of different textures that I tinkered with in layer blending mode. A few of the textures that I used are available from Kim Klassen Cafe, an excellent website to visit if, like me, you enjoy texturising your photographs.

Now I’m hoping that some inspiration for my “Spring” piece will come my way. Hopefully it won’t take till August to arrive.

EDIT, 9th March… woke up to find an unexpected dusting of snow outside this morning, so maybe I’m not so late with this post after all!

Calligraphy takes flight

Having an interest in graphic design, I subscribe to “Living Design,”  a tremendous resource for creative and curious minds.

While reading their latest post this morning, I was drawn to the leading photograph, a beautifully vibrant calligraphic letter “O” reproduced above. I immediately assumed that the blog’s author, Asif R Naqvi, had produced a feature on calligraphy.

Not so.

Despite the “O” being created with Sumi calligraphy ink, the calligraphic shape didn’t evolve from a pen or brush, but from high-speed strobe equipment that photographs liquid in mid-flight. Remarkably, the beautiful “O” is ink that was photographed while suspended in mid-air, and its creator is not a calligrapher but a photographer called Shinichi Maruyama who has developed a fascination for liquid and motion imagery.

The full “Living Design” article featuring Maruyama’s art is here. In particular, look out for the brief, but stunning, slow-motion video that shows Maruyama creating his fantastic water sculptures.

As someone who writes with a medium nib much of the time, all I can say is “WOW” to the sheer scale of the calligraphic shape being created by Maruyama above. The photograph is reminiscent of the scale and vibrancy of the lettering by calligrapher Denis Brown.

See more examples of Shinichi Maruyama’s incredible water sculptures here.

Fall is the Artist

With leaves now beginning to fall from the trees, and a sudden chill in the air, I was inspired to create a piece of calligraphy to celebrate Autumn.

My original photo. Despite its apparent mediocrity, I knew it would come in handy!

I dug out this photograph of a (Rowan?) tree that I captured while in the Lake District a few Decembers ago, as I felt it was the perfect image to feature in the artwork. In Photoshop, I experimented with layer styles to achieve a “weathered” look that I thought conjured an Autumnal feel.

A quick Google search produced the perfect short quotation, which I wrote out in Italics (using black ink), scanned, and incorporated into the artwork. I coloured the word “Autumn” white, and applied a subtle drop-shadow to it. I then used the colour-picker in Photoshop to sample the tree’s red berries, and applied that colour to the quotation to tie the words and image together. A transparent gradient at the bottom of the image allows the calligraphy to stand out. A scattering of autumn-shaded leaves in the foreground completes the image.

Only thing is, now that I’ve covered Autumn, I feel committed to creating a further three pieces of artwork to complete the seasonal set. Watch out for Winter, Spring and Summer appearing sometime within the next 12 months.

HDR photography with calligraphy

During those rare periods when I’m not involved with calligraphy, I enjoy taking photographs and manipulating them using Photoshop or Photomatix Pro software.

I recently captured the Edinburgh skyline from high on Calton Hill, and created an HDR image from the photograph using Photomatix. I then experimented by hand-lettering an Edinburgh-related quotation and incorporating it into the image, making use of the empty section of sky at top right. The result is shown above. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but the creative process was fun (and that, I believe, is what’s important!).

Find out more about HDR photography at one of my favourite websites, Stuck In Customs.

See amazing examples of HDR photography at Chromasia.

Find out more about Photomatix Pro here.

I own an excellent book on the subject … “A World in HDR”, by Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs. Find out more about the book here.