Kaleidoscape of

Tulips and Chair

7/24/21

    This May PFCC entry started with a photo I took a while ago of yellow tulips in a clear glass base sitting on the seat of a wicker chair with a tall arched back (see below for image straight out of camera). Since I’d worked this images and it’s variations at the time I took the image and was never quite satisfied, I was at a loss of what I could possibly do to to make this image really pop.  When that happens, I usually turn to some kaleidoscope templates that I got from Lloyd Williams Photography. Thank you, Lloyd, so many, many times!

    Like so many other creative blocks, I found that playing with the kaleidoscape smart-object templates to be very relaxing. Each tiny turn or reposition make a whole new design. I usually end up with at least a dozen iterations of the theme, and then have a hard time choosing which to use. As you can see, I chose the six sided template for the tulips.

    After I chose the exactly right kaleidoscape, I ran it through camera raw to spiff it up and add contrast and clarity. I then began to build my background. I started with a color layer the same shade as the dark part of the tulips and added a color layer over that using the lighter shade of the tulips, but with a soft light blend mode. Then I added an abstract light purple bokeh background with a luminosity blend mode. I duplicated that layer and lowered the opacity to about 30% to lighten the background to the “right” color. Next, I added all the yellow and/or orange textures I had in my Flypaper Taster pack (that came included with Adobe’s Paper Texture Pro plug-in) at various blend mode settings and opacities. After that I added a wide, inside stroke to the hexagon with a vivid light blend mode. Looking at the whole thing again today, I wonder if I should add some background at top and bottom to match those of the sides??

    Take care and stay well.