I guess the subtitle of this post could be "uses for out of focus images."
Fired off an HDR series while travelling at 25 mph in a fishing boat on the Kenai River a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the images match up perfectly when I merged the three shots to complete the HDR. So I had a fairly cool, but motion-blurred image. Sometimes when there is a lot of motion blur it works. Kind of like the old expression, "Take one shot it's out of focus, take a series and it's a style." This did not qualify. So what is a photographer to do?
I will often use shots that cannot stand on their own as a photograph and use them as a starting point for a digital painting. Whether using Topaz, Photoshop, or Corel Painter you can end up with some incredible results. Let your creativity take over when using the amazing software and create something new, different, and maybe even extraordinary.
For my shot here, I processed the three images with Nik's HDR Efex Pro and then sent the resulting TIF to Topaz detail and tried for the "painted" look.
If you want amazing instruction on creating digital paintings, check out Jane Conner-Ziser at the Photo Fest later this month. She has workshops Wednesday and Saturday, Jane's Painting.
OBTW, all I could catch fishing the Kenai were pink salmon (also known as Humpies.) Fun to catch, not so tasty to eat. Catch and release all day for me.
See you all later this month.
Fiat Lux!