A Failed Experiment

Over the last several weeks, I have been posting the results of my experiment of taking 20-30 images of flowers from slightly different angles, bringing them into Photoshop as separate layers, and then playing with layer opacities and blending modes to construct something I find visually pleasing. I have generally been quite pleased with the results. But I don’t want to give the impression that every set of pictures is able to be successfully made into a pleasing final image.

For example, I attempted to make a similar kind of image using a vase of tulips. As artists, we are generally told not to show our mistakes or ‘failures’, but, to illustrate the point that these experiments don’t always work, I am going to show a set of images that I was unable to make into something pleasing despite trying for many hours.

The results are certainly not horrible, but it just doesn’t really work for me in the same way that the others have and this photo is not one that I would include with any set of my finished work.

Sometimes experiments work, and sometimes they don’t. But I like what I am doing with the technique and plan to continue!

© Howard Grill

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