Enlightenment (AKA eesh!)

[Wirefox]

I have been working on these for a couple of hours. I have a numb bum and they are starting to merge into one. I would appreciate your views on which has the best effect and indeed any other C&C fir that matter. It all started with a plant pot, an ancient tripod and an ASDA (Walmart bag) to protect my camera from the rain....well the idea started to develop last night actually...and that kept me awake

[Katy Noelle]

Woah! Dang!(☜ Those are my eyes being pulled open!!! eep.)

[Rasbury]

i know how you feel about an idea keeping you up at night.Of the three photo's,all of which are very cool, i would have to choose #3 as my favorite.The combination of using the toned image with the b&w has added that extra bit of texture which for me really makes that image stand out.I will be a happy camper when i can get a grasp on using layers in pp like that.You have a very good imagination.Love your work...Ron.

[ilovelucydog]

Ummm... are you sure it was a plant pot and not a pot plant? I'm sorry... I couldn't help myself.

Okay... I like number three... the muted tones with the emerald green eye catches my attention the most.

[wilgk]

Well 'seeing' as we're all getting an early start to the day, I'll join in.
At the risk of looking like a donkey voter - I really must vote for the first 1 on the list here as I did with Katys last night.
The selective eye colour for me does not have as much impact.
I have pondered over the relative perspective of the eye compared with the hands as at first I thought maybe no it looks too big, but I ignored myself and cast that aside, the perspective needs to be this way I think.

I do also feel this has given us a chance to expand on Rob's idea - instead of the ignore button, we need the 'eesh' factor button.
For the artistically challenged (me) we could have a mathematical component ...eesh to the power 4, or the eesh factor is inversely proportional to.....
I could have a lot of fun

[Katy Noelle]

I'm with Kay, btw. (Now, that I'm over the shock of being the first one to open up the thread and see that eye looking at me - woah!) I like #1 the best, too. At first, I thought it was because that's what I first saw and loved but, now, I think that it's because the image needs no "gimick" (sorry for that word) - each part seems part of the image and shouldn't be lost. (I don't think that I'm saying it very well, though.) The color pulls me away from what's happening.

[ScoutR]

Cool, I like the first one, however I'm thinking everything is too symetrical. Enlightenment is usually more of a struggle could you somehow show the battle between 2 opposing sides... or something like that... there needs to be a struggle, opposition, movement, I see it but cannot explain, to me it just looks like hands on a pot, but the title says otherwise, and i like the idea, but I'd like to see/feel some fight, perhaps one hand winning out over the others, or if it's possible to capture more emotion in the eye.

Wendy

[MiniChris]

I like #3 but would like to see the B&W eye from #2 in it.

[Wirefox]

I will be a happy camper when i can get a grasp on using layers in pp like that.You have a very good imagination.Love your work...Ron.

Thanks Ron. These are really simple utilisation of layers. 8 layers for the first 2 and 9 for the last (18 and 19 layers if you count the layers from the lomo effect script). The time consuming work was merging the 7 shots of the hand holding the pot in different positions. I marked them off with a pencil to ensure there was not too much overlap. I then painted each layer through an adjustment mask so an addition hand appeared with each layer. Although the last image does employ a true texture layer the main effect is down to b/w lomo style conversion, bump mapping and good old contrast, layers and curves.

Ummm... are you sure it was a plant pot and not a pot plant? I'm sorry... I couldn't help myself.

I do see what you mean Mary but contrary to popular belief it is far easier to come up with these things with a clear head. Drug induced art is not really self expression

The color pulls me away from what's happening.

Katy, you are spot on with this. I agree totally. The hands and the eye need equal draw to make the image work as a whole

Cool, I like the first one, however I'm thinking everything is too symetrical. Enlightenment is usually more of a struggle could you somehow show the battle between 2 opposing sides... or something like that... there needs to be a struggle, opposition, movement, I see it but cannot explain, to me it just looks like hands on a pot, but the title says otherwise, and i like the idea, but I'd like to see/feel some fight, perhaps one hand winning out over the others, or if it's possible to capture more emotion in the eye.

Thank you Wendy, excellent analysis. I take all these points but I would need to have been thinking in a slightly different way to get that effect. I had been looking at some pictures of old Soviet propaganda posters and I was struck by how powerful they were without any illusion of emotion whatsoever. They were emotive subjects but dehumanised. It fitted nicely with my thoughts about modernism so that was upmost in my thoughts when building these images. Although the components are very human I needed them to look machine like.

I like #3 but would like to see the B&W eye from #2 in it

I was toying with the same idea Chris. But I think No1 works for me for the reasons stated by Katy. I am going to try No1 with a more b/w tone as in number 2 but without the colour.

Thanks for you comments everyone. I know my stuff is not always your cup of tea but I do value your input.