Mom at Poker Party (Digitally Edited and Posterized)
Originally uploaded by randubnick
My mother wasn't shy about most things, but she was shy about being photographed. So I don't have as many pictures of her as I would like. Today while looking in an old album, I found a nice picture of her in a small snapshot. This was a group photo, taken at one of the poker parties my folks often had at our house. Other people in the original snapshot include my Grandma Kates, my Dad, and my Aunt Edy, as well as several other of their poker-playing friends. I am guessing that the photographer was my Uncle Bob, because he would have been there too, but he wasn't in the photo. Well, I really like the original snapshot and plan to use it again, but today I was looking for an image of my mom for Mother's Day. So I scanned the snapshot into the computer, opened the image in Painter, and got to work. I cropped out a format that focussed only on my mother. Then I used opaque digital pastel to draw over the image to create a plain background, transforming a group shot into a portrait of just one person. I used a little cut and paste to recreate the plaid dress. Then I used some overlays and digital pastel to add some color, and then I gently posterized the image. This little rescued and digitally altered photograph gives me one more picture of my mom, and this image really does get her facial expression and body language. (And it has made me smile today to remember those poker games in the dining room. A poker-playing mom isn't exactly a typical subject for Mother's Day, I guess. My mother was terrific, but she was anything but typical!) Well, as happy as I am with this image, this is not the best part. While I was experimenting with posterizing this image, I also came up with another version of this image that I like even better. It is less realistic and more modern. I bet my mom would have liked it better, too! But I am saving that version for tomorrow, for Mother's Day. To be continued. . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment