Scratched it myself ;-) - 2

Greetings. I really got a kick out of producing my previous post Scratched it myself ;-), largely because I've never really developed any drawing skills (I marvel at my daughter's drawings). So, while attributing the outcome to the technique rather than any skill on my part, I thought maybe the last one was a fluke. So, I decided to try the technique on another image, a different kind of image to see how it would come out. What you see is the result on a landscape photograph of a Andy Goldsworthy construction (Andy Goldsworthy is a great artist who constructs his art only from available natural materials - rocks, leaves, sticks, mud, even ice. I got to see some of his work on my trip to France this summer).

One cool thing (for me at least) is that I think the technique exploits some part of the photographic eye and perhaps over time might be a tool, might help the photographic eye. My original approach was to draw lines about all high contrast "lines" in the image. I found myself summarizing groups of lines in areas with a few strokes and, perhaps, adjusting the concept of contrast in other areas to balance the resulting line drawing. It's this last bit that I think might express some of the photographic eye for composition.

And an even quicker sketch might be useful in analyzing a photographic composition. I was quite surprised with this current image how the 3D perspective elements in the original photograph still were apparent, even with the sparse lines.

Anyway, just some thoughts... Oh and a big thanks to Kerry for the scratch theme...

Cheers,

-Michael-

Michael, I like this one too. I like the 3D effect and the fact that you can convey so much with so few lines. I think it is a technique that could apply to a lot of what we do as photographers..
Thanks for sharing with us:S3:

I really like your work on this technique, Michael, and do agree with your thoughts that it might be a good tool for photographers. Thanks for sharing and explaining your process.

Very interesting and unique technique, Michael. So much can be conveyed by so little. Kind of the same way an artist can do a quick sketch capturing the essentials of a subject and then create a full blown drawing or painting out of it.

I think you are on to something with this style. I like it a lot.

Cheryl, Cindy, Christopher, Anita,

Thanks much for the comments. I tried one on a photo of my daughter dancing in ballet... while the body came out well, er, the face... as my daughter says, "Scary". ;-)...

Cheers,

-Michael-