This week’s tip…although a day late is also my day 11 of my, “a picture a day for 365 days”.

Today, I want to talk about how you can change a simple picture into many works of art.

Using this beautiful rose (that my husband gave me), I will show you how just a simple picture,

taken in my aperture mode, with a wide open aperture and just my regular flash, can allow you to create art…literally.

Here is the first picture:

This is beautiful as is, right?  I didn’t do any special or set my camera to any really difficult settings…

this is a simple picture of something that is naturally beautiful.

Now, taking this simple, yet beautiful rose, I can now change it with cropping and simple Photoshop techniques.

You can go modern:

Here I just cropped the rose down to the very center…almost distorting it.

I then made it black and white, with lots of contrast.

Here is the next one:

This one I added a texture of grain (any Photoshop program can do this).

I then did a sepia tone and lightened it up a lot!

This creates an elegant look, great for any little girls’ room or decor for a wedding.

Here is the last one:

This one is antiqued.  By washing out the color by lowering the saturation, you get this look.

I also cropped it to be a little off-center for visual interest.

This too would look great in a girl’s room or in a formal living/music room.

Making your own art can be easy, fun and very inexpensive!

So find something that is naturally beautiful and see all that you can create with it!

Lots of love,

niki