Hey all, I think I have finally discovered the perfect way to develop my PS skills to a somewhat decent level. I have immediate access to a 200-acre property that not only hosts a variety of scenery and subjects - ranging from thick wild woods which I have yet to explore, planted forest, outbuildings full of machinery...but also is owned by a really great guy with whom I am friends, though at arm's length. He also collects art so he has something of an eye, and he is honest. Sadly he is rarely ever out here unless he comes out to snowplow driveways, so mostly we email each other.
Anyway, with the creation of my Animal challenge entry, Spotted Critter, a whole story has built up around her and her activities, as her lair is on his property. As he appreciates my photography and thinks the PS stuff is really cool, it means that I have a reason to not only go and shoot to illustrate the emails we exchange, but as a great way to learn and more importantly practice and learn new PS tricks as I go. He enjoys the finished results, and it pushes me - in a good way - to go shoot, and have fun doing PS stuff so I can send off pics to him, usually in a fairly short timeframe. Sometimes I use a cheat photo off the web, but only for a bg or texture.
So if anyone else out there is having trouble getting into the whole developing PS skills thing, finding someone like my friend - someone with whom you have a rapport, who has an eye for art/composition etc, and who isn't afraid to go along with your wonky way of thinking...and have fun learning PS and developing a rapport with a genuinely good person in the meantime. |
