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You are here: Home / Diary / Caturday Art: The By-Hand Edition

Caturday Art: The By-Hand Edition

February 1, 2014 By: Sparkle Cat37 Comments

More than meets the eye

While this just looks like a photograph, although a cool, dramatic one, there is actually some artistic work going on here. While my human uses filters like crazy when she is doing digital art, sometimes she has to dip in and do something manually, and this was one of those times. Here is the original photograph:

Clearly she was trying for an effect, but it was not working!

My human was trying to get a contrasty, late afternoon shot, but it wasn’t quite working. I was too dark.

Someday she needs to get this all organized!

But when she lightened the photo, the busy, messy background popped out too. She tried masking me and the highlights and darkening the rest of the photo, but with my fur, it was pretty much impossible to do it and make the edges seamless. So she used a tool she rarely needs anymore, but used all the time back in the “old days”: the Dodge and Burn tool. When she was shooting film and developing photographs in the darkroom, she did this all time. She would cover up parts of the image as she exposed the photo paper if she wanted to keep them lighter (that is dodging), or expose certain other parts for longer (usually by cupping her hands over the rest of the photo paper) to make them darker (that is burning). When she was first using Photoshop Elements over a decade ago, it had tools to do this digitally. Eventually she learned Photoshop techniques to adjust exposures that made dodging and burning by hand unnecessary… except sometimes, like with this photo.

Halfway burned

With a big-sized “brush” tool, my human started “burning” in the background manually to make it darker.

Don't burn my ears!

Then, the closer she got to me, she began reducing the brush size, and was very careful around my ears and whiskers. She wondered if she should black out the window in the background, but figured that without all the other distracting elements, it worked all right because it was clearly the source of light.

So as you can see, there was a lot more going on with this photo than you might think!

You can see more from this week’s Caturday Art participants here!

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Comments

  1. Kitties Blue says

    February 4, 2014 at 7:53 am

    Your mommy is so talented, Sparkle. Our daddy still has his darkroom in the basement, but he hasn’t shot film in years. Mom is a crappy photographer. If you ever see a decent photo on our blog, you can bet our dad took it. Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

    Reply
  2. Penelope says

    February 3, 2014 at 9:02 pm

    Sparkle! My Mommy so much liked this post! Thanks yous!
    Kisses
    Nellie (and especially Mommy)

    Reply
  3. Amelia Hughes says

    February 3, 2014 at 4:41 am

    Beautiful photo Sparkle! And this is a great tutorial to show people the amount of time, effort, and skill that goes into editing photographs (we have a lot of cats that eye roll at the amount of time I spend at the computer in our house)….

    Reply
  4. Timmy Tomcat says

    February 2, 2014 at 11:31 am

    You look great in that photo Sparkle
    Dad will pay attention

    Reply
  5. Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal says

    February 2, 2014 at 5:51 am

    Your mom sure did a grreat work on that one !

    XOXO

    Reply
  6. speedyrabbit says

    February 1, 2014 at 11:56 pm

    love it Sparkle,your mum does a good job,xx Speedy

    Reply
  7. Spitty the Kitty says

    February 1, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    Boy, I wish YOUR Human was fixing up MY pictures. No wonder you kitties look so fantastic all the time!

    Reply
  8. Cathy Keisha says

    February 1, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    What a great effect. TW uses the dodge and burn but she has no idea what masking is.

    Reply
  9. Clooney says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:58 pm

    Very dramatic and beautiful. Love how you did that and that you showed us the progressions…cool.

    Reply
  10. The Island Cats says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    That’s a very cool pic, Sparkle. Your human did good.

    Reply
  11. Sue Brandes says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    Just beautiful Sparkle. She did a lovely job.

    Reply
  12. Toby & Leia says

    February 1, 2014 at 3:29 pm

    Your Mom did a pawsome job. We really like this.

    Reply
  13. Jobi and Fisher says

    February 1, 2014 at 3:12 pm

    Really amazing. The end result is great, and learning what you did to get there was…mind boggling. I have to admit I didn’t really understand it but I am happy for you that you know exactly what you are doing! I really like that little bit of window you left in, too.

    Reply
  14. Flynn says

    February 1, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    Your human put a lot of work into your photo and the end result is very artistic.

    Reply
  15. Madi and Mom says

    February 1, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    Sparkle it is official you look gorgeous in any lighting!!
    Hugs madi your bfff

    Reply
  16. Andrea and the Celestial Kitties says

    February 1, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    That is very artistic! And informative!

    Reply
  17. Mark's Mews says

    February 1, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    Where ever ya are is a great picture, Sparkle!

    Reply
  18. Mythreemoggies says

    February 1, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    🙄 love your images choices 🙂 clever mum Sparkle

    Reply
  19. Caren Gittleman says

    February 1, 2014 at 11:35 am

    that is catabulous! You know on http://www.ribbet.com they have the “burning” tools too 😎

    Reply
  20. Layla Morgan Wilde (Cat Wisdom 101) says

    February 1, 2014 at 11:13 am

    Thank Cod, things are easier these days and filters are such fun!

    Reply
  21. mariodacat says

    February 1, 2014 at 11:11 am

    Wow, your mom is very talented. That’s a great picture.

    Reply
  22. Famous SpokesGoat Pricilla says

    February 1, 2014 at 9:41 am

    Your human is very skilled with photoshop. My publicist can barely take a photo

    Reply
  23. Glogirly and Katie says

    February 1, 2014 at 9:14 am

    Beautiful, Sparkle!
    We always love hearing tips and tricks with Photoshop!
    Sometimes the old fashioned doge & burn is purr-fect!
    : )

    Reply
  24. Grace says

    February 1, 2014 at 8:16 am

    Whatever you said – it worked out well 😀

    Reply
  25. Georgia and Julie says

    February 1, 2014 at 7:38 am

    Sparkle, we agree that you are worth the effort of making the shot purrfect 😉
    Your Mom did good. We like the effect.
    Purrs Georgia and Julie,
    Treasure,JJ
    and Angels Tiger and Tillie

    Reply
  26. Marg says

    February 1, 2014 at 7:24 am

    Sparkle, your Mom really does work hard on your pictures. That was so interesting about how she got that photo to come out. And the picture turned out terrific. Take care.

    Reply
  27. Sometimes, Cats Herd You says

    February 1, 2014 at 7:21 am

    How fun to see a little of the process that got to the art!

    Reply
  28. RedSetter says

    February 1, 2014 at 7:09 am

    Most impressive work from you human to capture you in all your glory.

    Reply
  29. Charpps says

    February 1, 2014 at 6:22 am

    It is a strikingly beautiful picture, Sparkle. Your human is very talented. But to be honest we couldn’t take our eyes off of you in any of them.
    purrs,
    Jasmine, Joey, Eddie & Rosie

    Reply
  30. Brian says

    February 1, 2014 at 5:30 am

    That is a fantastic photo Sparkle and you are always a first class work of art sweet one!

    Reply
  31. Katie Bella says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:59 am

    One of HER sons, not mine. sigh.

    Reply
  32. Katie Bella says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:59 am

    Mom said one of my sons is a master at it. Her…absolutely NOTHING! 😛

    Reply
  33. Marty the Manx says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:52 am

    Your mom is very talented and artistic! My mom says tell your mom ‘thanks a lot’ for explaining how she created your wonderful picture. You look beautiful.
    Marty

    Reply
  34. The Kitties of Purring Pines says

    February 1, 2014 at 4:42 am

    Cool work! Your mommy is very talented!

    Reply
  35. Athena says

    February 1, 2014 at 3:29 am

    Excellent!

    Thanks for describing how your human created it. Very informative!

    Purrs xx
    Athena and Marie

    Reply
  36. unikorna says

    February 1, 2014 at 12:49 am

    Your mommy is very talented :), but then you’d be cute in any Photoshop setting :)> Kisses to your mom.

    Reply
  37. Hannah and Lucy says

    February 1, 2014 at 12:42 am

    Your Mom is very clever Sparkle and very patient.
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

    Reply

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