Album Textured Images from Janet Brien

96/366: Textured Rose

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 03:09:58 +0000

This was a fragrant rose that was growing in a friend's garden. Steve and I were invited to visit a couple of years ago and I was nearly overwhelmed by all the beautiful plants and flowers growing there.

I was struggling with this image so I tried adding texture, and thought the result turned out nicely. :)

25/366: Mushroom Drama

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 02:35:35 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

How many times have you captured a subject that looked good at the time but when you looked at the picture later, you ended up passing it by because the background was too busy? Back in November 2013, I found just that situation!

This beautiful mushroom was sitting in a spot with many bushes, leaves and sticks, grass and other things around that took all the attention away from it. Even as I was taking the picture, I knew what I'd do to save this image... textures to the rescue!! By replacing the entire background, I was able to show off the mushroom the way I'd hoped!

279/365: "Dogs are the Gods of Frolic." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 04:15:06 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

2 more picture above in notes! :)

Oh, what a gorgeous, sunny morning it was! With a day like this, I simply HAD to go on a walk along the ridge line! So, I grabbed my camera and called for Zoe and Moosie to join me, and up the hill we trudged, all of us delighted and overjoyed at the opportunity to go on an adventure! I decided that since it was Sunday, I would take all the time I wanted. I wandered along, parting my way through the tall grass that grew on the trail, looking at everything that caught my eye, and taking pictures as I went. However, I had just as much fun watching the dogs as I did enjoying my photography!

Without question, the trail along the ridge line is our favorite walk. There's a special energy up there and we are all extremely happy whenever we are there. Moosie is a scent-hound, so he is in heaven as he checks out everything along the trail. Zoe is overflowing with energy, and can run all over the place to her heart's content, though she always stays nearby. The two of them are best friends and love each other dearly. It's such fun to watch them as we go along, and there are always several chasing sessions for me to cackle at with a grin from ear to ear as I watch, my eyes twinkling with mirth. Zoe will goad Moosie by yanking an ear, and then he'll take off in hot pursuit, ears flapping and legs churning as he tries hopelessly to catch her! Zoe makes it easy on him though because she's easily 2-3 times faster than he is, and slows down so he can catch her with a chomp on a back leg to pull the devilish prey down. Then it's a battle to the death as Moosie jumps up and down on Zoe, baying at her in outrage, and she rolls around on her back in supreme happiness, mouth gaping, tongue lolling, and chomping back at him. It is a joy for me to see them so happy. We had such a good time today, I had to dedicate my Picture of the Day to them! :D (The textures I used were SM262010-3 and PaperBox, both from Jerry Jones! Thanks Jerry! :)

(Regarding this quote, the exact wording is, "The dog is the god of frolic." I thought it would be ok to change it slightly to makes better sense! :)

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. Wikipedia: George Bernard Shaw

237/365: "Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you." ~ Langston Hughes

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 03:48:45 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

3 more pictures in notes above!

I awoke at 4 in the morning to the sound of heavy rain falling on the roof and pattering against our windows. This was a real storm...in AUGUST! The rain continued on and off until about 11:00am when the brooding clouds reluctantly moved on, leaving an overcast sky and a blissfully cooler day as a lingering reminder. I loved the fresh air, fragrant with moistened dry grass and clay soil, and the way it felt outside, as if everything was giving a big sigh of relief from the hot and oppressivly dry days of August.

I decided to share a picture of rainwater pouring out of a gutter and a picture of our bird bath where the large droplets splashed and created big bubbles on the surface! Really neat to see. For this picture, I added texture to the background and changed the color of the water to a much bluer tone, as it was a very grey day and I wanted to make the water pretty! :) Thanks to Jerry Jones for "P-7"

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue". Wikipedia: Langston Hughes

Explored on August 26, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

The Gorgeous Blue Mud Dauber Wasp in Repose

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 03:48:19 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

1 more picture above in a note! :)

The other night I got up to use the bathroom in the dark, and on the way out, I kicked something with my foot. I turned the light on and found this awesome looking wasp. It must have found its way into the house and died, but I thought it was too pretty to just toss in the trash. Before I took pictures, I washed the dust off as best as I could, and when I looked at the images, I realized it still had droplets of water on it! I decided to turn this into a textured piece, and I had so much fun with this picture that I made the other one into a textured piece as well! :)

Thanks to Jerry Jones for Notaclue 1 and Fire Damage 10-21-09 TOTD # 87

From Wiki:
The blue mud dauber is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders. It does not build a nest, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. Like other mud daubers, it is rarely aggressive.

If you would like to know more about this beautiful wasp, I found a fascinating page about this wasp here: Bug Eric's Wasp Wednesday: Blue Mud Dauber

The Beautiful Blue Mud Dauber Wasp: Back View

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 03:48:03 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

I was amazed at the beauty of this wasp, and I was so happy to capture the iridescent colors in this image. I had no idea a wasp could be so pretty!

Thanks to Jerry Jones for October Square Set # 11 and Sunrise

Textured Poppy, Dedicated to Jerry Jones! (SkeletalMess on Flickr)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 03:00:03 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

1 more picture in a note above! :)

Ever since I got the hang of working with textures, I've found myself wanting to use them whenever I have an excuse! One of the only things I didn't like about moving from Flickr was losing the wealth of texture groups there, along with the thousands of amazing images to use, free of charge. However, I did find a nice texture group on ipernity, and after I posted a picture last night that used a texture I found there, I was told that a hugely popular texture artist had moved most of his textures here to ipernity!! Known as "Skeletal Mess" on Flickr (among other names), Jerry Jones has a seemingly bottomless pit of creative and awesome textures and other cool stuff to use with images. He generously allows anyone to use his artwork, provided they don't steal and repost as their own, etc. With people like Jerry, KaySeeArr and the many other creative and generous folks here at ipernity, there is absolutely no reason to both with Flickr anymore!! HOORAY!

After looking at some of Jerry's textures, I was so excited that I ended up using three of them for pictures today! My Picture of the Day is one, this is another, and my other poppy picture has one too! THANK YOU JERRY!!! :D

Texture used in this image:
OldPhoto1 by Jerry Jones (SkeletalMess on Flickr)

Beautiful White & Blush Poppy

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 02:59:31 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Poppies are so beautiful with droplets on them, and this lovely blossom has such bright yellow pollen all on the stamens!

I added some texture to the background: thanks to Jerry Jones for Fire Damage 10-21-09 TOTD # 87

Textured Hawkweed Blossom

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 01:20:51 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

If you've been visiting my stream for a while, you've probably noticed how much I love taking pictures at angles that are not common. This is a favorite, which is a near-side angle, focusing on just the petal edges and letting the rest of the flower drift away into bokeh. It's a bit challenging to get right. Too much depth of field and the rest of the flower is too clear. Too little depth of field and you don't get crisp focus on all the petals you're highlighting. It took me about half a dozen pictures to get this right, partly because there was a breeze and these flowers are on very long stems that never stop moving! Hilarious that I got it! :D

The background was a solid, soft beige and I thought it would be perfect for a texture. I used to get all my textures over on Flickr but I just can't do it anymore...it's so slow over there, it's stupid. However, I'm delighted to say that ipernity has a couple of texture groups which offer free textures too. There are also many fun texture-based groups here as well if you want to learn more about this! Texture groups on ipernity

Here's some technical information about how I created this picture!
The texture I found was made by the extremely talented KaySeeArr and this is the image: #13 - FaceOfSol.... I altered the texture mostly by desaturating it to get closer to the beige background, and then I applied a canvas texture to it as well. The texture is at about 50% opacity so that it blended into the background nicely, and the flower petals are sitting on a layer above the other layers! :D
(To use a texture like this, which is made available to use at its largest size, choose the option "Download the photo (original size)". You can then open it in Photoshop and paste it onto its own layer in the picture file you're working on!)

Artistic Challenge: Psychedelic Beetle

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:05:15 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

2 more images above in notes! :D

Not long after I joined ipernity, I met a very talented lady who loves to create collages of images, using Photoshop and her fabulous imagination to create incredible artwork! I have long-admired people who can do this well, and I let her know what I thought! Barbara (Plumnuts) wrote back and told me that she is involved in groups devoted to this kind of artwork and wondered if I would be interested in trying one for fun. When I said, "BRING IT!" she supplied me with a texture she made with cicada wings, and told me to go have some fun!

This is my first attempt at such a thing, and although it's only a blend of two subjects, there were many layers involved and a lot of manipulation and fooling around to get to this result. I didn't want to try adding too many elements for my first project, but the next one I try will have at least three elements! (I hope to use this same texture with some other images...I have something in mind, we'll see if it works out! I'm still buried in work so I won't be working on it for another week probably)

By the way, Barbara posted two amazing collages using her cicada wings textures, take a look!
Things that Lurk at Night in the Jungle in 3D
Waking Leaf Fairy

If this kind of challenge sounds like fun and you'd like to try your own version, here's a link to the cicada wings texture over on Flickr: Cicada Wings: Free Texture Let one of us know that you've created your own image so we can appreciate what you've made!! :)

Emerging Poppy with Oil Paint Texture

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:27:25 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

While I was taking pictures, I found this tiny poppy with half of its pod casing missing. Being only about 1/3" in size, and very low to the ground, I hoped to take an interesting picture which included some of the other plants and flowers nearby. I wanted to try a textured image and after trying several filters, Photoshop's "Oil Paint" filter was just what I was after! I hope you like it too! :)

Textured Rose in Color

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:01:41 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Here is the textured rose image in color. Do you like either image better? Or neither? :) By the way, in case you're interested in the texture, I used Photoshop's Filter Gallery: Texture: Texturizer: Canvas: 4 relief, top light.

Textured Rose in Black & White

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:01:42 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Last Sunday, Steve and I had dinner at a friend's home, and I couldn't resist taking some pictures as we left, though the light was horrible. This picture was a tiny bit blurry but I thought that if I worked on it, I could get a nice result out of it. Using a texture was the answer and I was so happy that I could save this picture because this cluster of roses is so interesting and pretty. After I finished this version, I thought, "Hmm...I wonder what it would look like if I tried this on the color version?" I was really surprised how much I like the color version, because I expected this black and white version to be the easy winner. What do you think? Either or?

Daffodil Bride (1 picture below) [Explore]

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:27:37 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This beautiful daffodil was one that I grew from a bulb this year and I was so stunned by the backlighting I got! I was having a hard time with the background so I decided to add some texture, and I think that was the perfect solution! I hope you like it! :)

Explored on May 3, 2013. Highest position #343.

Nothing Says Springtime Like a Beautiful Buttercup!

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:17:16 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Hooray!!! It's the first official day of Spring!!!

This is a buttercup I found on the way back from our hike up to the top of the Upper Table Rock. I really loved the petals on this flower and thought this would make a nice textured image! :)

Thanks to Nasos3 for the texture!

Dreamy Textured Grass with Double Droplet

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 03:30:08 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

I took this picture in February and had fun adding a subtle texture with a frame. I think it has a dreamy quality to it! :)

Textured Crocus, Dedicated to Kat & Stephanie

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:02:11 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Dedicated to my 365 pals, Kat, who's recovering from cancer surgery and is in my thoughts every day, and to Stephanie Calhoun, whose amazing textured images inspired me to try this for myself! You two are awesome!! :D

This is another crocus image I took, and this time I had fun playing with it! My desire was to get some separation from the other crocuses crowding around it, and immediately I knew that this would look nice as a textured image! If you haven't tried this yet, please do, it's such fun!

Thanks to Sienna62 for the texture!

Explored on March 6, 2013. Highest position: #389.

Textured Buttercup

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:57:00 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

I really liked the interesting petals on this blossom and thought it would be a very nice textured image as well! Below is the original picture (cropped) so you can see how different a texture can make your subject appear!

Texture by Nasos3

Luscious Canna Lily, Dedicated to Kat & Rakhi :)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 05:26:29 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Dedicated to my Flickr friends Kat, who is recovering from cancer surgery and is in my thoughts all day long; and to Rakhi, for sparking my memory to this picture I had in my archives!

Yesterday I was visiting the Flickrstream of one of my friends, Rakhi Rawat and admired a lovely picture of a ravishing red Canna Lily she'd taken. She reminded me that I'd taken some pictures of a gorgeous Canna Lily at a garden shop some months back but I never did anything with them. I dug around in my archives and found them...and then I discovered why I didn't do anything with them. The background was just horrible. I guess somehow I knew that if enough time passed, I would meet Stephanie Calhoun and be inspired to learn how to work with textures well enough that I could use this picture after all! I am so happy that I can share this flower with all of you, it's almost unreal in its beauty!!

Thanks to the following for their wonderful textures which I used in the creation of this piece! (The link will take you to each of the textures I used) Brenda Starr, Photo Nate, Belle Vue, and Cornelia Kopp

Textured Pewee

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:07:56 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

I took some pictures of the birds at our feeder today because I was busy with a project and couldn't get outside. This is a Pewee, and he's got a sunflower seed held down between his feet. You should see these guys hammer away at them to get the good stuff out! I didn't really like the feeder behind him so I turned this into a textured image. I hope you like it! :)

Thanks to Brenda Starr for the texture!