Mixed media collage and photo transfer to canvas
Posted on | January 24, 2012 | No Comments
If you would like to create your own mixed media/collage/photo transfer,
here is how its done:
What you need:
• Inkjet photo (printed on STANDARD PRINTER PAPER) or a laser photocopy of your photo
• Collage materials such as: newspaper or magazine clippings, designer or hand-made papers, wrapping papers, stamps, shopping bags, junk mail etc.
• Acrylic or water paints
• Any type of glue such as school glue, PVA or Mod Podge
• Any type of transfer medium such as Mod Podge or gel medium
• Canvas or wood panel
• A water spray bottle
• UV-resistant clear finish
1) Gather your collage materials and lay them out in a design of your choice on any size canvas or wood panel. Adhere the collage pieces onto the surface using school glue or mod podge.
2) If you are using mod podge make sure to cover the collage pieces with Mod Podge so it doesn’t only adhere the papers to the canvas but also protects it to all eternity (or at least a few years).
3) Once your collage is thoroughly dry you can paint it with watercolor or acrylic paints. I like to use different shades of a color, paint the center with the brightest shade and then go darker toward the edges.
4) The next step is to convert the photo of your choice to black and white. In some cases color photos will work as well but black and white often work better with this process as they stand out more over the background.
5) You can use either a xerox photocopy of your image or an image printed from your inkjet printer. If you are using an inkjet, print out a mirror version of your image into a standard printer paper (not a photo paper!).
Since I decided to work with a 16″X20″ canvas panel I had to divide my photo and print out 4 sheets of 8″X10″ papers.
6) If you are using an inkjet print its a good idea to protect your print with spray fixative to prevent smudging.
7) Next, cover your image with Mod Podge and press it face down into the collage. Rub gently with your fingers to smooth out any air bubbles.
8 ) If you are using an inkjet photo you will have to wait only about an hour or two for the Mod Podge to dry and for the transfer to complete. If you are using a photocopy let it set for a few hours, preferably over night.
9 ) Spray the back of your photo with water and gently remove and rub off the excess paper with your fingers in order to reveal the transfer. If you are using a photocopy you will have to repeat this step as many time as needed until the excess paper is completely gone.
10) At this point you will notice that there might be some paper left behind which is difficult to remove. Also the transfer looks quite rough and does not blend nicely with the background. So in order to better unify the background and the photo transfer, paint over the edges of your transfer using the same color you used for the background. Next you can paint over the white areas of your transfer with similar shades of the background behind them. Water down your paint and dub it onto the white areas with a paper towel. For the smaller areas you can use a cotton swab . Make sure not to paint over the ink (black) parts of your photo, just the white areas where the paper can still be seen.
Take a look at the next picture: The left area was painted while the right side is still covered with the white paper and had not been painted yet.
And this is the final image:
11) Preserve your art work with a protective finish such as “preserve it!” by Krylon for inkjet or Krylon Crystal Clear if you used a toner based photocopy.
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10 .
Tags: acrylic paint > board > canvas > chicago > collage > Image transfer > mixed media > mod podge > panel > paper craft > photo transfer > street
ADDING A CANVAS BACKGROUND LAYER TO YOUR PHOTO
Posted on | January 18, 2012 | No Comments
This method is a quick and simple way to spice up any photo. The best photo choice to use with this technique is practically any photo you like and want to add a special touch to.
The first thing to do is make a quick painting on canvas, and if this part of the process leaves you feeling intimidated, all I can say is: don’t be. Since all you are doing is creating a background layer for your photo the painting does not need to be a masterpiece, just something simple that pleases your eye. If it makes you feel better I, myself, had never done any painting on canvas before and had quite a bit of fun experimenting with it.
Here is an example of a simple painting I made: painting on canvas
It’s a good idea to use an unframed canvas panel no larger than 8” X 10” so it is easy to scan when it’s dry.
You can use any type of paints that work on canvas; I like to use acrylic paints since they dry quite fast.
Next, scan your work of art at 300dpi and open your photo editor.
Now, open the photo you wish to enhance and make sure your layer palette is visible (Paintshop Pro: View/Palettes/layers or F8. Photoshop: window/layers or F7).
Place your scanned canvas painting onto a new layer above the photo layer and blend both images by playing with the transparency settings until you like what you see.
You can find this photo process and many others in my new book: So Much More than Photography – eBook edition is now on sale for $10 .
Tags: brown > canvas > layer > palms > photo art > santa monica > trees
Mixed media collage and inkjet image transfer using Mod Podge
Posted on | January 11, 2012 | 3 Comments
Mixed media collages and photo transfers are fun and quite simple to do .
Here are the basic steps to create your own master piece:
1) Cover a canvas panel with old newspaper and pieces of textured paper (or any other found objects such as tickets or stamps)
2) Add a thin layer of acrylic or watercolor paints. I like to paint the center with brighter colors and use darker colors toward the adges.
3) Next, Convert the photo of your choice (in this case, a picture of an alley in Chinatown in San Francisco) to black and white. pictures with greater contrast are likely to work better as they tend to stand out off the background.
4) Print out a mirror version of your image into a standard printer paper.
5) Spread a nice amount of mod podge on your image and press it face down into the canvas over the collage (make sure the collage is already dry).
6) Wait until the mod podge is completely dry (this may take a few hours). Rub your transfer with wet fingers and gently remove the excess paper to reveal the transfer. If you are using a photocopy instead of inkjet printout you will need to repeat this step a few times until all the paper is completely removed.
7) Preserve your work of art with a protective finish such as “preserve it!” by Krylon.
Tags: acrylic > alley > black and white > chinatown > color > Image transfer > inkjet > mixed media > mod podge > paint > photo transfer > San Francisco > street photo
Hand painted photograph
Posted on | January 1, 2012 | 4 Comments
Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia
Technique: Hand painted photograph on watercolor paper.
(Read more about hand painted photos)
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.
May 2012 be a year of reason and of course lots of great photographs!
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia Technique: Hand painted photograph on watercolor paper.
Cyanotype sun printing from paper negative.
Posted on | December 23, 2011 | 1 Comment
Cyanotype is one of the earliest printing processes that do not use silver coating and therefore quite simple to execute. The printing is done by contact and involves UV rays (i.e the sun), so no need for the darkroom.
You can contact print your negatives or even digital photos printed into film transparency but here I experimented with printing from a paper negative. Paper negative demands a longer exposure in the sun but the final image has a unique fiber-like quality to it.
Spring in Blue
Camera: Minolta SRT / +2 close-up filter
Technique: Cyanotype sun printing from paper negative
Spring in blue. Camera: Minolta SRT / +2 close-up filter Technique: Cyanotype sun printing from paper negative
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Hand colored flowers
Posted on | December 19, 2011 | 3 Comments
Not my usual style but every now and then I try to get out of my comfort zone and photograph something new.
It’s a black and white darkroom print on a semi-matte fiber paper which seemed to be perfect for split toning, but as I ran out of toners I decided that instead of toning I will simply color this print using standard colored pencils.
Hand colored flowers
Original photo taken with a Minolta SRT + Close-up filter
Printed on Arista semi-matte fiber paper.
Colored with standard color pencils.
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Picture of the year award
Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 3 Comments
For my birthday I decided that I will choose my favorite picture for this year.
So I chose this picture here which was taken in Hinsdale, IL and I chose it for a few good reasons;
* It was taken with my favorite camera: Kodak Brownie.
* It was taken on a wonderful day during a trip to the Midwest and it was the first time I traveled with a classic camera. I saw plenty of photographs of Chicago and they were OK but I wanted to create something else and so I knew I need to photograph Chicago with a box camera.
* This photo is a Lith print which is an alternative darkroom printing process and it was printed on a warm tone Fomatone fiber paper.
* I imagined this very photo when I took it.
Hinsdale IL 2011
Camera: Kodak Brownie
Film: tri-x
Paper: Fomatone Classic Matte (warm tone)
Technique: Lith Printing
Tags: box camera > brownie > chicago > darkroom print > favorite picture > Film photography > flipped lens > fomatone > IL > kodak > lith print > midwest > picture of the year > tri-x 400 > vintage camera > warm tone
Photographing the empty streets
Posted on | December 10, 2011 | 1 Comment
When I first arrived to Cleveland I thought I will never find anything to photograph there; it was a hot hot day at the end of Spring and the streets were empty, I mean, no people, no cars, stores are closed and no place to buy a good meal.
It felt like being inside the History Channel’s Life after People documentary.
But as it turned out a city that is on the verge of death, is a sad destination for the average tourist but quite an impressive place for a photographer.
Downtown Cleveland Ohio (Spring 2011) Camera: Minolta SRT Film: Kodak Tri-x
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Aging a color photo with coffee
Posted on | December 9, 2011 | 2 Comments
Aging a color photo is obviously more challenging than making a black and white or a sepia tone image look old – difficult, but not impossible.
Especially if you like coffee.
Now on to the details:
The first step is to un-vibrant (is this a word?) the image so it doesn’t look too vivid. You can do this during scanning or in your image editor by reducing the highlights, saturation, and contrast. Or you can just go for one of your unsuccessful washed-out photos (as you see, unsuccessful doesn’t necessarily mean failed).
The next step is to create an aged looking paper, which I did by using the leftovers of my morning coffee. Really! All you need to do is crumble a paper (I used watercolor paper), soak it in coffee, and let it dry in the sun. Now the same watercolor paper looks like it has seen many years of hardship.
Next, scan the stained paper, open your favorite photo editor and blend it on another layer with your washed out image. And just like before, you will need to play around with the blending and transparency settings until you like what you see.
By the way, if you are not a coffee drinker and prefer tea, no worries; you can do the same process using tea instead of coffee. I’m sure there are many other ways to age a paper such as burning, ink stains, distressed ink, antique solutions, or simply use an actual aged paper from an old book. These are just a few methods to choose from, so simply select whatever works best for you.
As a final touch, you can darken the edges of the photo by using the darken or burn tool in your photo editor.
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ADDING TEXTURE TO A PHOTO
Posted on | December 7, 2011 | 4 Comments
The fastest way to add a new dimension to a picture is to open your photo editor and insert an additional layer of texture. This method is quite simple and mainly involves placing one or more layers that contain texture, on top of your original photo.
In addition to bringing a layer of depth, these textures often introduce the illusion of dust, dirt, stains and creases to the photo and create a final grungy and dramatic appearance.
The texture can be made on the computer, as many of the existing graphics software offer tools for making such textures and backgrounds. However, I find it incomparably effortless to simply scan homemade textures or even designer papers (sometimes called scrapbooking or decorated paper). Often, people prefer to use found textures such as peeling paint, leaves, fabrics, rust or scratched surface, which they capture on film (or digitally) and set as backgrounds for their images.
Whatever textures you choose for your art work, you will blend them in your photo editor on different layers so that your photo will act as the background layer. Play around with the transparency and blending mode settings to let the textures show through your photos.
When blending the textures with your photo, you can insert as many layers as you wish – don’t limit yourself to one type of texture; you can combine as many texture layers as you like for a unique edge.
Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles
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