Though I usually like straightforward photos I'm not a purist about it. We have all these great digital tools, they're part of the modern photographer's art, why not use them? People are making interesting stuff with Photoshop and programs like it. Then again, some people don't know how to use them well and you get Photoshop Disasters (best link ever).
It's been very hot here for a couple of days. That's probably why this Stop sign is rusting. I like the heat, but nobody's deodorant stands up to these temperatures.
26 comments:
I laughed it this! Not that I have Photoshop but have tried fiddling with photos only to go back to the original after a while! I love the shot - a bit of Hockney colour there.
Love the colors. The intensity does remind me a bit of the heat we've been experiencing.
You are right, the heat boosts the cranky factors of our lives to unreadable highs.
I'm a Photoshop freak! The pic might look perfectly fine but I have to tweak it somehow.
And this heat isn't bothering me...but the humidity is! Grr!
LOL! Love it that you returned to the original best.
It's hard to keep this heat from STOPping us.
In Israel we are in the 20th straight day of abnormal heat. The electric company tells us not to use any appliances between noon and 5 p.m. Well, except for the air-conditioner (which I lack anyway).
Stay cool somehow, Petrea.
You may have ended up just near where you started, but sounds like you've had a ball along the way, Petrea! I love the patina of the sign. And I hope it cools down for you soon. It's officially still winter here, but we had a summer day today. Keeps things interesting...
All the crisp color is a great contrast to the totally "honest" Stop sign. Love this photo.
I wonder how long that sign has been there? It started "life" bright and shiny. Now it has an experienced look to it. Our intense heat wave is finally over. 95 degrees and 95% humidity. I have experienced 104F here and also a minus 37F.
I don't feel so bad about the heat after reading Dina's comment, and Mark's. The heat wave in Israel has been severe. We've got nothing to complain about. And J.J., I know it may seem like we have humidity but trust me, we don't. Mark is in the Midwest. He knows whereof he speaks. I don't mind the heat, really. I much prefer it to cold weather.
I don't have Photoshop either, Jilly--just iPhoto, which is less complicated. That's probably for the best. I'd be a maniac.
Aren't we wimpy, Roberta? Three days of heat and everyone's complaining.
Shell, I'm going to send all these complainers to spend the rest of August with you.
Genie, thank you.
Where is this? This is very cool.
Hi, Margaret. This is in the parking lot of the post office at Washington and Mentor in Pasadena.
ginab:
Well, I wasn't going to comment, but we just finished 18 straight days of 100+ heat. 70+% humidity. I thought we had everybody beat, but I flew to Chicago last weekend with a soldier returning from 130 degrees in Iraq.
Photo shop is great tool for composing but the The features make things look gimicky. And I'm glad about that. I'd hate to see all those years in art school mastering craft, to be thrown out the window for a push of a button.
I sound cranky
must be the heat
its so clear and brings such a good mood in viewers soul
Yeah Ginab, I think your Iraq soldier trumps everybody, even if it was 85 degrees there, just because of the work he's had to do.
PA, I think of you as a Photoshop stylist. I can't even fathom the program but you're good with it.
At first as I was reading the post and looking at the photo I thought you had created the rusty melt on the stop sign. Shows how familiar I am with Photoshop. The blue is amazing. I know that post office, and yet I can't envision from which vantage point you took this photo. I'm going to have to stop by to figure it out.
Thank you, andrea.
Susan, it's right where you pull out of the parking lot into the alley behind the P.O.
Thanks for clarifying that, Petrea. I want to make sure everybody knows the City of Pasadena doesn't post stop signs on walls! The U.S. Postal Service may want to think about steam-cleaning that thing.
I have a friend with whom I share old photos, usually about 100 years old, often old snapshots taken by someone who held their Brownie box camera a bit askew. I send them to him as I received them. To me it's a part of their charm, their reality.
My friend always, ALWAYS, straightens them and sends them back. At first, I was a little hurt, but I realized he just can't help fiddling with them; he's got the programs and he uses them.
When I learned how much the great photographers, such as Ansel Adams, actually fiddled with their negatives, creating master prints marked with detailed directions for exposure time in one area, dodging and burning to get the desired effect, it made my own darkroom efforts seem feeble.
Now we have these wonderful programs that allow us to shift and manipulate pixels at will. While I try to regard them as "just another tool," it still seems distant to me, with the computer being a cold machine. I always felt like my hand was more directly involved with my negatives and the result more personal.
I like the irony of the stickers on the sign that say "new". You would have had to tweak the photo if they said "new & improved".
By the way - that guy wire - who uses square nuts anymore?
Retrograde squirrels, Q.E.D.
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Ann, it's something I hadn't thought about. Can any entity buy a Stop sign?
Speedway, you sound like a purist. I used to know a guy who owned a darkroom. I wonder how he's feeling these days.
Greg, don't get me started on square nuts. QED.
Thanks, Bella. I can see you've read it closely.
I love the demented David Hockney feel to this.
I don't have great Photoshop skilz but I've done exactly the same thing with some of my shots.
I always forget to keep things simple.
K, as long as you say "demented," I'll go with it.
Pasadena Petrea's peace post.
I like it.
Merci, MG.
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