After seeing several oil and water shots this week, I decided to give it a try. Harder than it looked, because I had a tough time actually focusing on the borders of the oil, since it was so thin. A drop of dishwashing detergent, however, made all the oil clump up around the edges, and this one ended up being my favorite.
@archaeofrog
Katie, thanks for the challenge, it's good that I can choose from different ideas!
I just looked through the last few months in your album. What I see is that you have many good shots, but most of them are pretty dark (looking at the thumbnail view), it's like the lighting is not enough. I saw two high key shots, but maybe you need to practice more? :) So my challenge for you is to use overexposure creatively, maybe try something with splash of water or just anything else that you like!
@velina Thanks for the thoughts and the challenge, Velina. Sounds good. I often struggle with lighting, especially now that it gets dark so early and the lighting at my apartment is pretty dull. I recently got a speedlight though, so I will see what I can do!
@velina I have Photoshop but don't use too much. None of my monitors are calibrated either, and I've noticed pics on 365 often look darker if I view them with my tablet too. How do you generally post-process?
The easiest way to lighten a photo is to duplicate the basic layer and set the blending mode to Screen. Overlay and Soft Light are also very good. It depends on what you want. What I do the most is try with the Adjustments - Curve settings. It's very powerful and can transform the picture totally!
@velina Thanks for the tips, Velina, I will have to play around with those this week. I come at Photoshop from a graphic design background, so I'm used to creating things, but not editing or changing photographs! - Didn't tag my pic for today for your challenge 'cause I think it was a day early, but it's definitely bright!
@amandalomonaco Aww, thanks, Amanda! This one really was easy - four cups to hold up a glass pan, some water, some oil, some detergent, and some sunshine!
Katie, thanks for the challenge, it's good that I can choose from different ideas!
I just looked through the last few months in your album. What I see is that you have many good shots, but most of them are pretty dark (looking at the thumbnail view), it's like the lighting is not enough. I saw two high key shots, but maybe you need to practice more? :) So my challenge for you is to use overexposure creatively, maybe try something with splash of water or just anything else that you like!
@skatied Thanks, Katie. It's just a piece of striped paper I have laying around, but it sure comes in handy.
@cheribug Thanks, Cheryl! It's the same striped paper I used with my water crowns a little while back.
@boatpainter Thanks so much, Janet! It was fun to watch.
@humphreyhippo Thanks so much, Humphrey! I really liked how the detergent gave it a little more dimension by pushing all the oil together.
@scooter Thanks so much, Scooter!
@sadiec Thanks, Sadie. I think I need to find more options in patterned paper if I keep doing things like this ...
@northy Thanks, Northy! I didn't like how my early attempts were so two dimensional.
@bruni Thanks, Bruni! It really was an easy set-up. I think the soap helped make the oil thicker and have better edges.
@sunshinephoto5 Thanks so much, Dawn! It was neat how the oil really clumped into shapes other than circles.
@fullcircle Thanks, Cindy. It's a great one to have in your back pocket for a slow day.
@bobbyj Thanks so much, Bobby! I really liked the patterning in this one.
@alia_801 Thanks, Alia! I thought it was more unusual than just circles.
@copperheadglass Thanks, Meredith. It was a fun experiment.
@evahenriette Thanks, Eva! It's leftover scrapbooking paper.