Author: Jennifer Sawicky Photography

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Month in Review – September 2019

September’s topic of the month

I chose to work on my artistic impression images this month.  Mostly, I wanted to dive into the new Topaz Studio 2, and also just have a chance to play around and have some fun with my images.  Working in Studio 2 proved to be a non-starter, but I certainly had a great time exploring and creating interesting images.

What’s new this month

I’m sad to say I didn’t fulfill my goal of actually getting out shooting this month.  As the weather is quickly turning colder and darker, I know this has been a real missed opportunity, but I can’t go back in time, only move forward.  I am hoping for a combination of free time and decent weather soon so I can actually put my camera to use.

5 favourites of the month

 

Head on over to my gallery page for more of my favourite images.

What’s coming up next?

I’ve not actually chosen a topic for October; I think it will be a freestyle month.  I still have a lot of bird images I would like to work on, and I have been really enjoying playing in Topaz Studio creating my artistic impression images, so we’ll just see what happens.  Check back each Sunday for a new post.

 

 

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2019-09-30: Monochrome Monday

It seems like it has been a while since I have played around with tinted monochrome images.  This elephants looked good in black and white, but felt better with the warmer, coffee tones you see below.  These were taken on different days, but all fairly late in the morning, when the sun was casting harsh shadows.  Conventional wisdom says that’s the time to put away the camera, but I’ll keep shooting as long as there is something interesting to look at.  The bulk of an elephant and the highly textured skin seem to be able to handle harsh light quite well.

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2019-09-29: Photo Art – The Magnificent Seven

This post was originally going to be the big five, but I had images of cheetah and wild dog that I wanted to play around with, so the magnificent seven it is.

One of the reasons I wanted to focus on my photo art this month was to try and learn a bit more about Topaz Studio version 2.  I’ve played around with it a bit, and watched some tutorials, but for the workflow I am using, at this stage I will be sticking with version 1.  The issue that I was finding is I can’t get files to make a round trip using On1 Photo Raw.  I can get the file into Studio 2, and work on it, but the only option for saving is an “Accept” button, which with the workflow I am using, appears to do nothing.  I select it, but the file doesn’t get saved, exported or anything else.  New software versions are typically a bit buggy, so I’ll give it a few update cycles and then play around with it again and see what happens.

One of the great things about photo editing tutorials is getting the little reminders for things that are outside of the normal workflow.  In this case, the reminder was to play around with blending modes when using AI Remix, Impression and textures.  For example, the cheetah image below was edited using (amongst other tools) a filter in AI Remix called Neon Rise.  But changing the blend mode from normal to luminosity kept the amazing texture that the filter offered, but eliminated the wild and crazy colours for something far more subdued, and suited to the image.

I hope you enjoy the selections below.  Wishing you a fantastic week ahead.

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You can find some of these images in the Photo Art section of my gallery.

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2019-09-23: Monochrome Monday

Here are a few images of red-billed quelea murmurations that I hadn’t finished editing when I was doing my month of posts on birds.

I was a little unsure of converting these all to black and white, because they had beautiful sunset colours; but stripping it back does change the focus and impression.  What do you think?

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Quelea stretching from tree to tree.
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Two flocks off in the distance.
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Watching a flock of a thousand or more quelea fly by while on a sundowner drinks stop.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead!

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2019-09-22: Photo Art – Rhinos

Today is World Rhino Day, so I decided to combine that with my photo art project for the month, and edit some of the rhino images I took on my last trip.

I won’t go on and on about the plight of the rhino, and of the greed, arrogance and ignorance of humans that has fuelled their decline and cluttered news feeds with horrifying photos of poaching.  Other people can do that far better than I.

I simply want to live in a world where rhinos can live in peace.  And I will hold that thought in my mind and in my heart, and hope that it becomes a reality.

As with all the other posts in this series, these images were created from photos I took, modified primarily using Topaz Studio to create these effects.

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2019-09-15: Photo Arts – Birds

As much as I had hoped that my photo art topic would allow me to get comfortable with Topaz Studio version 2, I haven’t actually even tried it yet.  Fingers crossed that this week coming up I can make some time to a watch a tutorial or two and get familiar with the program operation, but for now, I have stuck with the original version, and I am really happy with the results of this weeks experiments.

I decided to focus on birds this week, and played around with two basic combinations of software.  The sunbird and hornbill were edited primarily using the Topaz AI Remix module, while the rest were done with Impression (along with the usual basic edits to start for tone, cropping, etc.).

Do you have a favourite this week?

I hope you enjoy, and wishing you a great week ahead.

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Lilac breasted roller
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White bellied sunbird
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White backed vulture
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Ground hornbill
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African wood hoopoe
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2019-09-09: Monochrome Monday

Like impala, vervet monkeys can sometimes be seen so frequently from camp and when out on game drives that you stop paying attention to them, or taking the time to take photos of them.  The alarm calls of the vervet monkeys can sometimes lead to predator sightings, so they are definitely an animal worth paying attention to out in the bush.  They are interesting and inquisitive animals, and can often be seen up in the trees near camp buffet tables, trying to work out the best way to steal a muffin.

None of the vervet monkeys in the photos below were up to any such mischief (though I have seen it happen many times).  These were from two different troops that we stopped to spend time with while out on game drives in May.

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